The number that has caught my eye this morning is $200 million, and thankfully it didn’t come from my friends at Visa. It is from the city’s latest building permit report. The city has topped the $200 million mark in construction projects for the first time in history. (The true total is actually a lot higher because the city’s figures don’t include the bulk of the school projects underway or the work happening on the KU campus. Plus, building permit totals don’t capture other types of construction, like the more than $190 million worth of road work as part of the South Lawrence Trafficway project.)

The latest report shows building permits issued in October, and the fall season was a good one on the construction front. The city issued permits for $12 million worth of projects in the month. That brought the year-to-date total to $206.9 million.

We previously have reported that the city had set a new building total record. Back in August the city broke the previous record of $171.9 million that was set in 2013. So, now the city is just adding to the record.

Perhaps the most noteworthy number in the report is that single-family home construction experienced its best month of the year in October. Builders pulled permits for 28 single-family homes, topping the previous high mark of 21 set in June. When you add duplex construction to the mix, the city has issued 211 permits for single-family and duplex construction in the city thus far in 2015. That’s the highest total in at least the last six years, according to figures from the city. Not only is the number higher; it is a lot higher. At this time in 2014, the city had issued only 88 permits for single-family and duplex construction. The five-year average has been 112 units.

The numbers seem to be a sign that the construction industry is betting that the housing market in Lawrence is in for a pretty good run.

The city report also noted a couple of projects worth keeping an eye on. Permits have been issued for a new industrial building in front of the Comfort Inn and Suites near McDonald Drive and Princeton Boulevard. As we previously have reported, a group led by Lawrence businessman Thomas Fritzel is building a storage unit facility there. Based on the plans I’ve seen, it won’t be mini-storage units; rather, the plans show three climate-controlled buildings that will be constructed on the site. My understanding is Fritzel plans to relocate some of his construction firms that are using some downtown space into those buildings. I suspect some of the buildings also may be for lease to other firms that have storage or warehouse needs, but I don’t have any definitive word on that. That project pulled permits for about $775,000 worth of work, which made it the largest project of October.

The city’s report also notes a building permit has been issued for remodeling work at Sports Pavilion Lawrence, the city-owned recreation center at Rock Chalk Park. The work is part of Lawrence Memorial Hospital’s plan to renovate vacant space in the center into a sports therapy location for the hospital. The city issued permits for about $150,000 worth of remodeling work at the center.

In other news and notes from around town:

During this season of holiday buffets, I pretty much always carry the equivalent of a concrete block in my stomach. But if you want the real deal, there’s soon going to be one less option in Lawrence. A concrete block company that has had ties to Lawrence for more than 50 years is leaving the city at the end of the month.

Capitol Concrete Products has confirmed it is closing its North Lawrence facility at the end of the month and transferring workers to the company’s Topeka plant. Capitol Concrete sells concrete blocks, bricks, pavers and other types of materials to contractors and the general public. It has been in the Lawrence market since 1998, but its Lawrence lineage dates back much further. The company bought the Lawrence-based Morton’s Building Materials in 1998. Morton’s had been in operation in Lawrence — primarily on East 15th Street — since at least the 1940s.

Capitol Concrete had closed the production part of the Lawrence operation years ago and had just four employees at the Lawrence location, which served as a distribution and retail center. Jon Forsberg, manager at the Lawrence center, told me three of the four employees are transferring to other positions with Capitol Concrete, which has a production plant in Topeka.

Forsberg said the concrete block business did see a decline during the recession, but said business had picked back up. He directed questions about why the company is leaving the Lawrence market to Capitol’s parent company, which is The Monarch Cement Company in Humboldt. I put a call into an executive down there, but haven’t heard back yet.

UPDATE: I did hear back from Kent Webber, executive vice president of Monarch. He said the fact that the Lawrence office no longer produced any products but rather was only a sales office led to the decision. He said the company will keep its sales representative stationed in Lawrence, and the representative will continue to call on commercial accounts. The North Lawrence business was open to the public, but Webber said the big box home improvement retailers had cut down on the amount of retail business the location did.

Capitol Concrete’s North Lawrence facility is in the small industrial park that is just north of the Tee Pee Junction, which also is known as the intersection of U.S. Highway 24/40 and U.S. Highway 59. Forsberg said Capitol Concrete owns the facility and would be seeking a buyer for the several-acre site. Webber said the company has had conversations with a couple of potential buyers, but has not made any decision about what to do with the property. The company several years ago sold its East 15th Street facility. It is owned by the city of Lawrence.