Bad weather boosts value of Lawton building permits

Bad weather and an upsurge in new home starts in southwest Lawton helped boost the value of city building permits to almost $9.3 million in July.

Roofers nailing decking and shingles onto houses in practically every neighborhood has been the sound of summer ever since a monster hailstorm struck June 15. That’s reflected in permit numbers: Roofing for commercial buildings totaled $835,000 last month and 41 residential roof projects accounted for more than $900,000 in permits.

Not all those permits are necessarily for storm damage, but more hail-related permits are certain to show up in August’s numbers.

Lawton recorded a rare month with double-digit permits for single-family homes. The issued permits for 12 new homes valued at $2.5 million. D.R. Horton, the nation’s largest homebuilder, accounted for 11 of the permits, all in the Rolling Hills addition in southwest Lawton.

The city also issued permits for 13 solar power installations valued at more than $500,000.

By far the largest commercial permit, valued at $3.5 million, was for remodeling of the Walmart store at 1002 N. Sheridan.

Other large commercial permits included:

•A $321,975 roofing permit the commercial office building at 1707 S. 11th;

•A $246,310 permit for roofing for the Target store at 2030 NW 82nd;

•A $125,000 permit for roofing at the Homeland supermarket at 6734 Cache Road;

•An $87,000 permit for a parking lot at 1212 NW Arlington for the Lawton Community Health Center Midtown;

•An $82,400 roofing permit for the Fort Sill Federal Credit Union branch at 5202 W. Lee;

•A $41,000 permit for a new fence at Eisenhower Elementary School, 315 SW 52nd;

•A $34,000 permit for a new fence at Woodland Hills Elementary School;

•A $30,000 permit for roofing for the Lawtonian Cabanas, 401 SW F;

•A $20,000 permit for roofing at the Overhead Door Company of the Great Plains building at 211 SW Texas;

•An $18,936 permit for a fire alarm at the Caliber Collision shop under construction at 7280 NW Sun Blvd.

•A $17,000 permit for a fire alarm system at the state Department of Human Services office, No. 2 E. Lee;

•A $16,000 permit for a fire suppression system for the Shipley’s Donuts shop at 2001 Cache Road; and

•A $14,963 permit for the Old Navy store under construction at 1912 NW 82nd.