The year is barely two weeks old, but it’s safe to say one thing we won’t see in 2012 is a big rebound in real estate development. And because of that, a trade group that represents developers across the Bay State wants an extension of a 2010 bill which gave a two-year grace period to development projects stalled by the recession and threatened by expiring local permits.

Time flies. Now it’s 2012, and those permit protections on hundreds of projects across the state are set to expire.

And NAIOP Massachusetts, concerned about a still sluggish market for new development, is preparing to sit down again with legislative leaders on Beacon Hill to discuss an extension of the extension.

“We are still definitely in the doldrums,” noted NAIOP CEO David Begelfer. “All it does is allow projects that are already approved to stay alive.”

Exactly how long an extension NAIOP Massachusetts will be seeking is unclear, with Begelfer suggesting the development group might be open to a year instead of a full two years.

Either way, Begelfer said he never expected when the two-year extension of local permits first passed that he would be back in 2012 seeking another.

But the economy, while making progress, has not rebounded with the vigor many had hoped for. At least not yet. And that has left developers across the state stuck with projects they still hope to build someday, but can’t get the financing or tenants to move forward with.

It’s a group that includes Cambridge’s giant NorthPoint project and Westwood Station out on 128. Not to mention planned medical research complexes in Longwood and even plans for new single-family home subdivisions out in the suburbs.

There is certainly plenty of talk and buzz about new development plans, with the economy having turned just enough to encourage lots of planning for the future. But as anyone who is familiar with the development business knows, there’s a big difference between grand talk and actual construction.

And for many developers who already have been through the local permitting process, right now it’s a waiting game, whether it’s for a big lease or an investor ready to take a chance. No one right now is building new corporate towers or suburban office complexes on spec – no tenants means no building.

Second Time Around

When you sort through the hype over new plans, the number of developers actually moving ahead – meaning shovel in the ground – is far smaller.

It’s a group that includes a few apartment tower builders and some biotech companies eager to open new research complexes or headquarters in Cambridge’s Kendall Square area. MIT’s new research building for Pfizer, which began construction in November with a clearly defined end user, is a good example of a project that benefited from the current extension.

The problem with letting permits expire is that once the economy does start kicking into gear again, developers have to go through the arduous local and state approval process all over again, instead of racing to begin construction and catch the market wave.

“When the economy does start recovering, you don’t want to say, ‘Now we have to go and get your permits,’” Begelfer said. “You want to have everything ready to go when projects are ripe.”

Over the past decade and a half, I’ve seen the ups and downs of the market and how local red tape can delay and ultimately kill some projects. But I wonder how easy a sell this will be on Beacon Hill, which took its sweet time passing the first extension, letting the issue drag on for months.

I can imagine there are going to be more skeptics this time around. Plus, there’s less time to work with – the session expires in July. While that’s a reasonable amount of time for people in most endeavors, legislators like to wait until the last minute before getting to such pesky issues as permit extensions.

While there won’t be a casino bill to divert everyone’s attention, there surely will be some other more fascinating, headline grabbing issue for our elected reps to focus on.

Begelfer and NAIOP are now gearing up to approach legislative leaders on this issue. House Speaker Robert DeLeo has been talking up an economic development plan, so that might provide and opening.

Here’s hoping for an encore, though it’s not likely to be an easy one to pull off.