Cookeville News

[jmtunafish]

Here are a couple of pictures of what's happening on the western edge of town.  On the top is the new Ficosa plant which will employ 900 when it's fully operational; 450 jobs are moving from Crossville where Ficosa will close its plant there, and another 550 will be new hires.

On the bottom is the new I-40 interchange being built just around the corner from the Ficosa plant.

Edited April 21, 2016 by jmtunafish

[jmtunafish]

Two microbreweries are headed to a part of downtown Cookeville that has become home to a number of surprisingly good and creative independent restaurants.  Red Silo Brewery is renovating an old industrial building on 1st Street in the same block as Father Tom's Pub, World Foods, Blue Rooster Canteen, India Palace, Cream City Ice Cream (which features MIke's Ice Cream out of Nashville), Taiko Noodles and Sushi Bar, and Charity's Bake Shop.

http://www.redsilobrewing.com/

Hix Farm Brewery is renovating a former used furniture store just two blocks from Red Silo, across the street from venerable Ralph's Doughnuts and around the corner from Crawdaddy's, Back Room Bistro, Dairy Queen (!), Seven Senses, El Milagro, P-Dilly's, and Green Radish Asian Grocery.  Hix Farm Brewery is being developed by a couple from Colorado who envision Cookeville becoming a hotbed of microbreweries similar to their hometown of Greeley which has a dozen of them.

https://www.facebook.com/hixfarmbrewery

Edited May 27, 2016 by jmtunafish

[jmtunafish]

Kevin Triplett, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, was in Cookeville this morning along with officials from Harley-Davidson to announce that Cookeville will host the first-ever Southern Backroads Harley Owners Group Rally next summer.  Cookeville has hosted the state H.O.G. rally three times in the last five years and is not only the smallest town to host the rally, it's the only town to host it consecutively.  Last year's rally brought nearly 2,700 riders from 37 states and three foreign countries to Cookeville.  The Southern Backroads rally next summer is expected to bring 6,000 riders to town.  And since the average Harley rider spends around $300 per day at these events, this is a huge deal for little Cookeville and for the entire Upper Cumberland region.

Todd Robinson, H.O.G. regional manager, said Cookeville was an obvious choice for the rally.  Reason number one, the region's backroads are "epic" for riding.  

The Southern Backroads Harley Owners Group Rally is a more regional approach to H.O.G. events in years past.  Past state H.O.G. rallies in Cookeville have featured five days of guided and self-guided ride options, street parties, riding competitions with law enforcement riders, stunt shows, vendors, food, and nightly live music.

http://ucbjournal.com/breaking-h-o-g-plans-cookeville-return-in-2017/

[jmtunafish]

On Friday the Tennessee State Building Commission granted final approval for TTU's new student fitness and intramural sports center. To be located at the northeast corner of Willow & 7th, conveniently across the street from a Pizza Hut, the new $40 million facility will make an impressive front door to the university. Construction should start in April.

Here's how that corner looks now:

 

And renderings of the new fitness center and the over all site plan:

 

In other news, 2016 was a good year for residential construction in Cookeville with 427 new housing built (about 1/3 were apartments), and 80 more in neighboring Algood and 184 more just outside the city.  Already in January, 45 more single family homes were started in Cookeville.

And 2017 is shaping up to be a banner year for Cookeville development.  The Publix- and Academy Sports-anchored Shoppes at Eagle Pointe is making its way through TDEC hearings and should start construction soon.  The new downtown Hilton hotel and conference center should start soon, a Hilton-branded hotel has been announced by Sam's Club, very credible sources are reporting that a new Kroger is going to be built on 10th Street by Hwy 111, TTU's new science building should get under way in the fall, a 300-unit luxury apartment complex with 12 acres of retail has been announced for Baxter (?!), an unnamed international company is buying 15 acres in the new Highlands Business Park for a new industrial plant that makes steel molds for the tile industry, several medical office buildings are under construction around town, the new 5th interchange on I-40 and its accompanying new West Cookeville Connector will open later this year, a new police headquarters will hopefully get underway, several new restaurants on "Restaurant Row" should get started (Moe's, Panera, Five Guys, a French brasserie), and last week a software testing company based in Scottsdale AZ announced it will open its first facility outside of Scottsdale in Cookeville, hiring up to 80 IT workers.

