Only $350,000 worth of new commercial construction permitting occurred in San Diego County in October.
While industrial activity has improved, not much is happening there, either.
The Construction Industry Research Board commercial figure -- a number that may seem equivalent to a major tenant improvement than a total for new construction, includes both office and retail development.
The $350,000 figure is less than a third of the $1.27 million reported by the CIRB in October of 2008, also a low figure by historical standards.
The Burbank-based research firm reported $82.5 million in commercial permits for 2009 through October, only a fraction of the $294.86 million in such permits through the first ten months on 2008.
While year-to-date commercial permits last year were nearly $300 million, that itself was down by more than $175 million from 2007.
As to why the commercial figures are so low, it comes down to employment.
The University of San Diego's Index of Leading Economic Indicators concludes unemployment in the county will hit 11 percent here next year before it starts to improve.
Although different commercial real estate brokerages report vacancy rates, with an estimated 1.7 million square feet available in downtown San Diego, and millions more in the Interstate 15 Corridor and Carlsbad in particular, there is lots of empty space out there.
The commercial vacancy hasn't only hit the office sector. For many years, San Diego County enjoyed a retail vacancy rate of around 3 percent.
Although it has more or less doubled within the past three years, a 6 percent vacancy is still a low figure for many areas of the country.
But it is high enough to keep retail developers from building more space.
The bad news is that Mervyn's and others are gone. Hollywood Video has emptied a number of stores.
The good news is that a number of former Mervyn's and Circuit City spaces have quickly been filled by Kohl's (NYSE: KSS) and Best Buy (Nasdaq: BBY).
With only $3.39 million worth of new industrial construction -- again, a figure that would be more akin to a single project in past years -- this sector has been in the doldrums for more than a year.
As low as the October industrial figure is historically, there were four months this year when there were no industrial permits pulled at all.
In fact, October of last year was another of those months when zero industrial permits were pulled.
The CIRB tallied $22.6 million in industrial permits through October, compared to $57.1 million in permitting during the like period in 2008.
Although reported industrial vacancies vary, most are around 10 percent countywide. It may be more than double that on Otay Mesa.
On the plus side, Otay Mesa promoters are eagerly awaiting the construction of state Route 11, a planned four-lane toll road from the junction of the South Bay Expressway (state Route 125) and SR-905 junction to a proposed third border crossing.
The link is a projected $360 million development. The new crossing itself would cost another $350 million.
Environmental studies on both projects are ongoing with construction due for early in the next decade. Better access should help keep buildings full and perhaps fuel new construction.
In the category of "other," a catchall that includes everything from driveways to outbuildings to sewage pumps, a total of just $6.23 million worth of this work was permitted.
That is down slightly from $7.08 million during the like month in 2008.
Here again, the permit figure for the month a year earlier was also extremely low.
Nonresidential additions and alterations have historically taken up the slack on the commercial side in down times, but even here, the economy has hammered the permit volume.
The CIRB reported $16.04 million in nonresidential alteration and addition work in October. That was less than half the $37.35 million figure recorded in the like month in 2008.
The survey firm tallied $294.7 million through October -- down 34.1 percent from $447 million in 2008's first 10 months.
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