Construction is well underway at Kitsap Credit Union’s new corporate headquarters across from the Harborside Conference Center in downtown Bremerton.

While the single-family residential market is seeing leaner times around Kitsap, commercial construction development continues at a brisk pace. Bremerton’s busy downtown apparently has more empty lots to fill with new buildings, even after the boom of the last two years, but the rest of the county is not to be outdone.

On Bainbridge Island, mixed-use projects remain prevalent. At least four condominium/retail plazas are being built on the island.

Harbor Square, one of the largest private commercial endeavors ever on Bainbridge, will include 180 condo and townhouse units that will have underground parking. More than half the units had been sold already by mid-summer, ranging in price from $200,000 to just under $1 million. An additional 15,000 square feet of retail will be housed on the site.

Another condo/retail complex, Alliance Mixed-Use Project, will have 38 townhouse-style units and 10,000 square feet of retail including a general store. The project broke ground earlier this summer and will take about 14 months to complete.

Two other multi-family residential projects on Bainbridge Island are Vineyard Lane that will feature 45 units and a bed and breakfast, and Madison Avenue North, with 45 units and first-floor retail space.

Poulsbo is busy with getting ready for big-box mega-retailers, including Wal-Mart and Home Depot. The construction of the controversial Wal-Mart is well under way in the Olhava development, which also plans to include residential units. Home Depot broke ground in Olhava this summer, and a host of other chains have been signed up for smaller locations: from Payless ShoeSource to Taco Del Mar.

In Bremerton, some of the biggest projects include a four-story Kitsap Credit Union building with office space directly across the street from the Kitsap Conference Center; the Harborside Condos that are in phase 1, and a 1,000-car parking garage being built by the U.S. Navy that will be finished by November. The garage will have public parking available.

Gary Sexton, City of Bremerton economic development director, said construction is keeping up the same pace as the last couple of years, and will keep it up for another three or four. The downtown revitalization efforts are also having an impact on the rest of the city, as construction is undertaken in other parts of Bremerton.

In Port Orchard, several new buildings popped up recently, and there is still lots of hammering going on. One of the biggest projects, a new Kitsap County administration building, was expected to be ready to move into by November. The project had fallen behind schedule, following some issues with the contractor. The county plans to move its offices to the new location from the current courthouse across the street, which will be remodeled into a law and justice center once the offices are moved.

Another Port Orchard face swapping its old digs for new ones is Cosmo’s Deli. Also moving not far from its current location, Cosmo’s will have a new home on Lund Avenue, near Staples. The more than 3,000-square-foot building will allow for expansion of the business. Construction was expected to end by early December.

Also on the drawing board in Port Orchard is a multi-story condominium office complex at the intersection of Tremont Street and Pottery Avenue. The project is awaiting action on a rezone application, and for the city to detail plans for the widening of Tremont which could impact how and where on the property the building is sited.

In Gig Harbor, there is no hammering yet on the planned Costco facility, but construction in the area of the future warehouse retailer is nonetheless busy. The Olympic Property Group, which is developing a 35-acres site that will also include a YMCA, is in the process of improving the road infrastructure. Ground breaking for the 148,000-square-foot Costco is expected next spring or summer.

And, as if to cap both ends of the greater Kitsap area, both the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and the Hood Canal Bridge are in full construction swing. The multiyear, multimillion-dollar projects will take a while to complete, and promise to bring even more changes — perhaps even more of a construction boom — to the area.