Commercial Construction

The number of building permits issued for new homes in the Baltimore area fell 13 percent last year, the second-straight year that a leading index of the health of a key local industry has fallen, the Baltimore Metropolitan Council said yesterday.Builders took out permits for only 11,009 new homes in 1995, a decline of 1,613 homes from the previous year. But the gloomy news for the residential sector was partly offset by a fairly optimistic report on commercial construction: The value of new commercial construction approved in 1995 jumped 102 percent.

James Edward O'Meara Jr., founder of a commercial construction company and a World War II veteran, died Saturday of heart failure at his Glyndon home. He was 90. The son of a masonry company owner and a homemaker, Mr. O'Meara was born in Baltimore and raised in Cedarcroft. He was a 1940 graduate of Calvert Hall College High School, and during World War II he enlisted in the Army and served as a combat engineer in the Philippines and Biak Island, building airstrips. After the war ended in 1945, Mr. O'Meara returned to Baltimore, and studied architectural drawing at the Maryland Institute College of Art , from which he graduated in 1948.

Building permits for new homes in metropolitan Baltimore jumped almost 10 percent in March, but a weak commercial construction market was hampered by a relative scarcity of the big government projects that have helped to sustain the industry since the 1990-1991 recession.The Baltimore Metropolitan Council said builders in the Baltimore area obtained 997 permits for single-family houses and townhouses, up 9.6 percent from March 1995.Permits in the smaller category of apartments and condominiums skyrocketed 70 percent in March, largely on the strength of fast growth in Anne Arundel County.

Maryland AGC, the Maryland Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America, has elected Stella Miller, president and owner of Stella May Contracting, as chairman of the board for the period July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2013. Also elected were Jeffrey Hargrave, president of Mahogany, Inc., as first vice chairman, Steve Crist, vice president of J. H. Hampshire, Inc., as second vice chairman, and Christopher Tripp, heavy civil manager Mid Atlantic for Joseph B. Fay Company, as secretary/treasurer.

Maryland AGC, the Maryland Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America, has elected Stella Miller, president and owner of Stella May Contracting, as chairman of the board for the period July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2013. Also elected were Jeffrey Hargrave, president of Mahogany, Inc., as first vice chairman, Steve Crist, vice president of J. H. Hampshire, Inc., as second vice chairman, and Christopher Tripp, heavy civil manager Mid Atlantic for Joseph B. Fay Company, as secretary/treasurer.

Building permits for new homes in metropolitan Baltimore snapped back smartly in February from a weather-related January lull, the Baltimore Metropolitan Council reported yesterday.Homebuilders obtained the rights to build 671 single-family homes and townhouses in Baltimore and the five surrounding counties, up 22.4 percent from the same month last year, the council said.The 1996 total of 1,232 home permits in January and February is the same as in those months last year.Commercial construction permits were mixed, with a 28 percent gain in the value of additions and repairs to commercial buildings partly offset by a 41 percent drop in the smaller sector of new commercial construction.

The City Council is considering revising its sprinkler ordinance to require sprinklers in some new commercial construction and in building renovations under certain conditions.The recommendations under the council's consideration would require sprinkler systems to be installed in new single-story buildings 8,500 square feet or larger and multistory buildings 10,500 square feet or larger.After reviewing the recommendations, drafted by Councilman ThomasJ. Denike, officials decided to seek input from the fire company andstate fire marshal.

Apparently Councilman Thomas J. Denike received an "A" on his homework.City Attorney Thomas F. Stansfield presented the City Council Monday with a draft sprinkler ordinance that contains the recommendations Denike, the council's newest member, outlined at a special meeting last month.Denike made his recommendations, which would overhaul the city's existing ordinance, after researching state and county requirements for sprinkler systems in new commercial construction, building renovations and residential dwellings.

Maryland's already-modest economic recovery will be even slower for the rest of this year and early 1996, but it will not stall out completely despite high interest rates and accelerating federal budget cuts, a team of University of Baltimore economists predicts.Employment growth, which regional economists use as their chief measure of the state's economic health, will fall off to 0.37 percent in the next three months, just over half as fast as that estimated for the quarter that ends today, the forecast says.

Weaker economy indicatedThe pace of industry, employment and commercial construction all showed dismal performances at the end of summer as the economy apparently weakened, figures released yesterday indicate.The National Association of Purchasing Managers index of manufacturing activity dipped back into recession territory in September. The number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits rose for a fifth straight week, and commercial construction activity plunged to the lowest level in eight years.

