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February 27, 2006New builds swell to a recordOfficials seeing more growth in commercial areasTRAVERSE CITY - What bad economy?Despite economic doldrums in many parts of Michigan, new building in Grand Traverse County surged to a record total of more than $220 million in 2005. That's a 12.2 percent increase from the 2004 total of $196.5 million, and exceeds the previous record of almost $198 million set four years ago. Residential growth continues to fuel much of the building surge, but county construction officials said they saw more growth in the commercial sector last year. Big-ticket commercial projects last year include a minor league baseball stadium in Blair Township, a new Oleson's food store complex in East Bay and several new office buildings in Traverse City. "The local building economy fluctuates - it really goes back and forth," said Dale Stevens, director of the county's construction code office. "But there does appear to be a movement toward more commercial activity in the city itself." Garfield Township again led the way last year with 376 new projects worth almost $58 million. Nearly $39 million of that total was for residential construction. But Traverse City closed the new building gap with more than 300 projects worth just over $48 million- nearly 80 percent of it in the commercial sector. After Garfield and the city, new building totals fell off to around $24 million in East Bay Township and $23 million in Blair. Area land-use analysts are encouraged with the commercial growth going on in the city. But they remain concerned about the continued surge of residential development in lower-density areas of the county, creating more urban sprawl and traffic congestion. "We're seeing a lot more development downtown, and from our end that's encouraging," said Jim Lively of the Michigan Land Use Institute. "I don't think we're making as much progress on the residential end ... we're still seeing a lot of bedroom community growth going on." Kenneth Johnson, a professor and demographer at Loyola University in Chicago who's studied growth trends in Grand Traverse County, doesn't look for the area's building boom to slow anytime soon. "I think the Traverse City area is doing well in part because it's a major recreation area, but it's also the business center in that part of the state," he said. Grand Traverse is among just a handful of non-metro counties outside of the southern and western U.S. that continues to experience solid population growth, Johnson said. He expects the county will continue to see more retirees moving in from throughout the Midwest because of the area's natural resources and recreation attractions. "The front edge of the baby boom is going to keep retiring," Johnson said. "I'm expecting Traverse City will continue to grow at a pretty significant clip." The county's rural townships to the south again had the slowest growth last year. Union Township, much of it state forest land, had the least amount of new building last year, with a dozen projects totaling just over a half-million dollars in value. [an error occurred while processing this directive] |