Building permits down but still on track for 2024

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – Building permits for Sioux Falls are down right now compared to previous years.

Between January and August, the city saw $689 million worth of building permits. Last year, that number was at $725 million and in 2022 it was at over $1.5 billion.

“Yes, they’re about 30-40 million dollars shy of what we did last year,” Butch Warrington, the Chief Building Official for the City of Sioux Falls, said. “I anticipate by the end of the year we’re going to be right with last year. Just guessing, of course, you never know.”

There are eight projects so far this year that have a value of over $10 million including the Sioux Falls One Stop building on South Highline Avenue. Warrington says there will be even more high-dollar projects later this year.

“Some years the big permits come in early in the year, some years later in the year,” Warrington said. “And this year we got a couple of nice permits that will come in later in the year. One being LifeScape, we haven’t issued that one yet. Avera on Louise, we haven’t issued that one yet. And they’re both very nice dollar value permits.”

When it comes to residential permits, there are over 16 hundred that have been issued and the majority of them are apartments.

“We’re doing a lot of apartments this year. That kind of surprised me because we’ve had a lot of apartments built the last few years,” Warrington said. “I expected it to take a nose dive this year, however it hasn’t. We’re pretty close to where we were last year at this time. A little bit less, but it’s a lot more than I anticipated.”

Single-family home permits, on the other hand, are up from last year by almost 100.

“It’ll be interesting in the next couple of years what that number does because, will all those people living in apartments want to buy their own homes? If that’s the case, our residential builders are going to be very busy,” Warrington said.

Warrington says one challenge he continues to hear about from contractors is the ongoing worker shortage.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KELOLAND.com.