JOPLIN, Mo. —
The jackhammer pace of construction in Joplin since May 22 shows no signs of letting up.
Building permits totaling $68 million were filed with the city of Joplin in November. That number includes $42 million for the temporary hospital that is under construction at 2817 St. John’s Blvd.
Building permits totaling $23.1 million were filed in December, bringing the two-month total to $91.1 million.
That comes on the heels of $177.4 million in permits filed from June through October.
That brings construction in the seven months since the tornado to more than $268.5 million, based on city permits, for an average of about $38.4 million per month. The total includes several big box projects, such as the Wal-Mart Supercenter, Home Depot and Academy Sports & Outdoors, all on Range Line Road.
Still on the horizon are many large church and school projects. Also on the horizon is what will be Mercy Hospital Joplin at 50th Street and Hearnes Boulevard, the eventual replacement for St. John’s Regional Medical Center.
Some Range Line merchants plan to open in the next week or so, including Payless ShoeSource, 1502 S. Range Line Road.
Jerry Garrison, superintendent with Plowman Construction Co., of Olathe, Kan., said crews are nearing the finish line for the shoe store, which will likely open Jan. 27.
“We don’t anticipate any problems,” Garrison said. “The weather has helped us immensely. You don’t normally see this in January anywhere.”
Academy Sports & Outdoors plans to reopen on Jan. 27.
Permits for 100 new single-family homes in Joplin were filed in November and December, bringing the total number of new-home permits in the city limits since May 22 to 541.
But a city official on Tuesday cautioned that the number of permits for new homes could be artificially low because some permits that have been classified as “repairs” are actually “rebuilds.”
Hospital update
The largest permit filed in November and December was for $42 million, filed by Sisters of Mercy Health System for the temporary “component” hospital now under construction at 2817 St. John’s Blvd. The nine-story St. John’s Regional Medical Center sustained a direct hit in the storm.
A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled later this month for Mercy Hospital Joplin, but no building permit had been filed for it through the end of December. The work won’t be completed until mid-2015. That 825,000-square-foot hospital has a construction budget of $335 million, according to the contractor, McCarthy Building Cos., St. Louis.
Miranda Lewis, spokeswoman for St. John’s Mercy Hospital, said the component hospital is “where we will be for the next three years. This will get us back to our Level 2 trauma status.”
It also will allow Mercy to bring back all of its services, such as obstetrics, which it hasn’t been able to offer since the tornado, but in a smaller capacity. Work on the component hospital, which can be expanded as needed, is to be finished this spring, Lewis said.
Freeman Health System filed a $4 million building permit in November for work on Freeman Hospital West, which is being expanded after the May 22 storm. The permit is for part of a $9 million expansion of the fifth and sixth floors of that hospital.
More rebuilding
Two permits, with a combined value of $8.3 million, were filed for rebuilding the Fletcher Toyota and Nissan dealerships on Range Line Road.
“Our Toyota and Nissan facilities were total losses,” said Jim Adams, general manager.
Both new buildings are under roof, and contractors are beginning interior work, including drywall and electrical, Adams said. The plan is to have work done on both buildings this spring.
“We’re fully operational and continue to be fully operational,” he said. “We’re just having to keep moving around.”
Another large permit, this one for $3.4 million, was filed by Hunt Taylor Creek to rebuild the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 2107 S. Indiana Ave. The company, out of Gore, Okla., specializes in church buildings for the denomination.
“We’re in the framing stage right now,” Duane Hunt, one of the owners, said Monday of the 21,000-square-foot church. “We’re looking in the neighborhood of September, could be the first of October (for completion).”
Anemic
BEFORE MAY 22, construction in Joplin was anemic, with the city issuing a little more than $2.1 million in building permits each month.
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Related Photos
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Kathy Austin, commercial plans reviewer with the city of Joplin, on Tuesday color-codes a map citing structures that are being reconstructed in the wake of the May 22 tornado. City officials say the pace of rebuilding continues. GLOBE | ROGER NOMER
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