BUSINESS MEMO: MISSOURI CONSTRUCTION

Construction of commercial, manufacturing, education and other nonresidential buildings is up 18 percent in Missouri, but overall construction is about even with first-quarter totals of a year ago.

Non-residential totals for January, February and March place the year's total at $525,523,000, up from $446,522,000 during the same period a year ago.

Total construction for the first three months was $1.28 billion, up slightly from the $1.27 billion during the same period a year ago.

The nonbuilding category received a big boost in March, at $119,724,000 up 72 percent from the $69.6 million of a year ago.

Totals construction for March was reported at $448 million, compared to the $461 million during the same month a year ago, according to the F.W. Dodge Division of McGraw-Hill, an authority on the construction market. Dodge, which issues monthly totals in its Dodge Report, also publishes Sweet's Catalog Files.

Nonresidential construction during March, which includes commercial, manufacturing and other buildings not designed for shelter, was reported at $121,933,000, and residential construction for the month was $106 million, down 17 percent from the $249,244,000 in March of 1997. For the year, residential construction is down two percent, from $548 million during the first quarter in 1977 to $$536 million this year.