Cookeville News

[tragenvol]

1 hour ago, markhollin said:

Hilton Garden Inn (5 stories, 130 units?) renderings for new Cookeville location

These look like the renderings for the dead downtown convention center hotel and parking garage development.  I hope this thing has been resurrected; any news your way @jmtunafish?

Last I saw, the site was listed for $5.5M by the development group Auxin.

Edited November 28, 2020 by tragenvol

[jmtunafish]

1 hour ago, tragenvol said:

These look like the renderings for the dead downtown convention center hotel and parking garage development.  I hope this thing has been resurrected; any news your way @jmtunafish?

Last I saw, the site was listed for $5.5M by the development group Auxin.

I haven't heard a thing.  I'd love it if the project were back on track although I still wish it included a residential component as well as hotel/conference center.

In other news, the new shopping center on 10th @ Old Kentucky has started accepting bids, and there are four of them:  the supermarket, a "food/beverage" building, an "office" building, and a "retail (other)" building.

Also, work has started on the Texas Roadhouse on Interstate Drive and the Starbucks on Willow.  Buff City Soap and Nashville's Well Health (Chiropractor) have opened at Shoppes at Eagle Point, making that shopping center almost 100% leased.  I also saw some workers at the old KMart building the other day.  It sold back in February, but I haven't heard what's going to happen there although I think it was bought by the same group who originally planned on building a Dave & Buster's type entertainment center on Walnut behind Publix.

Edited November 28, 2020 by jmtunafish

[tragenvol]

1 hour ago, jmtunafish said:

I haven't heard a thing.  I'd love it if the project were back on track although I still wish it included a residential component as well as hotel/conference center.

I also saw some workers at the old KMart building the other day.  It sold back in February, but I haven't heard what's going to happen there although I think it was bought by the same group who originally planned on building a Dave & Buster's type entertainment center on Walnut behind Publix.

I believe the Hilton site is still for sale; I think those renders are old...I found the designer who still had "YEAR COMPLETED Anticipated 2020."  I wish it were back on.

I heard the same about the old K-Mart; the Infinite Entertainment group supposedly decided to change from new construction to renovation and backfill; however, it was news that they had purchased the lot at Walnut and Veterans to build...makes no sense unless for speculation by them or their investors.

[tragenvol]

On 3/18/2020 at 3:28 PM, tragenvol said:

The Governor's amended budget has removed all Capital Outlay for FY 20-21; therefore, this project will not go forward as initially planned.  The amended budget will have to receive approval from the Legislature, but it appears that this legislative session will be fast tracked for early dismissal due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Tech's new engineering building remained THEC's top priority for Capital Outlay in the Governor's proposed FY2021-22 budget.

 

[jmtunafish]

Some updates in Cookeville.

Construction on the shopping center on 10th Street @ Old Kentucky Road is supposed to start this week.  These are the latest plans I've seen which still don't mention the anchor, but it's going to be a Food City (the first in Middle Tennessee) that the Food City president said will be one of their "upscale" stores with a Starbucks, a brick oven pizzeria, café, and more high end products than in a typical Food City.  The building in Lot 3 sure looks like it has a drive-thru.  The Food City gas pumps are on the right.  The developer is going to pay to widen 10th Street from its current 3 lanes to 5 and 6 lanes from Old Kentucky Road to Hwy 111 which is just outside of the picture.

Its location:

And here's the site as seen from Old Kentucky Road.

 

In other retail news, Nashville's V3 Realty is proposing an addition to the Willow Bend shopping center at the corner of Willow and Jackson.  The Starbucks shown in the parking lot is under construction.

 

Cookeville's new police HQ is coming along.  Cookeville's police department has never had a home of its home; it's currently located in the basement of the Cookeville Performing Arts Center.

Here are renderings of the finished product.

 

The new, full-service Holiday Inn is slowly taking shape on South Willow Ave.  I'm guessing they're in no hurry to open.

 

Meanwhile, part of what used to be Holiday Inn is being demolished to make way for a Hilton Home2 Suites.  The rest of the former Holiday Inn is and will remain a Quality Inn and a Super 8.  I  I've not seen any renderings of the finished product.

 

On the chain restaurant front, Texas Roadhouse is under construction and has gone up almost overnight.  It's on "Restaurant Row" in front of the Shoppes at Eagle Point shopping center (Publix, Academy Sports, Ross, ULTA, et al).

