Despite such high-profile exceptions as the Angelo Building at Mill Plain Center, the Sifton Industrial Park and the Agave headquarters in Ridgefield, commercial construction in Clark County continues to struggle.
Even though remodels, renovations and public infrastructure projects are helping to buoy the industry, construction statistics paint a stark picture of an economic recession hitting local development hard. And while local industry leaders are seeing some market improvements, they don't see the trend changing rapidly.
"At this time the stats are telling the truth," said Jeff Woodside, Nutter Corporation vice chair. "There are few major projects other than governmental infrastructure on the horizon in Clark County."
Woodside said he doesn't see the trend changing anytime soon.
Applications for single family residential building permits in the first quarter of 2009 were the lowest in a decade, according to Marty Snell, director of Clark County Community Development.
According to Clark County figures, total construction valuation declined 53 percent from the first quarter of 2008, with commercial construction valuation at $20 million – down 35 percent from last year.
Commercial construction projects made up 56 percent of the total valuation for the quarter, which despite the decrease, is the highest commercial-to-residential percentage in a decade.
Statewide trends reflect similar patterns, with residential building permits falling from 2,425 in May 2008, to 1,189 permits in May 2009, according to data presented by the Building Industry Association of Washington.
Year-to-date residential building permits in Cowlitz County dropped from 27 in May 2008 to five in May 2009. In Skamania County, the number dropped from five residential building permits to just two during the same period this year.
Tim Schauer, president of Wilsonville, Ore.-based construction consultants MacKay & Sposito Inc., says he's seeing an uptick in development, but believes that much of the new construction is related to federal and state relief funds.
Schauer predicted a slow return to optimism regarding new construction projects in the next six to 12 months.
One consequence of the current construction downturn has been the emergence of new projects with a focus on multiple uses and savings on everything from building materials and energy.
Several of the commercial buildings making VBJ's Top Projects list this year, such as the $3.8 million, 74,500 square-foot Sifton Industrial Park, feature open beam construction and green design. Another project making the list, the Angelo Building, is the first of a two-phase $57 million project certified by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) accredited by the nonprofit U.S. Green Building Council.
Not to be outdone on the sustainable construction front, the $1.8 million Agave building project features pre-engineered steel, pre-painted exterior architectural panels and energy efficient heating, cooling and insulation.
Another common trend in new commercial projects is an emergence of mixed-use spaces, combining offices with retail and other commercial facilities, such as Washougal Town Square (see story on pg. 8).
But green building practices may not be enough to get ailing construction projects through the slump.
There are signs that population growth – a big engine for development over the last decade in Southwest Washington for over a decade – has begun to stall.
The Washington State Department of Licensing reported a ten percent year-to-year decrease in the number of out-of-state licenses "surrendered" in the first quarter of 2009.
