New construction starting to climb
New construction starting to climb in the Sauk Valley
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February 2009 wasn’t a great time to be starting a business, especially in the construction industry.
But that is when Mark Cater started up Cater Construction and General Contracting.
“It was pretty scary,” he said. “I had a lot of sleepless nights. I begged, borrowed and pleaded with people, and I got lucky. But I worked hard, too.”
The Sterling resident recently finished a contracting job for the new Angelo’s restaurant in Dixon, and has another one lined up for this year.
He’s feeling “cautiously optimistic,” and based on building permits for new construction, he might have good reason.
In 2007, as the real estate market was beginning its downward spiral, the city of Dixon issued 60 building permits, 35 of those for residential structures.
That number tanked to five building permits in 2009, three of those residential.
In 2010 and 2011, though, the number had modest growth. 2011 saw an increase to 16 total building permits for new construction.
While both Rock Falls and Sterling saw similar dips, Sterling is back above 2007 levels, and Rock Falls still is trying to climb out.
No commercial buildings were newly constructed in 2010 and 2011, and only one each in the two years before that.
Instead, Rock Falls Building Inspector Mark Searing said, companies are using existing business buildings.
Every time someone moves into a new building, the city conducts an occupancy inspection.
“It’s a good trend when they are moving around,” he said. “Businesses are growing or moving.”
There were two new homes built in 2011, and four new homes in 2010.
“The economy the last year or two, new construction has really slowed down,” Searing said. “It seems like people are investing money back into their homes. If you look at permits, 165 roofs were put on in Rock Falls last year.”
Terry Wolf, president of Terry Wolf Construction, agreed.
The Rock Falls-based company has received a number of inquiries about construction of new homes, garages, roofs and remodeling for the spring season.
“I anticipate by the calls we are having coming in at this time, it should be a pretty good spring,” he said.
Hvarre Holdings has started up the next phase of its Overlook Gardens on the south side of Dixon.
Based on the local housing market, the company will build new townhouses on Evelynn Rose Lane, named after owner Ted Hvarre’s youngest daughter.
“The housing market is strong locally, and we are building on a need,” Hvarre said.
Plenty of people want to move, he said, especially empty nesters.
“People want to buy something new, but people who would buy their homes cannot get financing,” he said. “It’s not a real estate slowdown. It’s a financial crisis.”
That’s part of the reason Canterbury House Apartments in Dixon also is expanding, said its project manager, Mike Roderer.
The apartments, located off Lowell Park Road, are managed by Herman and Kittle Properties, an Indianapolis company.
“I think a big contributing factor to our business right now is the difficulty of folks to obtain credit to purchase homes,” Roderer said “While interest rates are favorable, it’s difficult, especially for first-time buyers, to get a mortgage.”
Not everybody in the industry is optimistic.
Craig Wilson co-owns Triple W Properties with his father, Don Wilson. They are developing a property along Lynn Boulevard in Sterling.
With other industries leaving, he said, the demand is returning very slowly.
“It’s just one of those things in Sterling,” Craig Wilson said. “Factories are starting to leave. We’ve been in this quite a bit longer than the rest of the country.
“I do think it’s starting to pick up a little bit, but a very little bit. I don’t think it will ever be back to where it was.”
It’ll take a firm commitment from a potential buyer, Don Wilson said, for him to start building new homes.
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