309 Building Permits Valued at $54 Million Issued in Oxford in 2018

By Alyssa Schnugg
Staff writer
alyssa.schnugg@hottytoddy.com

While the number of building permits issued has dropped in the first half of 2018 compared to the first half of 2017, there is still plenty of construction going in Oxford, according to Building Official Randy Barber.

“From year to year, the number of bigger projects such as Galleria II, Oxford Commons and Farmview will increase your numbers with new tenants leasing and finishing out their new spaces,” Barber said recently. “We’ve had some incredible numbers on commercial projects over the past three years but it’s hard to keep that pace up over an extended period of time.”
Since January, there have been 309 building permits issued for homes and business valued at more than $54 million.
During the same time period in 2017, 502 permits were issued for properties valued at $103 million.
Those figures include all permits issued, whether for a single house, business or renovations like adding a pool or a fence.
In the first half of 2018, 69 permits have been issued for residential structures, including single-family houses, apartments, condos and duplexes. The value of those properties is more than $14 million.
In the first half of 2017, 256 residential permits were pulled valued at more than $80 million.
For commercial businesses, 39 building permits were pulled since January, valued at more than $22 million. Eleven permits were issued for new offices, banks and professional space and two for new restaurants.
In 2017, from January to July, 53 commercial permits were issued for business valued at about $15 million.
But the important numbers to the city are the amounts of fees paid for these permits. Those funds go into the city’s general fund.
So far this year, the city has taken in $179,072 in permit fees, also down from the same time period in 2017 when the city earned $512,819 in fees.
However, there are still several months to go in 2018 and one shopping center can make all the difference, according to Barber.
“I don’t think we are in a slowdown building wise by any means,” he said. “It doesn’t take but one large development to turn the numbers.”
One area to jump this year so far was in renovations.
Since January, the Building Department has granted 134 permits for additions, renovations or conversions of both residential and commercial properties that were valued at almost $13 million, compared to January through July in 2018, when 71 permits for renovations were granted valued at $5 million.

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