Construction industry continues to see boom in Colorado Springs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO)-- The Pikes Peak Regional Building Department says the construction industry added a much-needed boost to the economy with the ongoing pandemic.

PPRBD says 2021 was another record year for construction. They say one of the biggest things that stood out was the number of apartment complexes that got permitted last year. That number reached almost 4,000 units, one-fourth of them in Downtown Colorado Springs.

PPRBD says the year got off to a hot start with home building, pointing to the more than 5,000 single-family home permits issued.

"We actually had the busiest year we had on single-family homes since dating back to 2005, so extremely busy on single-family homes. You combine homes with the apartments, it really does show Colorado and Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak Region is quite popular these days," said Greg Dingrando with PPRBD.

In 2021, Dingrando says 550 new commercial projects were approved, a 34% increase from the previous year.

Some of the new high-profile projects being worked on right now include a new hospital, two new medical centers, a Coca-Cola distribution center, five new hotels, and Colorado’s first Whataburger.

"[It's] a lot of big, big projects and that’s a huge boost for our local economy, which was greatly needed when you consider that a lot of other industries were being greatly hurt by the pandemic. The construction industry kind of played a really important role in keeping our economy going," said Dingrando.

With residential and commercial projects combined, the estimated valuation for construction in the Pikes Peak region in 2021 was more than $4.3 Billion.