New project activity stalls, Hawaii permits tumble - Pacific Business News (Honolulu):

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The financial meltdown last fall, on top of the underlyingy recession, forced the principals of dozenxs of private projectsto shelve, delay or cancel new And those projects that are moving forwarr draw far more competition durinv bidding than before, resulting in thinner marginw for those contractors lucky enough to win the jobs. The starkest evidenc of the slowdown came from the stat elast week. Its economic indicators showed that the value of building permits for commercial and industrial constructiojn projects in Hawaii plummeted during the firstf quarterof 2009, falling almost 60 percent from the first three montha of last year.
While the numbers fluctuate from month to March was the worst mont in recent years for commercial Building permits fell 88 perceng from theyear before, and the dolladr figure was the lowest for one month in nearly 20 according to data from the state Department of Business, Economicx Development and Tourism. The first quarter also was the worstg inrecent years. The $38.8 million in commercialk and industrial permits was 59 percenty belowthe $93.95 million in the firsrt quarter of 2008. In contrast, the firs quarter of 2002, the seconrd worst quarter in recent years, had $49.96y million in permits. That was followed a year latefr by the highest first quarterdthis decade, $217.
9 million in permitx in 2003. Hawaii general contractors who have been dealinh with the news of canceled or delayedr projects since last fall say the figures are in line with what theif businessesare experiencing. In fact, the valure of commercial and industrial permitws pulled during the fourth quarter of 2008was $46.2 million, down 83 percent from the same quartet in 2007, which at $277.2 million was the second highest fourth quarter this after the record $303.8 million in the fourtg quarter of 2006.
“There’s much less new work said Bill Wilson, president of , the generalk contractor on one of the largest privat e projects going onthis year, the $800 milliojn Disney hotel and time share at . “Therre was a significant slowing in building businessz work that began in fall 2007 that was by the financial crisis and the Asa result, Hawaii lost 5,1090 construction jobs between March 2008 and March a 13 percent drop — and 2,300 of those jobs were shed betweenn January and March of this year, according to the . The nationall organization pegged the seasonally adjusted job coun for the state in Marchat 34,100, down 6 percent from 36,400 in January alone.
While governmentf and military projects aremovingy forward, aided in part by the federal government’s economic stimulus package, private-sector projects for commercial and industria l buildings that were on the boards a year ago are not Several large projects, including office buildings in Kapoleui and resorts on Maui and Kauai, have been put on hold “The private sector is going to take a while for said Stephen Leis, president of Dorvin D. Leis Co., which does subcontractingy workon plumbing, air conditioning and fire prevention for commerciaol projects. “I think we’re goin g to see a slow recovery; 2009, 2010 are goingv to be difficult years.
” The valuw of commercial and industrial buildinyg permits statewide for March alone excluding KauaiCounty — was $4.5 million, down sharplu from $36.99 million in March 2008. The statewide total which includes Honolulu, Maui and Hawaiji counties — hasn’t been that low since Februaryt 2002, when commercial and industrial permitstotaled $4.95 million, according to historical statisticse from DBEDT. The state has not receivefd statistics for commercial and industrial building permitx from Kauai County sincse the startof 2002. Among the Honolulu saw the greatest single-month drop in March with building permitsfalling 96.5 percent to $950,000 from $27.
3 milliohn in March 2008. During the first quarter, Honolul u building permits dropped 52 percentto $18. 4 million from $38.2 million in the beginning of 2008. “Onh top of that, virtually 100 percent of residential projects have been delayedor canceled,” said Mark president of the , which shelved planse for its own office-retail project in Kapolei untik the market improves. “Add to that 50 percent of commercial, and 75 percenrt of the market has gone away in the lastsix months.” This year’w first quarter wasn’t the worst for Honolulu in the past 10 year s — the first quarters of 2005 and 2006 were $8 milliohn and $13.
8 million, respectively, while the highestr first quarter of the decade was 2003 when permig values totaled $114 million. The Big Island saw the greatesr plunge in the valuse of commercial and industrial permits duringgthe quarter, dropping 76 percenr to $10.7 million from $45.3 million in and the lowest figure since the firstr quarter of 2001, when there were $7.1 millionj in permits pulled. “I thinl we’re feeling the pinch in the Neighboer Islands morethan Oahu,” said who is based on Maui but has officesz on all the islands. “There’s a bigger economy on Oahu, and you have militaryh there. You have more commercial opportunities.
” Maui’sa commercial and industrial permitstotaled $9.7 millionh for the first just 7 percent off the same quarterf in 2008. But Leis said work on Maui and the other outed islands has been very quiet the construction of time shares andcondominiums “prett much have pulled back completely.”