Local Building and Real Estate Resources

• Fort Smith Homebuilders Association
• Western River Valley Board of Realtors
• Talk Business & Politics - Fort Smith Metro Building Permit Values Up Almost 40% Through August

August 2022 building activity in the Fort Smith metro declined after an active July, but the year’s activity was far ahead of this time in 2021.

Fort Smith issued 491 permits in August with a value of $24.896 million, down 70% from the $82.934 million value of 616 permits issued in July and down 39.4% from the $41.08 million value of 187 permits issued in August 2021. Year-to-date, Fort Smith has issued $247.812 million in building permits, up 24.8% from the $198.631 million issued in the first eight months of 2021.

There were five permits issued for new residential construction in August with a value of $2.03 million, down 39.5% from the $3.356 million value of five new residential construction permits issued in July, but up 30.97% from the $1.55 million in August 2021.

New commercial construction slowed in Fort Smith last month with only three permits issued for new projects with a combined value of $6.64 million, down 76.9% from the $28.712 million value of five new commercial construction projects permitted in July and down 69.4% from the $21.73 million value in August 2021.

New commercial construction projects included a new $4.692 million Pain Treatment Center of America location at 8306 Massard Creek Court, and a $1.373 multi-tenant building at 3106 74th St. Jesse Bennet with the city of Fort Smith said KMW Properties did not specify what would go into the commercial building, but there will be lease space for three different tenants.

The building permit for Fort Smith’s first Whataburger at 8120 Phoenix Ave., also was issued in August. The Fort Smith Board of Directors approved a rezoning request for the $573,213 fast food restaurant that will have both drive-thru and indoor dining on July 12. There is not a specific opening date has been announced, but Robert Tanner, who oversees the operations for WAB Venture, said the plan is to open in the late fall.

The Fort Smith region ended 2021 with $343.289 million in permitted building activity, up 29% over the $265.975 million in 2020. The Fort Smith metro has seen continuous growth over the past several years, but no recent year has performed as well in building activity as 2021 with all three of the larger cities in the region seeing an increase in building numbers from 2020.