The Housing Authority of Bowling Green is gearing up for the opening of the Houchens Industries Small Business Accelerator this month, an addition to the city that HABG head Katie Miller thinks will fit nicely into Bowling Green.

“We’re excited about the opportunity,” Miller said. “We’re excited to take a dilapidated building and make it look nice and refreshed in the downtown area.”

The accelerator will sit inside a building that, in a past life, was home to a Save-A-Lot grocery store. Created through a partnership with HABG’s Live The Dream Development Inc. and Houchens, the accelerator is seeking to give a launching pad to women, minority and low-income-owned small businesses, many that lost their previous locations during the December 2021 tornadoes.

An opening date for December was originally planned, but Miller said some delays came up pushing completion into mid-January.

“We’re almost done,” she said last week. “We’re finishing up the last few items.”

This includes finalizing different permits and finishing work on an addition to one of the suites that will house KY Steps, a nonprofit that provides counseling and different services to those within the migrant community.

Space for up to 11 businesses will be available with suites ranging in size from 800-2,500 square feet. Businesses that get space in the accelerator can stay there for up to four years. Miller said rental costs for suites range from $800 per month to around $2,000.

Applications were accepted from businesses earlier this year. Once it fires up, a restaurant, flower shop and bakery will be among the businesses housed there, along with a Med Center Health clinic and an inflatable business.

“We’re excited about providing opportunities to small businesses,” Miller said. “It’ll be very beneficial to the community, as well as the downtown area, to help build the downtown and continue to build what’s already established that the city has started.”

The City of Bowling Green pledged $2.5 million for the accelerator. A $600,000 allocation from Frankfort and another half-million from Houchens brought the total raised to $3.6 million.

Houchens is leasing the space to HABG for $1-per-year for 10 years.

Former Housing Authority head Abraham WIlliams told the Daily News in July that HABG would conduct background checks on applicants and some startup costs, such as kitchen equipment for eateries, would be covered by the housing authority.

The accelerator sits around the corner from the Shake Rag Historic District and just a few blocks from downtown. Williams hoped then that the accelerator would become a “generational” fixture of the area, like the grocery store before it.