HENDERSON, Ky. − A permit for remodeling a portion of the former Buehler Buy Low supermarket in Gardenside Shopping Center into a Harbor Freight discount tool and the first permits for new single-family homes of the year highlighted new construction activity in Henderson and Henderson County in February.

Gardenside Center LLC received a $570,000 permit for the Harbor Freight project at the shopping center at 2606 Zion Road. A city codes office permit valuation report indicated the store will occupy 2,000 square feet of the long-vacant Buehler’s space.

Harbor Freight Tools, a privately held based in California, was founded in 1977 as Harbor Freight Salvage Co., a small mail-order tool business. It opened its first retail store in 1980 in Lexington — reportedly to sell returned and liquidated merchandise — and has since grown to more than 1,400 stores.

Harbor Freight isn’t the only business locating in the Buehler’s building. A banner on the building announces that the portion of the building closest to Zion Road is now home to BidEVV Henderson, an online liquidation auction business using the web address www.bidevv.com.

According to a related website, www.bidmycity.com, it conducts online auctions of liquidated merchandise from major retailers. Merchandise advertised for an auction concluding March 7 included a large number of power tools and related hardware, household items ranging from a cordless stick vacuum to a towel warmer and eclectic items such as catalytic converter for a Chevrolet Camaro.

Buehler’s Buy Low was one of the original anchor stores when Gardenside Shopping Center opened in 1990, but Buehler’s closed in 2009 about a year after the supermarket chain was acquired by Bowling Green-based Houchens Industries, which already owned the Sureway supermarket chain that operated a store about a mile away in Eastgate Shopping Center.

A Houchens executive said at the time that the Buehler’s store was “just under-performing.” The building had been vacant since then.

Landing Harbor Freight and BidEVV Henderson are the latest in a years-long rebound at Gardenside, which in the late 2010s lost longtime tenants Kmart and the Goody’s/Gordman clothing store, whose parent companies were failing, and Dollar Tree, which relocated to U.S. 41-North.

Gardenside rebounded in 2019 and 2020 by attracting discount retailers such as the Mighty Dollar, Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, Roses Discount Store and Burkes (now Bealls) clothing store.

Meanwhile, other notable new commercial construction projects include a $217,000 permit to Milestone Development Corp. for a mini-storage unit at 2429 U.S. 60-East and a $40,000 permit to Woodard & Sons Inc. for a commercial range hood at the Cap & Cork restaurant and bar that has been under construction at 104 N. Water St. and is expected to open relatively soon.

The city in February issued permits for three new houses — two being built by Habitat for Humanity of Henderson — while the county issued a permit for one new house, the first housing starts of 2024.

The four housing starts so far this year compares with three during the same period last year.

In all, the city and county codes offices authorized nearly $2.8 million of construction in February, compared with $5.1 million in February 2023, which included $3.3 million permit to the city of Henderson for a pump station at 1022 Sand Lane.

So far this year, they have issued permits totaling nearly $3.5 million, compared with $8.5 million during the same period last year.

Here are the permits issued last month:

Building permits for February 2024

City of Henderson

Commercial range hood: Woodard & Sons Inc., 104 N. Water St., $40,000.

Commercial accessory: 42420H LLC, 200 N. Main St., $25,000.

Commercial additions: Johnnie Hurst, 1709 Madison St., $20,000 and $65,000 (two permits).

Commercial, new: Milestone Development Corp., 2429 U.S. 60-East, $217,000.

Commercial, remodel: Brent Wilkerson, et al, 112 N. Main St., $55,000; Logan & Logan Construction, 1131 N. Elm St., $37,500; Built Right Construction, 2637 Stadium Dr., $15,000; and Gardenside Center LC, 2606 Zion Road, $570,000.

Commercial demolition: Priest Hauling & Excavating, 1503 N. Green St., $8,000.

Single-family residential demolition: Pamela Whitter, 612 Third St., $6,500.

New duplex: Chambers Properties Inc., 2022 N. Elm St., $375,000.

Single-family residential accessory structures: Dena C. Crafton, 48 S. Bob O Link, $3,000; Aurelio and Silvia Gonzalez, 1129 Atkinson St., $2,215; and Mary Nell Shewmaker, 687 Woodfield Ct., $140,000.

New single-family residences: Brilo LLC, 1749 S. Main St., $200,000; Habitat for Humanity of Henderson, 1028 Pringle St., $130,000; and Habitat for Humanity of Henderson, 1104 Burris St., $117,000.

Single-family residential remodel: McGarrh Properties LLC, 109 Riverview Dr., $60,000.

Sign: Sign Crafters Inc., 2530 U.S. 41-North, $5,000.

Total: $2.1 million

Henderson County

New single-family residence: Chad Patterson, 5744 Doll Road, $283,730.

Commercial: SMJ International/ Verizon Wireless, 2117 Greenlick Baptist Church Road, $22,000.

Sign: Oaktree Property LLC , 2278 S Green St. $10,000.

Manufactured home: Doug and Jill Rideout, 17531 Kentucky 136-East, $230,000.

Garage/utility structures: Gary Hancock, 12680 Airline Road, $20,000; David and Angelia Mascaro, 3708 Melody Ln, $54,863; Steven Logsdon, 8844 Thomason Road, $58,000.

Total: $678,593

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Remodeling for Harbor Freight, housing starts top Henderson building news