Windsor construction ends 2020 on a high
Construction activity in Windsor in 2020 may not have hit the heights it did in 2019, but all things considered, it did well.
The final report on construction for 2020 issued by the city’s building department shows the city issued more than $392.6 million worth of permits for the year. That’s down by about 6 percent from 2019’s total of $419.6 million, but builders didn’t have a pandemic to deal with last year.
The value of residential construction permits ($253.9 million) issued in 2020 actually exceeded those issued in 2019 ($224.0 million), but that was the only one of the four sectors to report year-over-year increases. The value of industrial-sector permits dropped from $30.1 million to $23.9 million, while the value of commercial permits dropped from $55.8 million to $34.0 million.
Hardest hit was activity in the government and institutional sector, where permit values dropped from $109.5 million to $80.6 million. The number of permits issued in that sector also dropped from 125 in 2019 to just 85 this year.
Construction activity in Windsor in December actually ended the year on a strong note. The city issued more than $45.3 million worth of permits—a marked increase from December 2019’s total of $28.9 million, and from November 2020’s total of $22.6 million.
Where activity in the residential and commercial sectors was comparatively flat compared with last December’s total, the government and institutional sector saw a jump of more than $20 million from the year previous. Activity in the commercial sector, meanwhile, fell from $4.5 million in December 2019 to just $282,000 in December 2020.
Compared with November 2020, the city recorded large jumps in permit values in the residential (+ $5.4 million) and government and institutional sectors (+ $22.5 million), but a significant loss in the industrial component (- $3.1 million).
The largest permit issued by the city in December was for $21 million for work at the University of Windsor’s law building. The project will see a major renovation to the Ron W. Ianni Faculty of Law Building.
The University of Windsor announced in December that it had selected a joint venture of EllisDon Corporation and Fortis Construction Group to lead the construction project, and work is scheduled to begin this month.
The second-largest permit issued for the month was for $1.5 million for construction work at St. Clair College.
The largest permit issued in the city in 2020 was for $30 million for work on the Windsor Essex Community Housing Corporation affordable housing complex on 3100 Meadowbrook Lane.