 

If I have time tomorrow, I might drive around and take pictures of some of the housing developments taking shape.  They're all over the place. 

In the meantime, Site Selection Magazine has ranked Cookeville as having the bests-performing economy among the state's 17 micropolitan areas and 21st out of the country's 543 micropolitan areas.  

https://siteselection.com/issues/2021/mar/2020-top-micropolitans-the-nations-top-performing-micropolitan-areas-unmask-opportunities-in-tough-times.cfm

Edited March 7, 2021 by jmtunafish

[jmtunafish]

Now for some of the housing developments going up around town.

This is a new neighborhood of bungalows just a couple of blocks east of the courthouse square and overlooking a 9-hole, 1930s-era golf course.  There are 75 of these bungalows plus a new apartment building under construction in the background.  They're selling for around $280k.

 

Greystone is a new development that's notable for a couple of reasons.  It's the first one in Cookeville being developed by a national home builder.  It's also the first one I'm aware of where people are buying the homes barely after dirt has moved .  There will be only 60 homes in this development (which is a lot for Cookeville) and of the dozen or so under construction, most have already sold.

 

McCulley Farms is a smaller development--only 17 lots--but, like Greystone above, they're targeting buyers with deep pockets.  The homes that have already sold have gone for over $700k which is a fortune for Cookeville.

 

Just down the road is another new neighborhood called The Cottages.  The plat shows 48 lots.  The dozen or so that have already sold have started in the mid $300's which seems pricy to me.

 

Just west of town at the "Baxter Crossroads" (Hwy 70 & Hwy 56) is D. R. Horton's other development, but this one is their "affordable" subsidiary.  I think I read that they're supposed to be in the mid $200's.  There are 80 homes planned here, and they're still doing the grading and site prep.  The 6 acres that front Hwy 70 (where I'm standing) are also part of the development but are to be commercial.  No idea what kind of commercial.

 

Up on Buck Mountain just east of town is Plantation View, 30 lots with homes starting in the $300s and some which have sold for over $600k.  It's outside the city limits, hence those wretched overhead wires.

 

The Reserve at the Country Club is 118 homes starting in the $200s.  It's across the street from the TTU golf course.  It's also located on the 4-mile paved bike/walking trail that connects downtown Cookeville to downtown Algood.  They're prepping 101 more lots for Phase II.

  

 

Another development outside the city limits.  49 homes starting in the low $200s.

 

Cabot Lane, just 16 lots in this pocket subdivision off Bunker Hill Road.

 

A 30-lot development on the west side of town, prices in the low $300s.

 

Just around the corner from the above is a 52-lot development.  Sorry for the picture of all those culverts.  It's supposed to be "affordable" housing which means prices no higher than the mid $200s.

 

And now some of the multi-family developments.  Many/Most of these are infill or replacements of dilapidated structures.  This first one is for low income seniors, Buffalo Valley Road.   Additional buildings will be added, and when the campus is fully built out it'll connect to Cane Creek Park.

 

Some nice apartments almost ready along Dry Valley Road.

 

Some townhouses, almost finished, where an old self-service car wash used to be on 10th Street.

 

There are 29 townhouses in this development at the corner of Washington Ave & Jere Whitson Rd.

 

More townhouses getting started on 10th Street in a sliver lot between some student apartments and a little strip mall which includes CVS, Dollar General, and a couple of restaurants.

 

Some nice infill on Stevens Street where some run-down houses used to be.

 

Cross Pointe, 36 units located on South Maple (aka Old Sparta Road), starting in the low $300s.

 

Downton North, 19 units across from the original Downton condo development (45 units) on East Spring Street.

 

Sixty apartments about to get started next to Upperman High School.

 

And finally, some townhouses are almost finished that replaced some very run-down houses just a couple of blocks west of TTU.

 

And speaking of TTU, the new science building looks sharp and is open for business.  It was built where a huge parking lot and TTU's original football stadium used to be located.

Edited March 11, 2021 by jmtunafish

[bnacincy]

I don't recognize TTU at all these days......!

[jmtunafish]

Now some of the industrial/commercial stuff around town that have added quite a few jobs.

Hörmann (pronounced "Herman") is a German garage door company which opened a factory just south of town in White County adjacent to the regional airport.  

