A trio of Johann Fust Community Library projects supplied more than one-third of the commercial construction spending for 27 projects in Boca Grande in 2012.
The library paid $635,000 for renovation designed to better use its space and facilitate the merger with the Lee County Parks and Recreation reference room.
The other 24 projects came to $1.031 million in permit spending for a sum total of $1.656 million.
Boca Grande supplied 2.5 percent of all commercial spending in Lee County where permitting for general commercial structures - valued at nearly $62.5 million - was down 49 percent over 2011.
Mary Gibbs, director of Lee County Community Development, said numbers were skewed as 2011 commercial permitting spiked with construction of JetBlue Park and Park Royal Hospital. Commercial permitting in 2012 was up 46 percent compared with 2010 the historic commercial low in unincorporated Lee County.
"We are encouraged to see a continuing - although modest - trend toward growth," Gibbs said in a press release.
Single-home spending was more robust than commercial in Lee County overall.
During 2012, permitting for 556 single-family houses worth $126.6 million in unincorporated Lee County was up 49 percent over the previous year, and up 68 percent compared with 2009, when home building hit a historic low.
Permitting for 189 new multi-family units was up 35 percent over 2011 and 141 percent over the historic low set in 2009, according to the Lee County Department of Community Development.
During December, contractors pulled 57 permits to build single-family houses collectively valued at more than $9.8 million in unincorporated Lee County compared with 44 November permits and six issued December 2011.
Also in December, 15 multi-family units were permitted compared with 20 in November and six in December 2011.
During December, Lee County Community Development issued 2,263 permits of all kinds for a total of 32,261 in 2012, up 10 percent from 2011.
Lee County Community Development oversees planning, zoning, development and building services, environmental review, building inspection, and code enforcement for the unincorporated areas of Lee County.
