Allen County residential permit values increase

A total of 41 new homes were permitted in Allen County in January, compared with 44 for the same month in 2015. The average value of new home permits was up 33.7 percent, however, from $210,091 to $280,943.

Briner Building

Briner Building Inc. was elected as the design-build general contractor on a 7,500-square-foot building expansion for Peridot Inc. in Hoagland. Construction will begin immediately and is scheduled for completion by July.

Strebig Construction

Strebig Construction Inc. was awarded a contract for a 23,900-square-foot retail store renovation for the Salvation Army in Decatur. Work should be completed by May 1.

Schenkel Construction

Schenkel Construction has completed a 57,000 square-foot warehouse addition to plant No. 1 for Hendrickson Truck Commercial Vehicle Systems in Kendallville.

Work also included a 4,500 square-foot renovation of the employee break room and locker rooms. The plant employs about 190 hourly workers.

BND brings on Spake

Veteran real estate broker Karen Spake recently joined BND Commercial.

Spake has more than 30 years of experience in real estate and is a charter member and district director of the Indiana Commercial Board of Realtors and former state director of the Indiana Association of Realtors. She also is a member of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors, the highest designation given to an industrial or office commercial Realtor.

Treasure House opens

The Fort Wayne Rescue Mission has opened a new location for its thrift store, Treasure House, at 327 Coldwater Road, in the Coldwater Crossing shopping center.

Treasure House raises funds, creates training opportunities and provides clothing and goods to help people overcome homelessness. Donations of clothing, shoes, furniture, appliances, household goods, linens, toys, sporting goods, books and media are needed. Items may be dropped off at the store. Pickups of large or heavy items may be scheduled at pickupmydonation.com.

Orchard Gallery

Oil paintings by Sheila Fink and jewelry by Sandra Hall of EllyBead will be featured in February at the Orchard Gallery of Fine Art, 6312-A Covington Road.

For hours and information, visit www.theorchardgallery.com.

Crestwoods Gallery

Crestwoods Frame Shop and Gallery, Roanoke, is celebrating an early spring with a Valentine’s show opening Feb. 13.

The show will include new work by Gwen Gutwein, Austin Cartwright, Barbara Nohinek, Patricia Weiss, Rebecca Justice-Schaab and others.

For information, visit www.crestwoodsgallery.com.

Vera Bradley outlet sale tickets available now

Tickets for Vera Bradley’s annual outlet sale at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum went on sale Feb. 1.

This year’s sale opens April 13 and closes April 17. Tickets, priced at $5 each, are required for the first three days of the sale, Wednesday through Friday. Tickets are issued for each of four daily sessions, each of which lasts 2.5 hours, with an hour in between. The first session of the day begins at 7:30 a.m. Four thousand tickets will be issued for each session.

Tickets are not required for the Saturday session, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., or the Sunday session, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. But attendees who wish to make purchases will still need to complete the free registration process. Pre-registration is open at www.verabradley.com/outletsale, and registration kiosks will be available at the coliseum during the sale.

A variety of Vera Bradley designs will be available, including handbags, travel items, accessories, stationery and eyewear.

Walmart pares store count

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. closed 269 stores worldwide, including 154 in the United States, at the end of January. The move was expected to cost 16,000 workers worldwide their jobs, and 10,000 in the U.S.

None of the stores closed was in Indiana.

The vast majority of the U.S. stores closing, more than 100, are the smaller, “express” format stores that were to compete with convenient stores. The company also is closing “neighborhood market” stores, a smaller grocery store format, as well as some full-sized, supercenter and Sam’s Club stores.

“Actively managing our portfolio of assets is essential to maintaining a healthy business,” Doug McMillon, Wal-Mart president and CEO, said in the statement. “Closing stores is never an easy decision, but it is necessary to keep the company strong and positioned for the future. It’s important to remember that we’ll open well more than 300 stores around the world next year. So we are committed to growing, but we are being disciplined about it.”