[smeagolsfree]

Great updates from Cookeville. Thanks for keeping us in the know as to what is going on there.

[jmtunafish]

On ‎2‎/‎13‎/‎2017 at 7:07 AM, smeagolsfree said:

Great updates from Cookeville. Thanks for keeping us in the know as to what is going on there.

Thanks!  The Nashville media does a pretty good job of ignoring what's going on in Cookeville.  It drives me nuts that publications like the NBJ use the term "Middle Tennessee" but really mean just Nashville.  In fact, an NBJ editor actually admitted to me once that when they say "Middle Tennessee" they really mean just the Nashville MSA plus Clarksville and Columbia.

Anyway, Tennessee Tech has a pretty ambitious plan to make the campus more pedestrian friendly.  Here's its current layout, or rather how it looked in 2010 (the married student housing on the east side of Willow Ave has already been razed to make way for the new intermural fields and student fitness center):

 

And here's what it plans on looking like in 15 or so years, which primarily involves moving the bulk of campus parking to the campus periphery, "greening" the campus, adding a couple of new academic buildings, expanding the University Center, renovating existing dorms and adding new ones, and improving athletic facilities.

The entire master plan for what Tech hopes to look like in 15 or so years:

https://www.tntech.edu/files/strategicplanning/Planning/masterplanbooklet.pdf

Edited February 14, 2017 by jmtunafish

[tragenvol]

Wasn't the new Chemistry Building (about to break ground) located in the Volpe Library parking area, the future parking area above has been adjusted for green space to the rear of the Volpe Libray...where is the new Chemistry Building?

[rbowman]

My son graduated from TTU in 2014 with an engineering degree. The new dorms they are building are nice, but the older dorms just need to be torn down and replaced. The rooms in those older dorms are the smallest rooms I have ever seen on a college campus.

Sent from my LG-H918 using Tapatalk

[tragenvol]

4 minutes ago, tragenvol said:

Wasn't the new Chemistry Building (about to break ground) located in the Volpe Library parking area, the future parking area above has been adjusted for green space to the rear of the Volpe Libray...where is the new Chemistry Building?

Never mind, I think I've found it:  The proposed site for the new Science building is the block between Peachtree and Stadium drives and between the engineering complex and Capitol Quad housing. The site currently accommodates 859 cars which are highly visible.

 

[tragenvol]

A bit of news from January from Chattanooga's TFP; the videoboard referenced below is budgeted at $2.9 million.  This disclosed project is funded by $1 million in gifts along with $1.9 million in plant funds.

Cookeville will continue through 2020 as the site of Tennessee's BlueCross Bowl high school state football championship games, the TSSAA's Board of Control decided Thursday after bid presentations by Cookeville and Clarksville. Cookeville, Putnam County and Tennessee Tech University have hosted the football state finals the past eight years. TTU athletic director Mark Wilson, who headed the bid-winning delegation, said in a release that his group is "humbled and thrilled" to get another four years as host. "We feel we've created a standard of excellence by providing a Division I bowl-like experience for Tennessee's student-athletes, their fans and families and look foward to the ongoing partnership with the TSSAA board and its staff to take the experience to an even higher level," Wilson said. The bid package included the same $253,000 guarantee as in past years and promises of enhancements to Tucker Stadium, including a videoboard to be installed this year.

[jmtunafish]

52 minutes ago, rbowman said:

My son graduated from TTU in 2014 with an engineering degree. The new dorms they are building are nice, but the older dorms just need to be torn down and replaced. The rooms in those older dorms are the smallest rooms I have ever seen on a college campus.

