Commentary by Chris Smith, editor-in-chief of Clarksville Now.

When people look back at 2023 in Clarksville, what will they see as the pivotal points, the biggest news, the events that went on to shape this community’s future? It’s time to click through the Clarksville Now archives for the last 12 months and try to make sense of the year that was.

1. F&M Bank Arena opens

Nashville Predators Gold Star Showcase at F&M Bank Arena on Sept. 28, 2023. (Wesley Irvin)

After years of debate with the naysayers, and then some fascinating hillside construction for all of 2022, F&M Bank Arena and Ford Ice Center Clarksville officially opened on July 15 with a confetti-filled ceremony, tours and activities.

The arena is a 250,000-square-foot facility cut into College and First Streets. The main arena has capacity for up to 6,000 people in a flexible space for hockey, basketball, concerts and more. A second large space is the Ford Ice Center, offering a year-round community ice sheet for skating, hockey and learn-to-skate programs. With the arena open, a series of first events came next, giving a sampler platter of what to expect:

Unfortunately, work on the parking garage for the arena hasn’t gone as quickly, with several delays over land deals and design complications. The 526-space facility, which will be between Riverview Inn and the F&M Bank Arena, is being built in conjunction with the planned Riverview Square retail development. They are now having to be built at the same time because of site topography, and the garage is expected to open in January 2025. Work continues on the remodeling of the old Riverview Inn next door to make it a DoubleTree By Hilton, and that is expected to be complete by June 2024.

Exterior of Shelby’s Trio in downtown Clarksville (Seth Parker Photography)

Across College Street from the arena, the three-story, three-restaurant Shelby’s Trio is opened in February. The first floor is Joe’s Garage, with displays of classic muscle cars and Americana food. On the second floor is Trattoria di Cat with fine Italian dining. The third floor is the Skyline 500 rooftop bar, which has become a tourist attraction of sorts, drawing folks to enjoy one of the best publicly accessible views of the Clarksville skyline and Cumberland River.

2. Tornado rips across north Clarksville

The remains of a home on Henry Place Boulevard after the Dec. 9, 2023 tornado. (Amber Anderson)

On the afternoon of Saturday, Dec. 9, we were hit with one of the worst tornadoes in Clarksville history – certainly the worst in terms of loss of life. Four people were killed by the Clarksville storm, including a 10-year-old boy. Over 60 others were injured.

The tornado touched down at 1:41 p.m. on Fort Campbell just north of the Sabre Airfield. It became and EF-3 with 150 mph winds and cut a path of destruction 600 yards wide and 11.33 miles long. After 15 minutes on the ground, it crossed the state line near Tylertown Road at 1:56 p.m.

Unlike the 1999 tornado that destroyed much of downtown in a mostly business and government offices area, this storm tore through several neighborhoods. In all, it destroyed 268 “residential sites” – which could be homes or entire apartment complexes. Another 2,027 homes and buildings had damage, with varying severity.

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In the wake of the storm, Clarksville came together to help one another recover. We overdid it a bit, first overwhelming volunteer debris cleanup needs, then food donations and then supply donations. So many volunteers turned out to help, with many uncertain how to proceed, that there were reports of NCOs from Fort Campbell fanning out to take charge.

The aftermath wasn’t without controversy though, with one out-of-state apartment owner demanding his displaced residents remove all their belongings within days of the storm. But in keeping with the rest of Clarksville’s response, a local attorney stepped in pro bono to get a restraining order protecting the residents.

3. LG Chem powering up

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee at the LG Chem plant groundbreaking on Dec. 19, 2023. (Wesley Irvin)

Also in December, LG Chem broke ground on a facility that will forever change Clarksville’s economy. The $3.2 billion plant will produce cathode – a component in electric vehicle batteries – at a 420-acre site just east of Exit 4. Phase 1 is expected to be completed by 2025. By 2028, the plant is expected be running at full capacity, reaching 60,000 tons of cathode produced each year. LG Chem will bring about 86o high-paying jobs, with about 300 of those paying over $100,000. If you haven’t yet considered how that might change our economy, imagine what you would do if your pay was raised to $100,000 a year. Now, imagine that for another 299 of your neighbors.

We’ve been lucky to have several other industrial developments in the last year:

4. Tragic helicopter crashes

Emergency responders are seen near a site where two military helicopters crashed Wednesday night during a routine training mission in Trigg County, Kentucky, on March 30, 2023. (Brandon Smith/WSMV-TV via AP)

As the home of Fort Campbell and the 101st Airborne Division, Clarksville residents have mourned fatal helicopter crashes before, but this year brought two, taking the lives of 14 of our neighbors.

