A $450,000 project for Lawrence Athletic Club East, 1202 E. 23rd St., was among the largest construction projects started during April, according to a new city report.

Lawrence Athletic Club owner Rick Sells said work on the 12,000-square-foot, two-story fitness club should be complete by the end of the year. It will be Sells’ third club in Lawrence, but the first one in the eastern part of the community.

Sells said an increasing number of residents and commuters made it the right time to expand into Lawrence’s east side.

“In 1999, when we first started studying it, there were 42,000 cars a day that would go by that site and there were 27,000 people within a mile radius that make $25,000 to $50,000 a year,” Sells said. “That’s a lot of potential customers.”

Sells is estimating the new location will boost his business’ membership base, now around 6,000 people, by approximately 1,000.

“I have so many people now who tell me they would join my club if they didn’t have to drive across town,” Sells said. “And it is less than 10 minutes from Eudora, so we think we’ll draw from there too.”

The club will be an addition to the office building at 1202 E. 23rd St., which now houses Kantronics, River City Engineering, and the Kaw Valley Center. Sells said his project wouldn’t require those businesses to move.

Overall, according to the report issued Friday, city officials in April issued building permits for projects valued at $7.55 million, down from $8.77 million in March. In April 2001 builders took out permits for $12.57 million in projects.

So far this year, the city’s building industry is off to a slower start than 2001. During the first four months of 2002, city officials have issued permits for projects valued at $30.26 million, down from $54.25 million during the same period a year ago.

“It definitely feels like a slower year this year,” said Gale Lantis, managing partner in Lawrence’s Mar Lan Construction.

“There are less projects out there to bid. Part of the problem is that there is an oversupply of office space right now, so people are holding up on new projects.”

Mar Lan began work last month on the April report’s most expensive project, which is a 3,500-square-foot, $600,000 medical office building near West 15th Street and Ironwood Drive. Lantis said the building would house the practices of Lawrence dentist Joe Gatti and Lawrence podiatrist Larry Gaston. The project is expected to be complete by the end of the year.

City officials issued building permits for 26 single-family homes during April, which matched the highest monthly total of the year. In April 2001 builders started construction on 35 new single-family homes. Construction of single-family homes in 2002 also trails last year’s pace. So far, builders have started work on 83 new single-family homes during the year compared to 97 in 2001.