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City tops $1B mark in construction permits four years in a row
(Hamilton Spectator, Steve Arnold, Nov 12 2015)

Construction in Hamilton has topped $1 billion for the fourth straight year.

In a news release Wednesday afternoon, the city's chief building official Ed VanderWindt said the milestone was passed this month.
To the end of October the city reported sales of building permits for construction valued at more than $978.8 million. Another $21.2 million was added Nov. 9, bringing the annual total to just over $1 billion.

This is the fifth time in the past six years the city has topped the $1-billion permit mark — and there's still just over seven weeks left in the year.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger said the blistering pace of local building is a testament to the city's economic development strategy.

"A lot of it is due to business expansion and that is exactly our strategy to grow business in our community," he said. "This is exactly what we want to see."

The year-to-date numbers are still heavily weighted toward residential construction — 84.4 per cent. In fact industrial, commercial and institutional building is down more than 51 per cent for the year. Despite that, almost $230 million worth of industrial-commercial permits were sold.

Read it in full here.