Thursday night, the Town of Farragut Planning Board discussed a 280 apartment development on Kingston Pike, directly across from Farragut High. They mention the Old Kroger, it does include the horse farm behind the old Kroger, 45 +/- acres.
Question, does it include the Mexican Restaurant, Smart Bank, Diary Queen, the house behind DQ (which if not on the National Registry of Historical Places, should be) and the former First Tennessee Bank at the corner of Concord and Kingston Pike?
Additionally, I believe it would abut the historical cemetery, Pleasant Forest at Concord Road and South Campbell Station Road. The cemetery where Archibald Roane (the man Roane County is named after) is laid to rest.
The more than one hour discussion, where Mayor Ron Williams endorsed the concept is right below.
Farragut Community Organizer/Activist Mike Mitchell’s initial thoughts are,
The proposed 280 apartments at the old Kroger location will forever change Farragut in many negative ways. There is no way to accommodate the added traffic without changing the character of this area. Now during school hours there is traffic gridlock. Why add 280 apartments to that existing traffic gridlock? The apartment occupants cannot entirely support this new Farragut town center and the hassle of traffic going there will keep other people away. This is a dated plan that ignores current reality. People will not shop at a place that is difficult to get in to and out of. This is a Blockbuster video tape idea in the time of Netflix movie streaming.
Drive through the Turkey Creek shopping center. There are many vacant buildings there now. Some of that is a retail downturn some of it is caused by Covid-19. The renovated old Ingles shopping center is waiting for businesses but no one has come yet. And that is a convenient place to get in and out of. That should set off some alarm bells.
When the Town of Farragut created the town center concept many years ago there was no Covid-19 and Amazon was not the local business destroyer it is today. We do not know what future bars and restaurants have in a post Covid-19 world. They may not have a viable future. The Planning Commission should reject this plan. It is too risky. It is the wrong location. It could do too much harm to the town and the property value of Farragut residents. Farragut should stay true to its roots as a bedroom community. In the Planning Commission meeting August 20th the developer said they would like a hotel down the street from Concord Hills. This is not the location for apartments or a hotel.
This proposed Farragut town center has many parallels to the Downtown West shopping center near West Town mall. In the early 1970’s many executive apartments were built south of Downtown West shopping center and south of Gleason Road. Even though there was the very successful West Town Mall developers took the gamble and built out Downtown West. The concern is that Farragut’s town center could become what happened to Downtown West and the apartments south of Gleason Road. Downtown West has changed hands many times and is historically a business failure. A blueprint of what not to do. Many of the apartments south of Gleason Road became Section 8 low income housing. That was thought to be impossible when those apartments were built in the 1970’s. It can happen anywhere. Even in Farragut.
There are many better options for this land. Options that are safer and match what the people of Farragut say they want. The old Kroger could be used as a learning annex to Farragut High School and for storage for Knox County Schools. That would be very helpful in increasing social distancing in our schools with Covid-19 should this virus continue into 2021. One of the biggest requests in the town of Farragut is for an aquatic center which would be a great fit for the empty farm land. There could be tennis courts for Farragut High School. It could also be a good location for a new subdivision which would be much better than this proposed town center. In terms of bringing money to the town a subdivision is a safer bet and it is better for the residents.
Why invite risk when there are better options?
Mike Mitchell
What say you #AdmiralNation?
Farragut needs a new Mayor. That is a bad design. That hurts every parent who takes their kids to school there.
They call that a town center? Where is the mixed use? It was supposed to have retail on the lower floor and condos on the top floors. This is just a pair of cheap strip strips malls and three sets of four story apartments. There is no mixed use here. And no green space either. They want to use the green space too.
The developer does not have a good reputation. This is very odd for Farragut and even more odd at this location.