People passing by occasionally cheered Paul Tuter as he worked on the wire fence this week outside the former J.C. Penney Co. building downtown. He raised his hammer in greeting.

The word was out: Tuter and Becky Johnson, the co-owners of Astoria Vintage Hardware, would be moving their business into the Commercial Street building that has been vacant for five years.

“Vintage Hardware is so blessed and the community has always loved us, and we’re a real community-based store. And they’ve always rallied and supported us when we’ve been in a real estate jam, when we’ve had to find new locations,” Johnson said. “It means so much.”

She said it will be the sixth time in about a dozen years that Vintage Hardware has relocated. They last moved in 2016 after being asked to vacate the building that would become Mo’s Restaurant.

This time, Johnson said Vintage Hardware is moving because their lease expired on Marine Drive and they anticipated a rent increase.

“It was just realizing it was kind of time to take destiny into our own hands, and not be in the position of being a tenant and not having that security,” she said. “(I) just talked to my family and we all decided it was an investment that we wanted to pursue and now it will be Vintage Hardware’s forever home.”

Knowing the J.C. Penney building was a potential option, Johnson reached out to owner Sean Fitzpatrick, who bought the building in 2018 with Chris Holen, the chef and co-owner of the restaurant Nekst.

Fitzpatrick serves on the Astoria Planning Commission, owns Wecoma Partners and the Illahee Apartments and is running for mayor.

“She felt that it was time to change locations and I wanted to have her in there,” Fitzpatrick said. “The building lends itself well to that and I figured she would be the perfect tenant to put in there.”

He said the building’s large windows and open space will be a good fit for the furniture and vignettes on display.

Fitzpatrick and Holen had planned to develop a high-end food court in the space, and hoped to split the 6,500-square-foot main floor between several restaurants and vendors.

Fitzpatrick said they could not complete the plans due to supply chain issues and challenges in securing bids.

“It was unfortunate that it didn’t happen as Chris and I had originally hoped, however, two years ago today I had no regrets that it hadn’t gone through. Because I would have been sitting on a fully improved building that would have had to sit vacant for several months,” he said, referring to coronavirus pandemic closures.

He said the vacancy allowed him to donate the space to two local nonprofits during the pandemic: Cinderella’s Closet through the Assistance League of the Columbia Pacific and Innovative Housing Inc.

J.C. Penney first opened in Astoria in 1916 and moved into the Commercial Street building in 1928. The department store closed in 2017.

“Cities like Astoria relied on having J.C. Penney for certain things. It’s unfortunate that they made that decision, but I think that Vintage Hardware doing their retail is going to be great in that location,” Fitzpatrick said.

Vintage Hardware doesn’t plan to renovate the interior beyond cosmetic repairs.

“It is a lot of pressure. It is such a responsibility because that building is so iconic and just means so much to people,” Johnson said. “So I feel really blessed and it’s really an honor to be a steward of that building.”

In 2019, the Astoria Downtown Historic District Association secured nearly $150,000 from the state, paired with a $103,640 local match, to restore the Duane Street facade of the building to reflect its original architecture.

The group received an extension on the grant, and Johnson said they have begun the restoration process.

Vintage Hardware plans to open at the new location in mid-May.

“We’re just so thrilled to bring life back into a beautiful, important building, to be on Commercial Street to be part of that traffic,” Johnson said. “It’s just a real exciting opportunity for Vintage Hardware and we’re happy to know that we’ll be around for a long time.”