TINA FORDE, Valley Press Business Editor
March 8, 2006
Lancaster jumpstarts '06 building
 
The first Antelope Valley building permits report of 2006, covering the Los Angeles County portion of the Valley for the month of January, shows Lancaster off to a strong start, leading its neighbor and rival Palmdale in hard numbers of permits pulled and in value of the projects. The value of industrial and commercial permits was up for both cities as business follows the rooftops into the Valley.
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According to the March 1 Construction Industry Research Board report, builders in Lancaster pulled 265 permits for single-family units in January 2006 against 136 in January 2005, for an increase of 94.9%. Builders in Palmdale pulled 38 permits for single-family dwellings in January 2006 against 86 in January 2005, for a drop of 55.8%.
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The value of residential permits pulled in Lancaster for January was $48,895,000 and for Palmdale, $9,791,000. Lancaster's nonresidential project permits in January 2006 increased in value 238.9% over 2005. Palmdale's nonresidential permits increased in value 26.1%.
 
Gretchen Gutierrez, executive director of the Antelope Valley Chapter of the Building Industry Association of Southern California, said, "Lancaster is moving along at the moment. There's a lot of grading activity going on in Palmdale. Obviously we're continuing to build up here. We expected to maintain the numbers. "Our builders are actively pursuing projects in both communities. A lot of our builders are looking at dirt."
 
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