“Investment in small businesses and the local community is just as important as the big box retailers” – Cookeville Mayor Laurin Wheaton
Last Thursday evening, the Cookeville City Council approved the purchase of the property at the corner of Depot Street, South Cedar Avenue and South Oak Avenue. The property, which sits next to the Cookeville Depot on Depot Street, was most recently purchased by HCA Health Services of Tennessee (HCA) for $3.6 million from Auxin LLC in September 2022. HCA then listed the property for sale in November 2024.
The property, once the long-time site of the old Wilson manufacturing building that burned down in 2019, has long been rumored for many different projects, the biggest being a convention center, hotel and retail shops on the property back in 2015 when the city signed an agreement with Auxin.
“We have been negotiating over the past several months with HCA in regards to this property,” said City Manager James Mills. “The primary reason for the purchase of the property is to utilize a portion of it for use as additional parking for the downtown area.”
Mills says 100 to 150 off-street parking spaces can be provided. That would occupy about 1 ½ acres of the property.
“We have also discussed a green space and small park area,” said Mills. “The remainder of the area can be developed for commercial or retail purposes.”
The city intends to use a local architect and planning firm for the project. The city will purchase the property “as-is”, according to the contract.
“There are environmental issues we are aware of on the property, which are attributed to the previous use of the property, which will have to be mitigated. To address this, we are in discussions with an environmental assessment firm to evaluate the site,” according to Mills.
Mills says there have been previous assessments done on the property, but the city thinks it’s pertinent to update that assessment.
“But, also know there are upgrades to storm drainage water and other utilities that have to be completed,” said Mills.
Property can’t be used by competitors of HCA, according to the contract, except for certain uses by CRMC, including urgent care facilities and care clinics. City officials and HCA officials have finalized the contract.
The goal is to complete the purchase during the current fiscal year.
“… Or by June 30, 2025,” said Mills. “We want to thank HCA for working with us on this purchase. Particularly for allowing the public to park on the property while we have been evaluating the acquisition.”
Over the past few years, the city has invested over $15 million into revitalizing the downtown area, including:
- CityScape Avenue StreetScape project
- New 24-space parking lot on Cedar
- 62-spot Parking lot at Cedar and Third
- New Dogwood Park entrance and CPAC renovation with more parking
- And more
“This is an amazing project,” said Councilman Eric Walker. “I think it is one of the most important things the council gets to work on in this term. This is the heart of Cookeville. It’s the original part of Cookeville, and it is important to everybody. We had a groundbreaking recently for some large businesses here in town … This is very exciting to see us coming back and giving back to our local business owners and supporting them, and supporting our downtown. …”
Councilman Ali Bagci says this project allows the city to take a site that no one has developed in decades and develop it.
“We saw a need when it was blocked off,” said Cookeville Mayor Laurin Wheaton,” ….. “We realized this was an area of land that had been used for something that was still a big need for Cookeville. … This is going to be free parking..… We are not looking to make money, we are looking at this as simply an investment for our local area of Cookeville.”
Wheaton says investment in small businesses and the local community is as important as attracting the big-box retailers.
“It’s fun to have Target and Home Depot across the way, but this is also just as important to invest in our local community…. So we are really excited about it, and we are going to hit the ground running. … We want to take this piece of land that has probably seen better days, fix her up and make her pretty again.”
Councilman Eric Walker made the motion to approve. Councilman Ali Bagci seconded the motion, and the motion was approved unanimously.
Photo via The City of Cookeville.
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