On March 30, two HH60 Black Hawk helicopters were in a night training mission when they crashed near Cadiz, Kentucky. The 101st Airborne Division soldiers were flying a multi-ship formation using night-vision goggles, with five personnel in one helicopter and four in the other. All nine were killed.

On Nov. 13, an MH-60 Black Hawk was conducting aerial refueling training over the Mediterranean Sea when the aircraft experienced an in-flight emergency and crashed. All five 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment soldiers on board were killed.

Don’t let the year end without offering a prayer for the many spouses and children who will face the coming year without loved ones who died in the service of our nation.

5. Stadium, hotel up for bat at Vulcan site

Plans for a baseball stadium, housing, retail and a hotel on the old Vulcan property on College Street submitted to the Regional Planning Commission in July 2023. (CSDG Planning)
Plans for a baseball stadium, housing, retail and a hotel on the old Vulcan property on College Street submitted to the Regional Planning Commission in July 2023. (CSDG Planning)

For several years, there’s been discussion of what to do with the old 30-acre Vulcan property on College Street, which has been abandoned and encircled by a long, rusted, barbed-wire fence for decades. In August, the City Council approved rezoning the property, paving the way for a private company to build an entertainment development at this high-profile downtown location.

The plans include a 2,500-seat baseball stadium. Nothing has been publicly revealed, but there have been internal discussions of a minor league team for Clarksville. Not only will the ballpark be used for baseball games, but for other sporting events and community activities, with a 4,000-person capacity.

The development plans also include:

  • A 100-room hotel with 105 parking spaces.
  • A brewery with 56 parking spaces.
  • 65,400 square feet of retail with 261 parking spaces.
  • 330 apartment units.

The developer has been recruiting businesses to draw some type of retail grocery as well. Nothing has been announced, but they’ve publicly mentioned options such as Bodega and Trader Joes, hinting at fulfilling the dreams of Clarksville residents who have been demanding a Trader Joes since the city was founded in 1784.

6. Conference center hopes pinned on VA Clinic

A plan for the office park off Ted Crozier Boulevard (to the left), for concept purposes only. On the plan, the VA clinic is shown at bottom left, Tennova at the bottom right, the conference center at the upper right, with the hotel just above, and the spine road off of Athletic Avenue at the top. (EDC, contributed)

Two major local initiatives appear to be coming together in plans for a large office park off Ted Crozier Boulevard. The site is designed to feature both Clarksville’s long-discussed conference center/hotel and a massive new VA clinic.

The 69-acre site is roughly bounded by Ted Crozier, Dunlop Lane, Tennova Healthcare-Clarksville, Interstate 24 and the railroad track. The land was turned over to the Clarksville-Montgomery County Industrial Development Board (IDB) with the promise that it would feature the hotel and conference center. Such a center could host military balls from Fort Campbell and spillover convention needs from Nashville. A master developer, E2L Real Estate Solutions, has come on board, and has been working to pin down primary tenants for the site.

Meanwhile, Clarksville is targeted for a new 235,000-square-foot multi-specialty VA Clinic, which will be six times the size of the existing facility on Weatherly Drive. If the VA Clinic can be an anchor tenant, that could double the value of the land, which will help pay for building the conference center.

It’s a complicated and fascinating gambit by economic development officials that has taken a lot of work to put together. If they can pull it off, it will address an array of Clarksville needs, from medical to veterans to tourism to high school proms.

7. Buc-ee’s pumps the brakes

A Buc-ee’s built in Daytona Beach, Florida.

With the announcement that Buc-ee’s Travel Center was planning to build in Clarksville, half the city began dreaming of brisket, abundant gas pumps and clean bathrooms, while the other half had nightmares about yet more traffic congestion around Exit 1.

Speculation had been rampant after the unexpected sudden sale of O’Connor’s Irish Pub on the corner of Trenton Road and Tylertown Road, just east of Exit 1, the prior August. All the rumors were confirmed in June 2023 when Buc-ee’s submitted plans for a 120-pump gas station and 77,000-square-foot building on the site.

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Buc-ee’s plan was to build two entrances from Tylertown, with another two on Copperhead Road for the gas stations, which serve only automobiles – no semi-trucks. But the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) wasn’t satisfied. After weeks of negotiations, in September Buc-ee’s withdrew its site review application, and TDOT confirmed that “necessary traffic improvements that will safely accommodate Clarksville’s rapid population growth” were needed. It’s still possible that Buc-ee’s could come back with another proposal. The company has been looking to build a travel center along Interstate 24 in the area for a couple of years, so they might come back.

