MARSHALL — Marshall has had some large commercial developments over the past 10 years, and it’s showed in the value of the building permits the city has issued.

In 2024, the city issued building permits with a total value of $36.9 million — the highest amount in a decade.

Construction of new businesses, renovations at Ag Plus Cooperative, and a planned new apartment complex accounted for a lot of that total value, said Marshall building official Ray Henriksen.

City data showed that commercial permits made up $32 million of the $36.9 million total value of Marshall building permits in 2024. Out of those commercial permits, four large projects had a value of $20.7 million.

Marshall Economic Development Authority Director Lauren Deutz said having a mix of different kinds of growth was a positive factor for the city.

“Where I think our strength has been is that our growth has been diverse, in that we are seeing a variety of development activity including multifamily housing, commercial, and expansions of existing businesses,” Deutz told the Independent.

Last week, Henriksen and plans examiner Ilya Gutman went over recent Marshall building permit data with the Independent. Marshall does not have its own building code, but it does follow the Minnesota state building code, Gutman said. “The state building code is applicable statewide,” he said.

State codes require permits for construction, demolition or other building projects, as well as work on other systems regulated by the building code, like gas, electrical or plumbing systems. There are some kinds of projects that are exempt from permits under the state code, like painting or carpeting work, and tool or storage sheds with an area smaller than 200 square feet.

Most of the building permits issued in Marshall in a given year are for projects at existing buildings, Henriksen and Gutman said.

Marshall issued a total of 284 building permits in 2024, which was a drop from 2023. That year, the city issued a total of 326 building permits. However, Gutman and Henriksen said part of the decrease was because starting in 2024, city software counted permits for HVAC work, like furnace and air conditioning projects, separately from other building permits.

Building permit totals also don’t include plumbing or sign permits, they said.

Of the 284 building permits the city issued in 2024, there were five permits issued for new single-family residential or duplex buildings. There were seven permits issued for new commercial buildings.

The total number of building permits issued in Marshall has varied from year to year over the past decade. In 2015, there were a total of 468 permits. In 2019, the city issued a total of 639 building permits. In 2022, the total number of permits issued was 298.

The building permit totals included both residential and commercial projects. Over the past 10 years, residential projects have made up around 80% of the total number of building permits each year, Henriksen said.

“It’s been pretty consistent the whole way,” he said.

But that didn’t necessarily mean a lot of new houses were being built every year. The number of single-family homes and duplexes being built in Marshall ranged from five to 20 in a single year.

The high point for new home building permits over the past 10 years was in 2021, when 20 permits were issued. The low point was 2024, with five permits.

The total value of building permits issued in Marshall has also fluctuated over the past 10 years, Gutman and Henriksen said. In 2024, the total value of building permits in Marshall was $36.9 million, the highest it had been since 2015. The total value of permits in that year was $35.6 million.

The year with the lowest total value of building permits in the past decade was 2017. That year, the total value of building permits issued in Marshall was $8.7 million.

Commercial projects have tended to account for most of the value of the building permits issued in Marshall. In 2024, commercial building permits had a total value of $32 million, compared to a total value of $4.9 million for residential permits.

Large commercial building projects have made up a lot of the value of commercial permits in Marshall, Henriksen and Gutman said. In 2024, permits were issued for a new apartment complex, a new Kwik Trip location, major updates at the Ag Plus Cooperative C-Store, and construction of a new Les Schwab Tire location. Together, those building permits made up about $20.7 million of the total $32 million in commercial permits.

In 2015, when the total value of Marshall building permits was $35.6 million, large projects like construction of the Red Baron Arena and Expo and a building addition at the Lyon County courthouse had a combined permit value of $22 million.

The value of residential building permits in Marshall has been relatively consistent from year to year, Henriksen and Gutman said. The total value of residential permits has ranged between $3.6 million to $5.7 million. There were a couple of exceptions, however. In 2019, a hailstorm caused a spike in roofing projects in Marshall, and the total value of residential building permits that year came to $8 million. In, 2021, a higher number of new homes were built, and the total value of residential permits was $8.8 million.

It’s not possible to know what factors might be driving development in Marshall from building permit data alone, Henriksen and Gutman said. The number of new houses being built in Marshall is inconsistent from year to year, and it’s also not possible to predict when a large commercial development project might be planned.

Henriksen and Gutman said the city recently updated its website to better help people with questions about building codes and permits. A new “Buildings/Permits” tab at https://ci.marshall.mn.us offers information on topics including building permits and inspections, city zoning, and Marshall’s registration ordinance for rental properties.

“There’s a lot of information in here that will help the general public,” Henriksen said.

In addition to answering frequently asked questions, the website allows people to apply for building permits online.