Sent from my LG-H918 using Tapatalk
 

I believe that's the plan.  The old dorms along 7th Street and the ones along Dixie Ave are eventually going to be replaced with new dorms.  Fortunately, since the dorms are self-funding, Tech doesn't have to wait on the state legislature to approve funding.  They've already replaced most of the dorms along Dixie with new ones which are pretty nice.

29 minutes ago, tragenvol said:

A bit of news from January from Chattanooga's TFP; the videoboard referenced below is budgeted at $2.9 million.  This disclosed project is funded by $1 million in gifts along with $1.9 million in plant funds.

Cookeville will continue through 2020 as the site of Tennessee's BlueCross Bowl high school state football championship games, the TSSAA's Board of Control decided Thursday after bid presentations by Cookeville and Clarksville. Cookeville, Putnam County and Tennessee Tech University have hosted the football state finals the past eight years. TTU athletic director Mark Wilson, who headed the bid-winning delegation, said in a release that his group is "humbled and thrilled" to get another four years as host. "We feel we've created a standard of excellence by providing a Division I bowl-like experience for Tennessee's student-athletes, their fans and families and look foward to the ongoing partnership with the TSSAA board and its staff to take the experience to an even higher level," Wilson said. The bid package included the same $253,000 guarantee as in past years and promises of enhancements to Tucker Stadium, including a videoboard to be installed this year.

The new videoboard will be a welcomed addition, but I'm more interested to see what they're going to do with Tucker Stadium.  That thing is in serious need of renovation.  But the videoboard really will be nice.

[memphian]

I had drinks with a College of Business Director of Development last fall when she was in Memphis (asking us alumni for money). She told me that Tucker Stadium will become a horseshoe with the open end facing 12th Street. The new enclosed end zone is supposed to house athletics space/offices, primarily football stuff. If done well, this should be a great improvement to game days ate TECH. OVC Football isn't exactly a lot of fun so anything to make the experience better is a win for the university.

 

[tragenvol]

2 hours ago, memphian said:

I had drinks with a College of Business Director of Development last fall when she was in Memphis (asking us alumni for money). She told me that Tucker Stadium will become a horseshoe with the open end facing 12th Street. The new enclosed end zone is supposed to house athletics space/offices, primarily football stuff. If done well, this should be a great improvement to game days ate TECH. OVC Football isn't exactly a lot of fun so anything to make the experience better is a win for the university.

 

Yes, I believe that's correct about the enclosure.  As I understand, the videoboard installation is part of a larger $32 million disclosed project for athletics.

[jmtunafish]

I assume when they close off the south end zone, the bleachers in the rest of the stadium will be replaced by individual seats? Otherwise, I can't imagine that they would want to increase capacity. I can't remember the last time they sold out the 16,500 seats they already have. I hope they get it started soon. Tech hosts the state high school football championship games, and I think Tech promised TSSAA that they would renovate Tucker Stadium as part of the deal.

[memphian]

I think they're going to replace them. I remember some nuclear engineering labs were under one side and then a tv station, racquetball courts, and ROTC classrooms were on the Ither side. The stands are old so it makes sense to tear down and rebuild , plus they need new press boxes and reception suites. Nuclear engineering was dropped not too long after the Cold War ended.

TECH/MTSU games used to sell it out over Thanksgiving weekend - back when that rivalry was hot.

Edited February 15, 2017 by memphian

[jmtunafish]

Case in point of how the Nashville media is clueless when it comes to Cookeville.  This line is in an article in today's Tennessean:

"At Center Hill, located between Smithville and Cookeville in East Tennessee..."

Center Hill Lake, Smithville, and Cookeville are all located in Middle Tennessee, not East Tennessee.  Yes, the article was written by a report from Memphis, but come on Tennessean, don't they have editors?

