The Columbus Building Department issued only eight single-family residential building permits in 2010, marking possibly the worst year ever for new home construction in the city.
From 2007 to 2010, city building permits dropped off by 83 percent, from 48 to eight, according to Building Officer Kenneth Wiegel.
During that same time period, Lowndes County saw a 63 percent drop, from 296 single-family residential building permits to 111, according to county Building Inspections Office Director Charles Culpepper.
“We were booming pretty good, but after 2007 it just kind of fell out,” Culpepper said.
Starkville also saw a 57-percent drop, from 86 permits in 2008 to 37 in 2010, according to the city building department.
Lowndes County had a slightly better year in 2010 than in 2009, when the inspections office issued just 69 single-family residential permits. Columbus issued 10 permits in 2009 and Starkville issued 50.
Despite the recent home-building slump, 2011 is looking like a comeback year, Culpepper said. His office has already issued 44 new home construction permits this year.
Of that number, 41 stem from a new subdivision project, the Hargrove Estates, on Hargrove Road off Yorkville Road near Omnova Solutions, he said. The three-bedroom, two-bathroom houses are managed by Hargrove Partners of Pearl. The land is being cleared now.
Century Construction is also planning to build 26 townhouses in a duplex on Brisbane Drive, Culpepper said.
No building permits have been issued yet in the city this year, though Wiegel said it was “not uncommon for January not to be a big, booming month.”
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