 

Aphena Pharma Solutions, a home-grown company established 30 years ago to package pharmaceuticals, is spending $21 million to renovate the old Russell Stove factory.  At 500,000 square feet and with all the refrigeration already installed for an former candy factory, they'll add cold chain storage and biologic packaging as well as a couple hundred more jobs.

 

Portobello America, a Brazilian tile company, is going to build a $150 million facility just off I-40 west of Cookeville in Baxter.  They hope to get shovels in the ground this spring which I assume means any day now.  They have an office in Cookeville right now.  The facility will be a tile manufacturing plant but also their US headquarters with something like 220 jobs.

 

Government contractor SAIC is expanding again, having just taken out another $1 million permit to renovate additional space in the Regions building downtown.  Regions is now relegated to a small office in the back of the building, while SAIC has pretty much taken over the rest of the building.  They came to town a couple of years ago and said they'll have 300 IT workers here within 5 years, and they're almost at that level now.

 

 

 

TTI Floor Care, the parent company of Hoover, Dirt Devil, Ryobi, and Milwaukee Tools and which  acquired Oreck a couple of years ago, is spending $20 million to expand its manufacturing plant in Cookeville to add a tool line. This expansion will bring 500 more jobs.

[jmtunafish]

Aphena is adding a new line to package covid vaccines which means another 100 jobs.

Vice President Eric Allen said the company has temperature controlled technology to keep vaccines chilled for shipping.

“We do not manufacture those products here, but we are what’s called a packager,” Allen said. “So, we actually put them all together. We label the products. We certify the products. We put them in the special kits that the doctors need or the hospital needs, and then, we will ship those out to distribution centers.”

https://newstalk941.com/aphena-adds-vaccine-packaging-to-cookeville-expansion/

[timmay143]

Would have never thought to see SAIC in Cookeville.  Pretty cool!

[jmtunafish]

A couple of updates from Tennessee Tech.  A rendering of the new residence hall was published in the local paper last week.  This new building will be more than just another dorm; it'll include "innovation space" where residents will collaborate on engineering and technology stuff (things I can't begin to comprehend).  It'll be located on the east side of Willow Ave where some married student housing buildings used to be and which is now a gravel parking lot.  It's outlined in purple in the map below.  The new engineering building, which should get started soon, will be located in the area in yellow.  Unfortunately, this means that Sherlock Park will no longer be.  However, a new park will be built in the field between the BFAC and the president's house, outlined in green.

 

In addition, the university is about to embark on an ambitious plan to make the campus more friendly to pedestrians.  Most of Peachtree Avenue and West 10th Street will be reworked into large pedestrian paths and closed to vehicles.  Dixie Ave will be reduced from 4 to 2 lanes with wider sidewalks and a grassy median with trees.  Similar improvements will be made to Stadium Drive and University Drive.  At some point, the intersection of 8th St and Dixie Ave is going to be remade into a roundabout with an attractive art feature in the middle.  Lord I hope they don't use the same charlatan who did Stix in Nashville.

Edited March 29, 2021 by jmtunafish

[LA_TN]

Buc-ees is coming to Tennessee!!

- Crossville

- groundbreaking next week

- 120 gas pumps

- 53,400 sq ft convenience store

- employ 175 people

 

https://www.wkrn.com/news/buc-ees-to-break-ground-in-crossville/

[smeagolsfree]

What’s a Buc-ee’s? I have traveled a lot and never seen one, never heard of one.

 

[MLBrumby]

You'll see them all over in Texas.  They're a "MEGA" truck/car  stop. I went to one along I-20 south of Dallas... it's GINORMOUS.... and I have no urge to stop at another one again. There is one in Georgia now... but they have not seen me. They're known for their "food" options, but I have to keep to a strict diet. So they're not marketing to me. They do have unique t-shirts. 

[donNdonelson2]

8 minutes ago, MLBrumby said:

You'll see them all over in Texas.  They're a "MEGA" truck/car  stop. I went to one along I-20 south of Dallas... it's GINORMOUS.... and I have no urge to stop at another one again. There is one in Georgia now... but they have not seen me. They're known for their "food" options, but I have to keep to a strict diet. So they're not marketing to me. They do have unique t-shirts. 

They have the cleanest restrooms of any place along the highway! Add to that, there’s a great variety of food choices, freshly prepared hot foods, pre-packaged sandwiches, salads, desserts, and store specialty bagged snacks (admittedly much of this road-trip food is not the most healthy), so many gas pumps you’ll almost never have to wait, and lots of merchandise, from t-shirts to mugs and bumper stickers. I think the large, super clean restrooms are the thing that motivates many families to stop. (Mommy don’t like a dirty restroom!!!) Oh, and there’s beer.