[tragenvol]

11 hours ago, memphian said:

TECH/MTSU games used to sell it out over Thanksgiving weekend - back when that rivalry was hot.

Witnessed some of those latter games; Tech has done quite a bit to promote and coordinate the game day experience; however, a more modern stadium will do so much more in that regard.

[memphian]

I like how the area is growing. TECH is surely the catalyst for much of the growth and now that it is one of only three nationally ranked universities in the State (Vanderbilt, UT, and TECH) it will surely continue to evolve. Between campus and downtown has cleaned up rather nicely over the years. And, downtown has different districts - like the westside, the square, etc.

I am looking forward to the hotel in downtown.

[MLBrumby]

Is there any update on the Auxin hotel/conference center?  From the looks of that Wilson plant, it would make a great adaptive reuse project. Does anyone have any info if that will be the case/ 

[CenterHill]

4 hours ago, jmtunafish said:

Case in point of how the Nashville media is clueless when it comes to Cookeville.  This line is in an article in today's Tennessean:

"At Center Hill, located between Smithville and Cookeville in East Tennessee..."

Center Hill Lake, Smithville, and Cookeville are all located in Middle Tennessee, not East Tennessee.  Yes, the article was written by a report from Memphis, but come on Tennessean, don't they have editors?

LOL.    Damn I had no idea I've been spending my weekends in East Tennessee! 

Yes, Center Hill lake is squarely in Middle TN.    It's just over 1 hr from downtown Nashville.  

[donNdonelson2]

Local media doesn't seem to know the difference between Donelson and Hermitage! (And that is all still in eastern Davidson County.) How could they possibly know anything about Cookeville or Center Hill Lake? Both might just as well be in Western North Carolina for all they know.

[jmtunafish]

1 hour ago, memphian said:

I like how the area is growing. TECH is surely the catalyst for much of the growth and now that it is one of only three nationally ranked universities in the State (Vanderbilt, UT, and TECH) it will surely continue to evolve. Between campus and downtown has cleaned up rather nicely over the years. And, downtown has different districts - like the westside, the square, etc.

I am looking forward to the hotel in downtown.

I agree on all counts.  I love how Tech has grown up and has pulled the town up with it.  The presence of a mid-major university just a few blocks from downtown has done wonders for Cookeville.  It wasn't that long ago when the part of downtown closest to Tech (the Depot area) looked like this:

and now looks like this:

 

And what used to be a run-down shopping center downtown:

 

is now this:

 

I love that people go to downtown Cookeville to eat out, shop, go to the hairdresser, see plays, go to the post office, hang out at the park, buy a kayak, visit museums (even a children's museum), go to the dry cleaners, grab some microbrews, pick up a dozen fresh made doughnuts, go grocery shopping, etc. 

Edited February 15, 2017 by jmtunafish

[tragenvol]

1 hour ago, MLBrumby said:

Is there any update on the Auxin hotel/conference center?  From the looks of that Wilson plant, it would make a great adaptive reuse project. Does anyone have any info if that will be the case/ 

The future home of sign for the hotel/conference is up; erected after a drawn out property issue was settled.  It's exciting; the Westside is really popping now with more and more local attractions coming online.  The former Bight of the Bend barbeque restaurant out of Gainesboro is being reinvented as The Blue Pig, and the second microbrewery is coming along.  FYI, The Blue Pig will also be an Oyster House...if in town...get their shrimp and grits along with any of their smoked meats.

Edited February 15, 2017 by tragenvol

[MLBrumby]

So do we have three Cookevillians who post regularly on UP?  I like your town. Go there every fall with my kids for the regional XC meet at a park north of town (near a high school).  Last time, I took a quick detour around TTU's campus on our way out.  I saw lots of potential.  

[tragenvol]

Yep; that's Cookeville High.  Lots of public and private construction activity these days around and near campus hopefully fulfilling some of that potential.