High-school permit pushes Windsor construction values over $40M
June was another strong month for construction in Windsor.
Permit values exceeded $40 million for the third consecutive month in June, thanks in large part to the launch of construction on a new high school.
The City of Windsor issued $41 million worth of permits for the month. Of that total, more than $28 million was in the government and institutional sector, and more than $24 million of that total came from the one high-school permit.
Slowing significantly for the month was activity in the residential sector. Although the city issued 177 permits for residential construction, those totalled just over $8.6 million. That was a drop of nearly $10 million from the month previous, and a drop of nearly $50 million from the total recorded in June 2020—when the industry came out of the first COVID-19 lockdown.
Activity was strong in the city’s commercial market, with the sector recording 26 permits and a little more than $4 million worth of work. Activity in the industrial market, on the other hand, hit a low with just one permit valued at $250,000. That was for interior renovations work on the AM-PM Towing garage on Central Avenue.
June’s largest-value permit was also the largest valued for the year to date. At $24.6 million, the permit was awarded for work on the 102,000-square foot Catholic Central Secondary School on McDougall Street. The building, which is owned by the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board, will include 938 student spaces. The project was approved for construction by the provincial Ministry of Education in January, after being in the planning stages for more than a decade.
Oscar Construction was selected to build the facility, and the board plans to open the new school in time for the 2022–23 school year.
The next-largest permit issued by the city was for $1.9 million, for work on the Walkerville Evangelical Baptist Church on Windermere Road. The building, which burned to the ground in October 2019, is being rebuilt on the original site. The permit calls for construction of a 7,300-square foot building.
The only other permit issued for the city at a value greater than $1 million was for work on a new office fit-up for Assisted Living Southwestern Ontario on University Avenue. The not-for-profit organization will use the space as its head office.
The total value of construction permits issued by the city for the year to date surpassed $205 million in June. The strongest performing sectors in the city for the first six months of the year were the residential sector at just over $100 million, and the government and institutional sector at just shy of $75 million. The commercial and industrial sectors combined accounted for just under $30 million.
This year’s totals are slightly behind those recorded during the first six months of 2020. Through June of last year, the city issued $211.5 million worth of permits, including nearly $145 million worth of work in the residential sector.
Featured image: Screen capture from Catholic Central School Construction update video. (Windsor Essex Catholic District School Board)