[smeagolsfree]

I try not to drive in that state although I did on the way to Tucson and I do not recall seeing one.

[tragenvol]

Alabama has two; and soon a third will likely be placed just across the border in Athens.

[BnaBreaker]

So... it's a truck stop?  

[donNdonelson2]

Just now, BnaBreaker said:

So... it's a truck stop?  

I’m not aware of any of their locations having truck stop style services.

[LA_TN]

2 hours ago, BnaBreaker said:

So... it's a truck stop?  

Buc-ees is as much of a destination as IKEA. Buc-ees is like comparing the Fifth and Broadway Assembly Food Hall to an I-90 oasis

Negative, not a truck stop. It's a 53,400 sq ft 'convenience' store that has 175 employees! That is bigger than almost all grocery stores!

[jmtunafish]

37 minutes ago, LA_TN said:

Buc-ees is as much of a destination as IKEA. Buc-ees is like comparing the Fifth and Broadway Assembly Food Hall to an I-90 oasis

Negative, not a truck stop. It's a 53,000 ft 'convenience' store that has 175 employees! That is bigger than almost all grocery stores!

And I wonder what it will do to the existing gas stations in Crossville.  It will definitely help the sales tax receipts for Crossville--which could really use the economic boost--but I'm betting it's going to really hurt some of the existing gas stations along the interstate.  It's like opening up a dozen gas stations at the same time in the same place.

Edited June 10, 2021 by jmtunafish

[LA_TN]

23 minutes ago, jmtunafish said:

And I wonder what it will do to the existing gas stations in Crossville.  It will definitely help the sales tax receipts for Crossville--which could really use the economic boost--but I'm betting it's going to really hurt some of the existing gas stations along the interstate.  It's like opening up a dozen gas stations at the same time in the same place.

We'll have to wait to see what the gas prices are in comparison, but it will absolutely impact everything from Cookeville to Harriman, and beyond. Pilot should take a pretty big hit. And it will impact all restaurants and more, as well. I'm thinking all 3 Cracker Barrels to Interstate Dr. It will be a while before it's open and by then the I-40 volume should be at a level where it will be a welcome relief to have!

The superstores have everything from food seasonings to home decor. Oh yeah, and food, did I mention they have food? lol

[tragenvol]

7 hours ago, LA_TN said:

The superstores have everything from food seasonings to home decor.

As well as grills, smokers and fire pits.

Edited June 10, 2021 by tragenvol

[smeagolsfree]

If I am driving on the way to some place I am sure not going to stop and buy a grill. Also with 120 gas pumps, the traffic getting in and out will be a pain. I am a get my ass in and out in under 4 minutes including the bathroom break, so these types of places are not my style.

When I drive such as my upcoming NY drive it will be 15 hours on the road max. All I do is stop to pee, gas up and grab food on the fly. Nothing else. My record is from Rapid City SD in 23 hours back to Nashville in one drive. I have my trips planned out and I have my stops planned out. Roadside attractions like these never appealed to me. The closest thing I ever did was Wall Drug Store in SD and that is a place that if you have seen it once you dont have to go back.

Call me me a stick in the mud, but a place like this has no appeal to me from outward appearances. Sort of like Shake Shack... I tried it and dint like it. Way too much hype! When you get older you have seen too much stuff to know the real thing from all the kid stuff crap like this. Now What-A-Burger was different for me. I liked the food, the service, the price. The have been around for years. I used to like McDonalds when I was a kid but now their food is crap. They have changed the ingredients to items that are banned in Europe as have many fast food chains including What A Burger. I do not eat a lot of fast food burgers any longer for that reason. I have gotten way off track, but this explains my mind set. I am very travel focused when I go somewhere and a meticulous planner, down to if I want to pay tolls or not.

[Digital Dust]

You may be making assumptions that may or may not be true. The whole store is designed around ensuring that you have a pump when you get there, and after the last few weeks I get it now(thanks ransomware). Same thing with the bathrooms(not ransomware related). Now the first few weeks of it being opened you might have a problem getting a pump. So this place might be perfect for that 4 minute break :p

As someone who doesn't like long drives, these places are great and I can get up and move around. Also, when are we getting a Sheetz? I miss that store a lot...