Last year was a banner year for construction in Henderson and Henderson County, particularly in the realm of homebuilding.
The city and county codes offices in 2024 issued permits for 81 new single-family homes, more than double the 36 housing starts in 2023.
That jump in homebuilding was largely thanks to Jagoe Homes Inc. That’s the Owensboro home developer that the city of Henderson and Henderson Economic Development recruited to build the Bentley Point subdivision at the south end of Barret Boulevard behind the Walmart Supercenter.
From July through December 2024, Jagoe secured permits to build 29 new single-family homes in the subdivision—thus, in just six months, the company had nearly as many housing starts than in the entirety of 2023.
Many more could follow. When Jagoe announced its plans here in early 2023, it said that over a decade or so, the 86-acre, $35-million Bentley Point development could grow to some 300 houses.
Other home builders contributed, as well. Brothers Chris and Mark Stone, who build homes as Hugh Stone & Sons Construction LLC or HCM LLC, received nine permits for new houses while Habitat for Humanity of Henderson received seven.
By far the most expensive housing start is the $2.4 million permit issued in November to Gray and Nancy Hodge for a 6,563-square-foot home to be built at 722 Merritt Drive, where site preparation has begun.
That eclipsed a $920,000 permit issued in August to Paul Shoulders Builders Inc. for a 4,886-square-foot home at 1717 Rivers Edge Dr. off South Main Street.
In all, the construction value for housing starts last year amounted to $28 million—$22.8 million in the city and $5.4 million in the county (including the City of Corydon)—compared with a total of $10.4 million in 2023.
Of the 81 permits for new houses last year, 66 are being built in the city while 15 are being constructed out in the county or in Corydon.
Those 81 housing starts topped the 54 permits issued in 2021 for the most so far this decade.
Meanwhile, the total value of all construction authorized last year totaled $177.9 million, compared with nearly $227 million in 2023.
Both years included a mega-project: a $186.5 million permit for the 1,500-acre Unbridled Solar energy farm in 2023 and a $119.8 million permit for the first phase of the 2,100-acre Sebree Solar in 2024. Both of those solar energy farms are located around Robards.
The magnitude of those two projects and complaints from Robards-area residents who are unhappy that rural countryside is being transformed into an industrial use prompted Henderson Fiscal Court in November to place a 2-year moratorium on any new solar energy projects in the county.
Excluding those two big projects, the value of building permits totaled $58.1 million in 2024, compared with $40.5 million in 2023.
Among the biggest permits of 2024:
- A $6.6 million permit issued to River View Coal LLC for development of what will become the $35 million Henderson Portal 1 underground mine on the John Royster farm at the intersection of Kentucky 145 and Sulfur Springs Road near the community of Little Dixie. When that project was announced in 2022, parent company Alliance Coal LLC said the mine would employ 260 miners.
- A nearly $3.5 million permit issued to Arc Construction Co. Inc. for adding two classrooms at Henderson County High School’s Career & Technical Education unit.
- A $2.5 million permit issued to Clayton Watkins Construction Inc. for remodeling the Henderson Station apartment complex. The address of the complex was listed as 1250 Center St. though it also fronts on Washington Street.
- A $1.3 million permit issued to Arc Construction for remodeling and exterior improvements at the medical building at 736 N. Elm St. that it is owned by Deaconess Henderson Hospital
- A $1.2 million permit issued to AVP Inc. for construction of the 7,500-square-foot stillhouse at Henderson Distilling Co.’s planned Rhythm River distillery at 405 N. Water St.
All told, the city codes office last year issued permits for:
- 67 new single-family homes
- Seven commercial accessory projects
- Seven commercial additions
- Seven new commercial construction projects
- 29 commercial remodeling projects
- Seven commercial demolitions
- Five manufactured home demolitions
- 23 single-family home demolitions
- One new duplex
- One duplex remodeling
- One multi-family accessory structure
- One new multi-family residence
- Five multi-family residential remodeling projects
- Five new manufactured homes
- 56 single-family residential accessory structures
- 26 single-family additions
- 12 single-family residential remodeling projects and 40 signs.
Meanwhile, the county codes offices issued permits for:
- 13 new single-family homes (plus two on behalf of Corydon)
- 15 room additions
- 19 commercial projects (including the River View project)
- Seven raze-and-remove projects
- Five signs
- 12 manufactured homes
- 43 garages and utility buildings
- Two commercial exhaust hoods
- One miscellaneous project
- No industrial permits
