A Second (Smaller) Boom?
Matt Pilon
The building boom of the 1990s may be over in Shrewsbury, but builders are still putting up plenty of new apartments and houses in town, like this one on North Street.
Builders may not be putting up many new homes in much of Massachusetts, but don't tell Shrewsbury.
The town of nearly 36,000 people issued residential building permits for more than 120 new dwellings in 2011, according to the building department.
Several subdivisions and the construction of Madison Place Apartments helped drive the growth, up from just over 70 new dwellings in 2010.
The estimated construction value for the 2011 units totals more than $17 million.
And it secures Shrewsbury's place as one of the most active residential building markets in MetroWest (Westford also had a solid 2011, issuing permits for 74 new dwellings).
Lou Pepi, assistant building inspector in Shrewsbury, said the 123 permits represented approximately 50 single-family homes as well as apartments and three-family town homes.
"We consider Shrewsbury to be pretty recession-proof," Pepi said. "To do 49 or 50 single-family homes the past two years in this economy was great."
New homes don't just mean more tax dollars for the town. The activity also bolsters area builders impacted by the 2008 recession.
During the 1990s, Shrewsbury was issuing approximately 250 residential permits each year, Pepi noted. Those boom-years numbers may never return, but all evidence points to Shrewsbury still going strong.
Across the state, residential permits are rebounding from the recession, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, which conduct building permit surveys.
Massachusetts has still not rebounded back to 2007 levels, when $2.91 billion worth of housing permits were issued, but it is climbing back from its 2009 dip to $1.55 billion. In 2010, the most recent year of data available, the state issued $1.81 billion in permits. n
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