It’s been a decade since the city of Lawrence slogged through a construction year as sparse as 2004.

Don’t expect the drought to last.

“I’m looking for a busy 2005,” said Barry Walthall, the city’s code enforcement manager. “Things are becoming available. I think we’ll be issuing a lot of permits.”

The optimistic outlook comes after Walthall’s division in the Department of Neighborhood Resources issued building permits for construction, remodeling and related work valued at $117.7 million in 2004.

The total stopped $32.8 million shy of last year’s total and proved to be the city’s lowest since $96.5 million worth of work was lined up in 1995.

But contractors and others who depend on them took some comfort in knowing that it could have been worse.

The city closed the year by issuing permits for work valued at $30.5 million in November and December, marking the busiest two-month stretch of 2004. The bulk of surge came from residential construction, which had been stifled for much of the year by a lack of lots available for construction.

Builders took out 103 permits for new single-family homes in November and December, nearly a third of the 313 permits issued for the entire year. The year’s tally ended up four short of the total for 2003, but otherwise was the strongest showing for the sector since 393 permits were issued in 1999.

Builders had been waiting all year long for places to build, and as 2004 ended closed they had unearthed two new subdivisions to fill: Fairfield Farms West on the southeast edge of town, and Foxchase South just east of Langston Hughes School in west Lawrence.

Fairfield Farms West also helped restock the supply of lots available for new duplexes, dwellings that increasingly have drawn contractors in recent years as the home prices continue to escalate.

HOMES ARE SPRINGING UP AT FAIRFIELD FARMS WEST, a subdivision on the southeast edge of Lawrence.

“As soon as lots are available, they’re being built on,” Walthall said. “Duplexes seem to be today’s affordable housing. It seems to be a niche in the market that builders are trying to fill.”

Sixty-one of the 110 permits issued for duplexes in 2004 were issued during November and December, many of them in Fairfield Farms West. But the year’s duplex total still fell short of the 157 permits issued in 2003 and represented the lowest total since 46 permits were issued in 2000.

Also down in 2004:

• Apartment construction. The city issued three permits for new apartments, representing a total of 102 units. That was down from 2003, when 17 permits were issued for 253 units. The total number of units lined up in 2004 was the lowest since 1997, when builders took out seven permits for 55 units.
• Commercial construction. The city issued 21 permits for construction of new businesses, down from 30 a year earlier and the fewest since 18 such permits were issued in 1992. Among the 2004 permits: two for Hobbs Taylor Lofts, a retail-office-residential project northeast of Eighth and New Hampshire streets. Total valuation for the project, which is being developed by Harris Construction Co. Inc., has been tabbed at $9 million.