More information has come out regarding the recent February permit report that showed more than $10 million in housing starts.

Chair of the Portage la Prairie Planning District board Ryan Espey says there was a new institutional permit for the Portage District General Hospital worth $10.2 million on its own.

"That is the permit for the piles that are going in at the hospital, the new hospital site," says Espey. "Now, that is none of the concrete work. That is simply the piles going in the ground."

A new commercial permit worth $358,000 was also issued in February and more information regarding it was revealed at the recent City Council meeting. Espey says it is the new daycare that they announced. Espey believes there will be plenty more permits in the coming months.

"It's amazing and it's going to be many more to come and there's lots of exciting things actually coming up in Portage," says Espey. "We approved the new daycare. It was awarded to Wee World Daycare to manage that operation, and that building will be coming up pretty soon, as well."

In particular, Espey expects the hospital to be a big reason why 2023 will be a successful year for the Planning District. So far, for the year, the total is 31 permits worth $12,170,000. In 2022, by this point, there were 22 permits worth $1,059,000.

February 2023 Housing Starts