If you wonder just how much construction is going on in Nashville, here’s a dollar figure: The city is on pace for $3.7 billion in new homes, high rises, and hotels this year.
That’s based on one way to measure growth — through the building permits approved by the Metro Codes department. Just before the recession, they topped out at $1.8 billion in value.
Last year was 33 percent above that.
And Codes is working this year on $3.7 billion in projects — another 50 percent jump in just one year, Codes Director Terry Cobb said in his recent budget hearing.
“We have become quite busy,” he said. “It’s not unusual to see people lined up at the door in our permit office each morning.”
He said his staff can handle the line each day, but other incoming messages get backlogged.
“What we’re failing to do, in all honesty, is get the phone calls returned, get the emails returned in a timely manner — address people’s questions,” he said.
Cobb has filled some vacancies and is hoping for a few more hires to respond to the record-setting activity.
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