The pace of home building in Howard County remained nearly unchanged from late 2009 through last year, while commercial construction declined slightly, according to a new county government development report. There were 1,427 residential units built in the 15 months that ended Dec. 31, the report said. A 12-month average based on that figure is 1,141 units, a few less than in the previous year and less than the 1,379 annual average for the previous five years. Those numbers are far below the peak of more than 3,000 units a year built before the county adopted growth controls in 1992.

Johns Hopkins is building a 45,000-square-foot addition to its centerpiece Milton S. Eisenhower Library. Loyola University Maryland is putting the finishing touches on new teaching and research laboratories at the Donnelly Science Center. And at the University of Baltimore, a private developer is designing a student apartment building as a new law center takes shape. While new commercial construction in and around Baltimore remains moribund, big projects are sprouting on the region's university campuses.

Norman E. Rockwell, a commercial contractor and founder of Northern Chesapeake Builders Corp., died of cancer Dec. 13 at his St. Michaels home. The former Baldwin resident was 76. Mr. Rockwell was born in Martinsburg, W.Va., and raised in the city's Bel Air-Edison neighborhood. He was a 1949 graduate of Polytechnic Institute. In 1952, he married Joanne Talkemeier. While working for local builder S. Elmer Armiger and raising a family, he attended night school at the Johns Hopkins University, receiving a bachelor's degree in engineering in 1961.

Commercial construction in Howard County is booming - at 1999-2000 levels - according to Richard W. Story, chief executive officer of the county's Economic Development Authority. In concrete terms, that means 1.5 million square feet of office, warehouse and retail space under construction, with another 2.9 million square feet being planned. In addition, Story said, the county is likely to gain a corporate headquarters moving from another county, though he would not identify the company.

At an industry seminar last week in Las Vegas, construction economist Bill Toal, formerly of the Portland Cement Association, forecast a 1.6 percent drop in total construction for the year, with an expected increase of 1.4 percent in 2003. Toal based his forecast on orders for cement products, which are considered a good indicator of construction activity because of their widespread use in residential, commercial, industrial and public works construction. Toal said that while some sectors remain weak, the economy is showing signs of improvement, with housing starts in particular still robust.

Buoyed by such sectors as technology, biotechnology, financial services and commercial construction, the Maryland economy will continue to surge this year, although not at last year's torrid pace. But 1999 was a year in which Gross State Product output was estimated to have grown by as much as 4.7 percent -- the second straight year in which growth exceeded 4 percent. "For 2000, we estimate that there will be full job growth and income growth and Gross State Product growth, though the rate will be somewhat below the level of 1999," said Pradeep Ganguly, director of the Office of Business & Economic Research for the Maryland Department of Business & Economic Development.

Construction remains mixedThe housing construction market remained bullish in August but commercial construction continued its deep sag, according to data released by the Baltimore Metropolitan Council.The council reported that building permits for single-family homes rose 10.5 percent from August 1993, a pace close to the 12 percent gain in permits for the year to date. Builders have taken out 7,296 permits for new single-family homes this year through August, the council said.Permits for multifamily housing such as apartments and condominiums fell 10.5 percent and are off 26 percent for the year to an eight-month total of 1,606 units.

The Howard County Council voted unanimously last night to make developers pay an excise tax on all residential and commercial construction and to require builders to pass both a schools test and a roads test before starting their projects.The so-called adequate-facilities legislation will take effect in 60 days. Councilwoman Shane Pendergrass, D-1st, had sought to make the bill take effect immediately, but was outvoted, 4-1.The five-bill, five-resolution legislative package has three main features:* A roads test to determine if intersections can accommodate traffic generated by a proposed development;* A schools test to determine if nearby schools will be overcrowded when new residents move into a proposed development;* An excise tax imposed on all new residential and commercial construction.

With tourism and commercial construction among the bright spots, Maryland's economy made another strong showing in this year's third quarter -- even in the face of a long-running labor shortage that continues to trouble nearly every major industry nationwide.This strong growth in the national, state and Baltimore-area economies will rumble on through the end of this year -- and should continue well into next year, economists and local business insiders say.Hard data and anecdotal evidence "do suggest that the third quarter of 1999 was an extremely strong one for both the nation and Maryland, in virtually all sectors of the economy," said Anirban Basu, director of applied economics for Towson University's business and economics research unit.

Building permits for new homes in metropolitan Baltimore jumped almost 10 percent in March, but a weak commercial construction market was hampered by a relative scarcity of the big government projects that have helped to sustain the industry since the 1990-1991 recession.The Baltimore Metropolitan Council said builders in the Baltimore area obtained 997 permits for single-family houses and townhouses, up 9.6 percent from March 1995.Permits in the smaller category of apartments and condominiums skyrocketed 70 percent in March, largely on the strength of fast growth in Anne Arundel County.