Hard economic times and soaring fuel costs have done little todampen the pace of construction in Brookhaven, which is maintainingits multi-million dollar pace at the halfway point of 2008.

City Inspector Chip Gennaro has the plans and permits on hisdesk to several projects, both large and small, that total morethan $15 million. The projects range from massive residential jobs,like the tentatively planned construction of a 28-lot subdivision,to personal quests, like the renovation of a second downtown coffeeshop.

Gennaro said the city’s construction boom, which began withseveral commercial projects in January, has kept him and his officeon the run in recent weeks. He said he has averaged 20 siteinspections per day.

“People are steadily building,” Gennaro said. “Just for thefirst two weeks of June, I’ve issued 14 building permits forrenovation, home construction and commercial construction. We’vebeen pretty busy.”

Some of the projects overseen by Gennaro are about to beginwhile others are about to reach completion. Some are still quitetentative, but the initial motions have been made.

One of the tentative projects is Brookwood Place, a $5 millionproject that would see the construction of a 28-lot subdivisionbetween Union Street and Highway 51. The subdivision, which isbeing worked out by SMK Properties of Bogue Chitto, would occupy anarea of 7 acres and, if finalized, would begin in about twoweeks.

“We should start pretty soon, and it will take a couple ofmonths to get the subdivision developed,” said SMK Properties ownerJamie Miller. “Once complete, we’ll add the homes asnecessary.”

Miller said Brookwood Place – which he described as a gatedcommunity without a gate – should be developed and ready for homeconstruction sometime this fall. Once ready, it would be filledwith French country-style, three bedroom homes of approximately1,500 square feet. The estimated unit cost, he said, is around$150,000.

While final plans for Brookwood Place are being analyzed,another $5 million project is nearing completion. Brookwood Plaza,which has been under construction behind Wendy’s on BrookwayBoulevard for three months, should be completed within 30 days,said project manager Alan Lajoie of Prime Time LLC.

“We’re getting to the point of where we’re ready to put in theparking lot and landscaping in the next couple of weeks,” Lajoiesaid. “The buildings are in the 90 percentile range of completion.The storefronts should be done in two or three weeks.”

Potential occupants for the plaza, which consists of twoseparate buildings with the capacity to house a total of 20different businesses, remain unknown.

“I’ve been told by different members of the community that thisis going in there, that is going in there. That’s surprising to me,because if there were I would know,” he said.

Lajoie said several local businessmen have driven onto the siteduring the last three months of construction to show interest inlocating a business in the plaza, but he can attest to no definiteplans. If anyone is serious about renting a space in the plaza, hesaid, now is the time.

“Anyone who wants to jump in on these spaces has to let us knownow before we leave,” Lajoie said. “Now is the most cost efficienttime to move in. If you wait a month after we’re gone and have todig up the parking lot to install some new lines, that could cost$100,000 or more.”

More project certainty can be found on the west end of BrookwayBoulevard, where the $3 million construction of a Holiday InnExpress is due to begin any day now. Dana Moreau, vice president ofhotel operations for a division of contractor Jackie’sInternational of Canton, said the hotel would have 79 rooms, anindoor swimming pool and fitness center.

Aside from building the new Holiday Inn Express, the companywill also be renovating the adjacent Lincoln Inn and Suites. Moreausaid the projects should be done sometime during the early part of2009.

King’s Daughters Medical Center, which is still in the midst ofan approximately $12 million, hospital-wide upgrade, has seen fitto add to its already sizeable list of construction plans.

The construction of a $1.9 million medical office building isscheduled to begin in two weeks. Chief Development Officer JohnnyRainer said the more than 14,000 square-foot office complex, beingconstructed by Paul Jackson and Son Inc., will house three localpediatricians.

“The hospital decided months ago that the pediatricians in townneeded more room,” Rainer said. “It is important that we try tomake sure they have what they need to treat their patients.”

Rainer said additional space would be built into the officebuilding to accommodate any future physicians that arise fromKDMC’s ongoing quest to increase the number of local medicalpersonnel. The building has a projected completion date of Januaryor February 2009, he said.

While millions of dollars are being spent on large projects allaround the city, the “little guy” is also represented inBrookhaven’s latest round of construction projects.

Downtown resident Terry Pappas just began renovation of hiswarehouse between Cherokee and Chickasaw streets – a $150,000project that will follow historical guidelines to transform the oldstorage space into two apartments and a business or retaillocation.

Pappas said the project, which he plans to complete bySeptember, will result in a 1,450 square-foot, two bedroom and twobathroom apartment; and a roughly 1,000 square-foot, one bedroomand one bathroom apartment – both on the warehouse’s secondlevel.

“We’ve traveled around the South looking at old warehouses andapartments, and we’ve got some cool ideas,” Pappas said. “We have adesign plan that the Mississippi Department of Archives and Historyis very pleased with.”

Pappas said he undertook the project because of financialtimeliness – available tax credits and a low interest rate – and tocontinue to add to Brookhaven’s downtown living capacity.

Any downtown residents that occupy Pappas’ apartments willeventually have a new shop in which to sit down and grab a cup ofJoe. Eric Moyer has set aside $18,000 to renovate the old Case’sCleaners on First Street across from the Brookhaven-Lincoln CountyGovernment Complex into a cafe.

“I’ve always wanted to have a deli-style cafe,” Moyer said.”When it’s done, it’s just going to be a nice little cafe. I’mgonna try to have some live music and all kinds of fun stuff downhere.”

Moyer said he is working on the project all day during businessdays, and has no set date for completion.

“I’m just taking it as I go,” he said.