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Trumbull begins building projects
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
The national recession of 2008-09 took a toll not only on local jobs and paychecks, but also on construction activity.
Trumbull County building officials say, however, there are signs that construction and renovation projects — a sure sign of economic health — are slowly rebounding.
Perhaps the biggest investment coming online was the announcement last month that a $14 million Residence Inn and banquet center will be built at Eastwood Mall next year.
The City of Niles Building Department recently received building plans for the 66,000-square-foot hotel. The Niles Board of Education also is building three new schools.
Meanwhile, in a wooded area of Champion Township, the Windsor House nursing-home chain of Girard is close to complet- ing construction of a three-story, $4.8 million, 48,550-square-foot assisted-living center behind its current Windsor House at Champion nursing home.
The assisted-living center, to be named Champion Estates, is scheduled to open this fall.
Not far away on the Howland-Bazetta border in the former Delphi Packard Electric facilities on Larchmont Avenue near the state Route 5 Bypass, B.J. Alan Fireworks has nearly completed work on its $1.7 million renovation of the facility for warehousing and office use.
The company renovated 970,000 square feet of the 1.14-million-square-foot facility it purchased from Delphi Packard Electric, according to documents from the Trumbull County Building Department.
Kevin Miller, president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 573, said he’s seeing an “upswing” in commercial construction, saying there appears to be “a lot of work on the books,” meaning construction that will be taking place in the coming months.
“We hope it gets a little momentum and keeps going,” he said, adding that he’s excited about projects at ValleyCare Trumbull Memorial Hospital and St. Joseph Health Center.
There essentially is no residential construction, he noted.
“I see us moving in the right direction,” said Tony DiTommaso, senior representative for the local carpenters union. “There’s a lot of work being recorded” at the building departments, he said.
Chris Tanneyhill, Warren building inspector, said in March that Warren had seen more construction activity in the first quarter of 2012 than in several years before that.
Projects such as renovation of a another former Delphi building on North River Road to serve as a warehouse for the Kellogg Co. had given Warren some welcome business activity this year.
“That’s an indication that things are better” economically, Tanneyhill said.
Kellogg will use 174,000 square feet in the rear of the building at 665 North River Road.
Mike Sliwinski, Trumbull County’s chief building official, said Trumbull County residential and commercial construction has followed the ups and downs of the national economy the last couple of years.
“Early 2011 really took off. Then it dropped off until late in 2011,” Sliwinski said.
In the first five months of 2012, construction has been active again but not dramatically so, Sliwinski said.
County building-permit numbers say total construction activity during the first five months of this year — $18.5 million — is up slightly from the $17.2 million from that time period in 2011. But 2011’s first five months were up $4.5 million from that period in 2010.
Commercial construction and renovation is growing faster than residential activity, with commercial activity climbing from $6.2 million in the first five months of 2010 to $11.2 million in 2011 and $12.2 million this year.
Sliwinski said one of the positive signs is that construction projects seem to be “more sustained” rather than sporadic, which is the way he would describe the construction in previous years.
“We sense an increase, but we don’t really see it in the numbers,” Sliwinski said. We’re seeing a consistent permit activity — residential and commercial.
The county building inspection department handles permit activities and inspections for projects in all parts of the county outside of Warren, Niles, Girard and McDonald.