Boynton construction coming back; remodeling on the rise

Vicki Wiltse and her husband had some spare money, an old house and a cramped, ugly kitchen. It was time to remodel.

"We took down the whole entire wall, put a wrap-around bar; brand new granite," said Wiltse, 55, who recently paid $130,000 for a Boynton Beach house that she's almost done renovating. All that's left is to hang the pictures and throw a house-warming party this weekend.

In Boynton Beach, small-scale residential construction is on the rise, according to city workers who approve permits. That means more people, such as the Wiltses, are beautifying their kitchens, repairing their roofs and installing new air conditioners.

The upward trend is a portent of better times, says Nancy Byrne, interim director of the Boynton Beach Development Department. People have been saving and struggling since the crash, and now, with some money but not enough to buy new, they're investing in their homes, she speculated.

Byrne predicts construction in Palm Beach County's third-largest city could reach 2007 levels by the end of September.

"Things are really on the upswing," she said.

In Leisureville, a cookie-cutter senior community on the west edge of the city, Eric Nelson, 77, spruced up the living room and kitchen of his 1970s winter home. The kitchen, he said, "was a large closet" with rotting cupboards and "cheesy" dcor.

"It was dreary to go down there," said Nelson, who spends most of the year in Concord, Mass. "And it shouldn't be dreary to go down to Florida."

In February 2011 he applied for a permit and had a contractor make it like new.

In the 2006-2007 fiscal year construction in Boynton Beach reached astronomical heights. The Development Department issued 5,452 permits for construction valued at $244 million.

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Boynton construction coming back; remodeling on the rise