AFTER SLOW START, BUILDING IN CITY COULD COMPARE WITH BEST YEARS

Third-quarter construction contracts, fueled by single-family housing in July and September and by a giant school construction contract in August, have surpassed last year's first nine months.

More than $3.5 million for 26 single-family homes and a $9.8 million building permit for the Cape Girardeau Area Career Center sent third-quarter totals to more than $16.9 million and to 324 permits and $34,532,000 for the year.

During the first nine months last year, more permits were issued (432), but the amount was less, at $34,119,946.

Residential building has come on strong the past couple of months, said Tarryl D. Booker, director of the city's inspection services.

In September, 11 permits for single-family homes valued at $9.9 million were issued.

The largest permit of the year was issued in August, in the amount of $9.8 million for the new Cape Girardeau Area Vocational Career Center to be constructed at 1080 S. Silver Springs Road.

The city permit office has averaged $3.8 million and 36 permits a month through the first nine months, and the numbers compare with some of the city's "good years" of construction.

Although the year didn't get off to a good start, with only 14 permits issued in January for $1.6 million, the third-quarter -- July, August and September -- totals make up about half of the nine-month totals.

Construction totals could put this year among the top five or six years in the city's history.

Last year there were 55 permits valued at $39,785,496 -- the city's fifth best construction year.

The inspection services division issues permits in all categories -- among them building, electrical and plumbing.

Million-dollar-plus educational projects -- three of them -- and residential construction have fueled construction through the first nine months:

-- 65 permits for new homes and a valuation of $9.904,365, an average of $152,312.

-- 11 permits for 28 units of apartments, including duplexes, valued at $2,629,000.

-- 19 new commercial, educational and church buildings valued at $19,115,000.

-- More than $2.8 million in expansions, remodelings and additions.

The city has experienced only three $40 million-plus years in its construction history, with 1992 holding the record. That's when two giant medical center projects shoved the year's total to $47.9 million. There were 522 permits issued that year.

Two more $40 million years on the 1990s list were $47.6 million in 1990, when 573 permits were issued, and $44.3 million in 1995 on 593 permits.

The record year for permits was 1994 when 637 permits were issued, with a valuation of $38.9 million, fourth best during the 1990s.

The city's street and sewer improvements and the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge are not included in the city's figures.

The totals also do not include two nearby major commercial expansions -- Procter & Gamble's $350 million addition to its Cape Girardeau County plant near Fruitland and Biokyowa's $35 million expansion to its swine and poultry plant in Nash Road Industrial Park, and a new $50 million food plant.

Construction totals are also up statewide and national.

In Missouri, construction through the first three quarters is up 13 percent, to $4.7 billion, up from last year's first nine months of $4.2 billion.

Nationally, year-to-date construction is up 8 percent from the same period last year. Nonbuilding construction -- streets, highways, bridges, etc.. -- is up 12 percent, and residential building is up 9 percent, with commercial and other nonresidential building, up 3 percent.

F.W. Dodge Division of McGraw-Hill Cos. keep tabs on state and national totals, producing the Dodge Reports and Sweet's Catalog files. In Missouri, nonresidential construction during the first nine months, which includes commercial, manufacturing and other buildings not designed for shelter, was reported at $1.66 billion, up 4 percent from $1.59 billion of a year ago. Residential construction through September was $2.1 billion, up from the $1.9 billion a year ago. Nonbuilding construction has the largest increase over a year ago, at 42 percent, from the $718 million, to $1.1 billion.