UPBEAT 1ST QUARTER BUCKS BUILDING TREND

Construction is on an upward swing in Cape Girardeau.

Commercial and residential contracts for future construction were up during the first quarter of 1996.

Permits for residential housing, totaling almost $3 million ($2,986,600) -- 14 single-family homes, a dozen two-family duplexes and one 18-unit apartment building -- are up 22 percent over January, February and March totals of $2.4 million in 1995.

Permits for three major commercial projects -- including two city park projects -- has shoved commercial construction totals past $11.7 million, up 10 percent over the $10.7 million during the same period a year ago.

A total of 122 building permits were issued by the city's Division of Inspection Services during the first three months of the year, totaling $16,569,000, according to Brenda D. Schloss, administrative secretary of the Inspection Services Division of the city. That represents a 17 percent increase over the $14,137,594 during the same period a year ago.

Cape Girardeau totals are in contrast to national figures which reflect a small decline in overall construction during the first two months of 1996 (National March figures are not yet available).

Total construction for January and February nationally totaled more than $397 billion for 1996, according to the F.W. Dodge Division of McGraw-Hill Companies, which keeps tabs on the nation's construction information. This figure is 1 percent below the $402 billion total of the same period in 1995.

Residential construction nationally increased 13 percent over last year's January-February period, but nonresidential building was down 16 percent.

Total construction is down 24 percent for the first two months in Missouri. January and February totals are at $705,722,000, down from the $924,882,000 for the same period a year ago.

Residential construction is up 22 percent for January and February in Missouri, from $279 million last year to $341 million this year, but non-residential construction is down more than 50 percent, from $458 million last year to $198 million in 1996.

A permit for the latest city park project, a $2.5 million development at Osage Park, issued in March, shoved the Cape Girardeau totals past last year's first-quarter totals. Before the $2.5 million Osage Park permit, 1996 construction totals were about even with 1995 figures.

Plans for Osage Park call for a 33,800-square-foot community building at the southeast corner of the Lexington-Mount Auburn and Kingshighway intersection. Plans for the new arena building call for ceiling heights ranging from 27 feet to 41 feet at the roof's peak. Two large meeting rooms can be subdivided by folding partitions into eight meeting rooms.

A month before, a $1.5 million permit was issued for the Shawnee Park Sports Complex, which calls for five softball fields, a central concession stand and four soccer fields.

The largest of nine commercial projects will be the construction of the Lone Star clinker storage building, which is under way at 2524 S. Sprigg, at a cost of $7.5 million.

Construction of single-family residences in the city is up about 12 percent, with 14 new homes at a cost of $1,954,000, or an average of about $140,000 each. A year ago, a total of 11 permits were issued in the amount of $1.6 million during the first three month. Other residential construction for 1996 includes five duplex units at a total cost of $588,000 and an 18-unit apartment at a cost of $444,000.

Forty permits for additional rooms, garages, storage sheds and other residential renovations added more than $366,000 to the first quarter '96 totals. Eighteen permits for renovation and expansions of commercial buildings accounted for more than $1.2 million, and 25 commercial signs added another $150,000.

1996 FIRST QUARTER CONSTRUCTION

Total construction was up during the first quarter in Cape Girardeau. Permits were issued for new houses, commercial buildings, renovations and expansions.

Shown here is a comparison of permits issued in 1996, followed by 1995 totals:

Single-family homes: 14 ($1,954,600); 11 ($1.600,000).

Duplexes: 5 ($588,000); 7 ($845,000).

Apartments: 18-unit ($444,000); none in 1995.

Commercial buildings: 9 ($11.7 million); 14 ($10.7 million).

Commercial expansions: 18 ($1.2 million); 26 ($1.4 million).

Residential remodeling, expansions, etc.: 40 ($366,000); 30 ($226,000).

Signs: 25 ($150,000); 31 (157,200).

Demolitions: 12 ($120); $400).

Total permits: 122; 150.