Construction trending up in Kokomo

Chris and Toula Linville got started early this year, filing in January for a building permit to build a new Louie's Coney Island restaurant on the site of the tornado-ravaged store on East Hoffer Street.

Their ability to line up a contractor and building plans so quickly paid off of the Linvilles, who re-opened Louie's to widespread public acclaim June 4.

With tornado damage in need of repair, as well as a national economy on the rebound, local planning officials are hoping this will be the best post-recession year for Kokomo and Howard County construction yet.

In the southwest and eastern edges of the city, the recession-stalled build out of subdivisions has restarted.

In March, the Kokomo Plan Commission issued 13 building permits for new homes. Locations included Crooked Stick Drive near the Wildcat Creek Golf Course, Schick Drive in the new Quail Run subdivision, and Morrow Drive in the Highland Springs area.

The numbers were encouraging, as homebuilders have endured some horrific years since the economy faltered in 2008. In 2006, more than 2,500 people were employed in the construction trades in Kokomo and Tipton counties. By mid-2009, that number had been cut in half, with residential housing jobs taking the brunt of the hit.

So far builders have filed for 23 building permits for single-family homes in Kokomo and Howard County this year, after filing for 26 permits in all of 2013, and only 17 in 2012. Between 2009 and 2011, there were only 11 new home permits issued.

"It's a busy time, but it's a good busy," Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight said Friday, as workers could be seen from his office window working on the city's new $6 million parking garage, due to be finished by year's end.

The city is gearing up for a downtown baseball stadium project, with site work set to begin this year.

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Construction trending up in Kokomo