Construction activity in the city last month was dominated by a $13.3-million permit issued for work that soon will begin to turn the former downtown Federal Building into Brantford ‘s new city hall.

In January, the city issued 42 building permits with a total value of $15.5 million. That’s down from January last year when the city issued 83 permits valued at $16.6 million.

Russ Thomson, the city’s chief building official, said the city issued a permit for the interior demolition at the former Federal Building. “So, this permit is to refurbish the building.”

The city hasn’t hired a contractor for the job yet but applied for a permit to ensure construction can start as soon as a contract is awarded.

Maria Viscocchi, the city’s manager of corporate communications, said the construction permit value doesn’t reflect numerous other project costs, including furniture and fixtures, testing, inspections and construction management fees.

Visocchi said a tender call for the job closes March 6 and a contract is expected to be awarded before the end of April, with work to begin about a month later. The timeline indicates the project will be substantially completed by summer 2020.

The city estimates the entire project – including the $5.9-million purchase cost of the building from the federal government – will top $18 million.

Thomson said a large part of the project will focus on creating on the ground floor a fully accessible council chamber and direct access to customer service representatives to help residents.

He said the new city hall will be “more customer-friendly” than the current building on Wellington Street. It will have “better layout than what we have here,” he said.

The new city hall will bring together several municipal departments currently scattered in various buildings.

Also in January, the city issued permits for 11 commercial projects valued at nearly $1 million.

The largest permit went for alterations to 11-15 Queen St., site of the former Brant Art Shoe store. The $380,000 permit is to alter the residential units on the upper floors.

A $200,000 permit is for work at the former Sears store in Lynden Park Mall to prepare the space to house either a single tenant or multiple ones.

A $150,000 permit was issued to transform the former Gus and Guido’s restaurant on King George Road into Chuck’s Roadhouse restaurant.

Industrial permits included a $184,000 project to install a rack storage system and sprinkler protection at 99 Savannah Oaks Dr., preparing for a new tenant.

And Vicano Developments got a $100,000 permit to service a site at 185 Oak Park Rd. for a future project.

There were only two permits for homes – both single-detached. One is on Pearl Street, with a build value of $178,000, and the other one is on Tedley Boulevard with a value of $412,000.

“January is traditionally a slow month for construction but this was still a good start for 2019,” said Thomson.

“And we’re hopeful that we’ll continue to see positive building reports this year.”

In Brant County, construction permits dipped slightly in January from the same month last year.

Last month, 29 permits were issued with a value of $4.1 million, down from 43 permits valued at $5.2-million in January 2018.

Andre Gravelle, the county’s chief building official, called the 29 permits issued in January a “typical start to the year.”

“We had only nine dwelling units get permits, and they’re all in Paris,” he said.

Those residential projects totalled $3.3 million.

The county also issued seven permits, worth $335,000, for sheds, additions and other alterations to homes.

“It was a lot of small stuff but we’ve got good things cooking on the books,” said Gravelle.

In 2018, the county issued a record $172.3 million in permits, while the city issued $173.9 million in permits.

SGamble@postmedia.com

@EXPSGamble