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Old 05-10-2016, 03:05 PM
 
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Today's paper has an article quoting some county commissioners who want to look into selling the county fairgrounds in Cookeville. One of them said he thinks they could sell the fairgrounds for $10 million. I'm not so sure I agree with that figure, but I still think it could be in the millions.

If they do decide to sell the fairgrounds, what would you like to see developed in its place? It's 35 acres. And where would the new fairgrounds be located?
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Old 05-10-2016, 04:19 PM
 
Location: Indian Trail, NC
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I definitely think it should be sold and have an pie in the sky idea that would never fly, but I think would be such a good fit. I would love some to try to acquire a franchise in the Appalachian League, and build a minor league stadium there. Appalachian league is rookie league, plays from mid June until Labor Day. A rookie league stadium only seats maybe 2000 people and could get substantial use from youth sports as well. Build it to configure for soccer, youth football, lacrosse and sponsor tournaments. Close to restaurants and hotels and good highway access.

Won't ever happen, but I see it as a good fit.
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Old 05-10-2016, 04:49 PM
 
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Originally Posted by Sparkman View Post
I definitely think it should be sold and have an pie in the sky idea that would never fly, but I think would be such a good fit. I would love some to try to acquire a franchise in the Appalachian League, and build a minor league stadium there. Appalachian league is rookie league, plays from mid June until Labor Day. A rookie league stadium only seats maybe 2000 people and could get substantial use from youth sports as well. Build it to configure for soccer, youth football, lacrosse and sponsor tournaments. Close to restaurants and hotels and good highway access.

Won't ever happen, but I see it as a good fit.
Isn't there already some sort of minor league football team in Cookeville? The Xpress or something like that? A small stadium that could accommodate that and rookie league baseball would be pretty cool. If the city didn't already have Cane Creek Sportsplex, I could see a city-run rec center there, too.

A developer out of Atlanta did want to buy the fairgrounds a few years ago to build a Super KMart, but the county commission didn't want to sell at the time, and then of course KMart went through some major financial problems and closed most of its supercenters so it's probably just as well. I don't think I want to see retail there; the roads around there just aren't built to accommodate that kind of traffic.

The paper quoted some county commissioner saying he'd like to see a hotel/conference center developed there. ugh I hope that doesn't mean the hotel/conference center proposed for downtown is dead.
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Old 05-10-2016, 06:24 PM
 
Location: Indian Trail, NC
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The Xpress just folded after their last game, either last week or this upcoming weekend. Saw an announcement from the owner on Facebook a little while ago.
The cities that are in the Appalachian league or similar to Cookeville, Bristol, VA is one. Distances aren't too bad, Cookeville would be a decent fit.
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Old 05-11-2016, 12:32 AM
 
Location: Cookeville/Crossville
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I do think the fairgrounds needs to be relocated, possibly out toward Hyder-Burks on the grade.
When they began developing the condos across the street last year, I knew it was just a matter of time before there would be discussion of selling the fairgrounds.

I'm not sure what I would like to see there. Hopefully not a car lot or strip mall. It's a great location. I would hate to see it wasted.

Side note: how long until the stock barn sells/moves/closes? It's so out of place currently. haha.
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Old 05-11-2016, 05:42 AM
 
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If the fairground is sold and the county fair moved then wouldn't the new location cost as much or more than what they could sell the existing fairgrounds for. They would have to build all new facilities to accommodate a growing county fair including a new rodeo facility and buildings to house the typical exhibits and activities they have.

Since the existing facilities is primarily located in a existing residential zone they probably can't build a new facility that would disturb the people that live in the area. Even a new large shopping center would be disruptive to that local residential neighborhood. I would think the majority of the property would be sold for more residential housing and possibly public housing while the land bordering Jefferson would be commercial development.
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Old 05-11-2016, 08:18 AM
 
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Originally Posted by Jumeby View Post
They would have to build all new facilities to accommodate a growing county fair including a new rodeo facility and buildings to house the typical exhibits and activities they have.
I think that's one of the reasons they're talking about selling the property and building a new fairground. The facilities at the existing fairground are in dire need of some very expensive repairs or even demolition and reconstruction. With the amount of money the county would have to spend for that, and with the money they could get by selling the property, they could build a new fairground somewhere else.

I do like the idea of having the fair out at Hyder-Burks. But since Hyder-Burks is owned by the state (TTU) and is an active farm for TTU's ag school, there are probably some major hoops to go through. But Hyder-Burks is a fantastic indoor facility that is a bajillion times nicer than the current stadium at the fairgrounds. And there looks to be a lot of land around Hyder-Burks that could be made into a very nice and expansive fairground with plenty of parking. Gainesboro Grade (12th Street) would undoubtedly have to be widened around there, but that's probably not a big deal.

At any rate, I'm attaching maps of the two areas. The first one is the current fairgrounds, surrounded by development (the new apartments to the south of it are newer than this Google satellite image). The second one is the Hyder-Burks pavilion and the area around it owned by TTU. As you can see, there's zero room to expand the current fairgrounds, but there's all kinds of land at Hyder-Burks (albeit owned by the state).
Attached Thumbnails
Sell the fairgrounds?-fairgrounds.png   Sell the fairgrounds?-hyder-burks.png  
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Old 05-11-2016, 08:24 AM
 
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Side note: how long until the stock barn sells/moves/closes? It's so out of place currently. haha.
You got that right! A few months ago when part of the roof blew off in a storm I was hoping that would be the end of the stockyard in its current location. Talk about prime real estate. I think it would be much better and probably a heck of a lot more appropriate to move the stockyard over to the Hyder-Burks area, too. I'm not a cattle farmer, but it seems to me that having the ag pavilion, stockyard, and fairgrounds all in one area would be a good thing.
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Old 05-11-2016, 07:13 PM
 
Location: Cookeville/Crossville
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Another possible location might be along the new road connecting hwy 70 and the new Mine Lick Creek interchange.

I don't know if any of that land is for sale, but that farmland could be easily developed. It would be quite far from the "city" though.
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Old 05-11-2016, 08:03 PM
 
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Originally Posted by llsmith42 View Post
Another possible location might be along the new road connecting hwy 70 and the new Mine Lick Creek interchange.

I don't know if any of that land is for sale, but that farmland could be easily developed. It would be quite far from the "city" though.
Having a location right off the interstate would certainly make it easier for the nether points in the county to get there.

I wonder how many people the current grandstand can accommodate. Hyder-Burks has only 2,500 seats which seems a little small for some of the more popular events, but maybe not. I wonder how difficult it would be to expand the seating capacity at Hyder-Burks. Having an indoor arena would be such a boon to the county fair. There have been several times when shows or events have had to be cancelled because of torrential summer thunderstorms.
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