OKALOOSA COUNTY CONSTRUCTION UP BY 98 PERCENT SINCE 2009

Great news for the local area. As we continue to reap the benefits of the BRAC 2005 Decision to move the 7th Special Forces Group, F-35 Training Squadron to Eglin and many other programs, projects, and businesses moving here to our area, our construction crews as working hard to keep up. From the many meetings and visits I have had across the county, there would be much more construction, however the lending has not been able to keep pace. With some recent restrictions placed on some local banks with FDIC Consent Orders, many builders are still seeking funding to get started on some great opportunities. Many of these builders are seeking non-traditional lending just to get out of the gate and into the game. I say, look out. As the thousands of new citizens move to the area and you set down with them, they say. Where is the shopping? These thousands of new folks moving to the area have some money to spend, but no place to spend it.

Local construction on the upswing
KARI C. BARLOW / Daily News
2012-01-15 21:38:14
The number of building permits issued in Okaloosa County has increased by 98 percent since 2009. “The bulk of it was due to the first influx of the 7th Special Forces coming to town,” county Growth Management Director Elliot Kampert said. “These guys have more long-term tenure in one location than most. … That enables these guys to buy homes.” Most of the construction has been in the central and northern parts of the county, he added. “This is a birds-of-a-feather kind of situation,” Kampert said. “We do tend to see them clustering inside of subdivisions.” The county issued 685 building permits from January to November 2011, compared to 465 permits during the same period in 2010. In 2009, the county issued 346 permits from January to November. County Administrator Jim Curry said the increase has given the county a moderate economic boost. “We hope to see that pace continue,” he said. Kampert said the jump in permits is good news for the county’s inspection department, which has cut about 20 employees since the housing downturn began. “Not only is it helping my enterprise fund, these guys are shopping in our stores now,” he said. “Their wives are shopping, and they’ve got kids getting into the (school) system. It’s all the peripherals.” The business of new construction multiplies across the county, Kampert said. “Now we’ve got an electrician working, a plumber working, and they have money to spend on stuff … It’s like throwing a pebble in a pond,” he added. Kampert said he hopes to see “an echo of 2011” this year and next as the Army 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) fills out and military support troops arrive. His department is seeing activity on lots that have sat vacant since the start of the housing crash. “Back in the boom, people were platting everything they could get their hands on,” Kampert said. “So now we’re seeing subdivisions that maybe went through the preliminary phases … come back in for final approval, and those lots are ready to go.” Commercial building is not as busy. “We’re seeing a bit,” Kampert said. “It’s small strip centers, build-outs of projects that were started during the boom. Probably the big commercial thing we did last year was the new Lowe’s down in Destin.” Kampert said he has a “guarded optimism for 2012 and beyond.” “It’s going to take a little while,” he said. “You’re getting an infusion of a new aspect of our economy, and that has a very stabilizing effect.”