Contractors, suppliers and construction workers in Thunder Bay hoping for lots of construction this year can expect new building activity to be about the same as or slightly better than 2016.
Information provided to tbnewswatch.com shows that the city issued permits for projects worth about $94 million last year, and that projects on the drawing board for 2017 may total about $100 million worth.
Chief Building Official Desmond Stolz noted the value of projects permitted by his office in 2016 was already below the average for the last 10 years, which is about $130 million.
Construction activity last year also dropped sharply from the previous year, when values totaled $150 million.
"I think a big difference there was some of the larger projects, such as the St. Joseph's Hospital addition, valued at about $40 million," Stolz said.
The early outlook for 2017 is what Stolz describes as fairly good.
"We have a large addition going on at LU (Lakehead University)," he said. "The Con College hub addition is expected to come through ... and of course we expect that waterfront hotel to be built this year. We issued the rest of that permit, so we're looking forward to that."
Stolz said some other projects are also on the horizon.
"We're going to see what happens with the art gallery, and we have a couple of apartment buildings that we're going to finish off this year."
He added there are rumblings a stalled condominium project at the Thunder Bay Country Club may also be resuming at some point.
"There have been some rumours floating around that that might get started this year, but nothing definite."
