REAL ESTATE

Building Permits Down: With construction of commercial properties at a near standstill in Orange County, it only follows that the issuance of building permits would be down as well. And down they are, according to third-quarter statistics released by the Construction Industry Research Board.

The slumbering hotel industry seems to have hung out signs reading, “Do not disturb until the recession is over.� During the first nine months of 1991, local governments issued permits for hotels and motels valued at a total of about $1.4 million--down 95% from the corresponding period in 1990, which saw $30.2 million in permits.

“That ($1.4 million) would only cover a very small budget motel of about 40 rooms,� remarked Donald W. Wise, hospitality properties specialist for CB Commercial Real Estate in Anaheim. “I don’t anticipate seeing a crane in the sky for a mid- to high-rise hotel for the next seven years.�

Office buildings did not fare much better: Permits were worth $116.3 million, down 32% from $172.2 million the first nine months of 1990.

Even with the huge drop-off this year, the question is: Exactly where are these $116.3 million worth of office buildings coming from?

“They’re small, two- or three-story office complexes,� answered Greg Lubushkin, a real estate partner at Price Waterhouse in Costa Mesa.

Lubushkin noted that just because a permit has been issued, there’s no guarantee the building will ever materialize.

Permits for industrial buildings in Orange County fell 34% from $51.2 million in the first nine months of 1990 to $34 million in the period this year.