After years in the doldrums, construction activity has bounced back in the South Bend area.
Steel is rising at the University of Notre Dame, cranes are towering over Memorial Hospital, new apartment buildings and hotels are popping up across the region, and there’s much more in the planning stages.
Through September of this year, permits for more than $263 million worth of building projects have been granted in St. Joseph County. That’s up from $105 million during the same nine-month period in 2014.
The surge is good news for contractors and workers who survived the Great Recession and the slow recovery that’s followed.
But one concern some builders have as they look forward to busy years ahead is: Are there enough local workers to complete the projects?
“Really, there isn’t,” said Rocky Geans, owner of Mishawaka-based LL Geans Construction Co. “The projects are getting done, but there are more people being pulled in from outside the area.”
The lean years of the recession forced many construction workers to find jobs in other industries and discouraged new workers from joining apprenticeship programs.
“During the recession, the work was nonexistent,” said Chris Springer, financial secretary for South Bend-based Carpenters Local 413. “Many people either moved away to chase the work in different states, or they changed jobs altogether.”