Building permits outpace previous years

If it seems like there is a new construction project on each corner… it’s probably because there is.

The city released building permit data from January through April 2022 and the numbers are impressive. Through the first quarter of 2022, the City issued $542 million worth of building permits—a increase of over $224 million over the previous year. The vast majority of that increase came from commercial projects (including manufacturing, office and apartments), which saw $366 million in permits issued. Over $130 million were issued to apartment projects and office buildings.

The largest apartment projects included the Parkwood Apartments (133 units) on 85th and Western Avenue which was valued at nearly $18 million and Stadium Crossing (110 units) for $10.5 million. Harrisburg Middle School, Cherapa II and the Steel District topped the commercial building projects.

New residential permits were actually down from last year, but the city still issued nearly $100 million worth. Single family starts decreased from 321 in 2021 to 281, but multi-family units shot up from 784 to 1,100 in 2022. Compare this to the start of the pandemic in 2022 which only saw 195 single-family starts and 98 multi-family starts.