BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Several major commercial building projects and an increase in homebuilding activity lifted the value of building permits issued in East Baton Rouge Parish by 16.4 percent for the first quarter over 2013.

The Advocate reports (http://bit.ly/PmBuHL ) the value of building permits issued by the city-parish Department of Public Works Inspection Division through the end of March was $151.1 million. That’s compared with $129.8 million in permits issued during the same period in 2013.