Two little-discussed implications of the decision: the loss of a windfall in sales tax revenue – coming mostly from interstate travelers and not local taxpayers – that would have resulted from having a Buc-ee’s location in Clarksville, and, on the other side, a sigh of relief from Gary the Guardrail, who might not have survived the construction process.

8. Hussian shuts down on students

Hussian College formerly known as Daymar College. (Lily Russell)
Hussian College formerly known as Daymar College. (Lily Russell)

Students at Hussian College in Clarksville had started classes, begun working with their teachers and cracked the books when they got notice a week into the term that the school was closing for a month. When that month was over, they got another notice, that the school was closing for good.

If Hussian sounds unfamiliar, it was founded in 1879 as Draughon’s Business College, and it later became Daymar College. The change to Hussian was so recent that in the large signage on the building on Trenton Road, the word “Daymar” was still partially visible under a red “Hussian” board placed on top.

The sudden closure left multiple families in the lurch, and they received little communication from the school about outstanding credits or tuition payments. Hussian at first didn’t make any public announcements about its closure, but notice was confirmed by the state. The Tennessee Higher Education Commission posted a website announcement stating: “Hussian College announced on June 12, 2023, that it cannot continue to operate except to complete instruction for students in the internship or clinical portions of their programs. Thereafter, it is expected that the institution will wind down and eventually cease all operations.”

On July 25, THEC held a meeting with former students on next steps, including how to handle outstanding grant money and credits, outstanding debts, and transcript recovery.

9. Big changes, including backstage, for the Roxy

Street view of the plans for the Clarksville Performing Arts Center. (Lyle, Cook, Martin Architects, contributed)

The idea for rebuilding the Roxy Regional Theatre as a Performing Arts Center dates back many years and has been through several changes – in leadership, in financing and in design. Things seemed to come together a bit more clearly in 2023, with the most detailed vision yet for what the PAC could be.

The PAC plans that were unveiled in October show a four-story building that expands into the empty lot next door. The design features a 486-seat main stage with a balcony, and it keeps the existing facade and front lobby. There’s also a 166-seat “black box” theater, two large gathering spaces, offices, classrooms, a covered open-air rooftop patio, storage areas and loading bays. A financing package is now in the works, and that will be presented to the City Council this spring. The idea is to make it a city facility with Roxy Productions as the primary tenant.

Speaking of the Roxy, 2023 brought a shakeup in leadership as the Roxy board parted ways with executive director Ryan Bowie. The Roxy board president said it was a mutual agreement; Bowie said it was a resignation. Regardless of how and why it went down, the board seems to have recognized a need for more regulated employment practices, including human resources training for its employees and hiring an HR director. Considering the incredible talent the Roxy has brought to Clarksville in the past, and the potential that the PAC will bring in the future, those changes are very much in order.

Meanwhile, the city has made progress on a parking garage behind the Roxy building that connects to the existing Cumberland Parking Garage and can provide parking to the PAC and other downtown retail and entertainment businesses. That garage is expected to be finished in July 2024.

10. Haven Madison on ‘American Idol’

American Idol’s Haven Madison of Clarksville performs for more than 3,000 fans at a free concert at Downtown Commons on Jun.12, 2023. (Lee Erwin)

A teenage singer/songwriter from Clarksville took American Idol by storm this spring. Haven Madison, 16, is a cheerleader at Clarksville High School and member of the Student Government Association. She also made it into the top eight on American Idol before her journey came to an end on May 7.

Clarksville joined in on all the fun, with watch parties at Varsity Pins and visits by fellow Idol contestants. When it was all over, a record-breaking crowd of over 3,000 people packed the Downtown Commons on June 13 for a welcome home party. The event included a meet and greet that lasted over an hour with a line that stretched halfway around the block. She later closed out Clarksville’s final Riverfest, headlining the Sunday night show.

That preview chapter is now behind her, and a stellar debut is surely to come. With original songs that you need to check out – including “15,” “Still Need You” and “This Summer” – Haven has the potential for a stellar future. All of Clarksville will be rooting for her.

But don’t forget …

Holland, MI, starring Nicole Kidman, begins filming their parade scene in downtown Clarksville, April 18, 2023. (Jordan Renfro)

Here are 10 more key stories from 2023:

1. Two brothers killed in standoff with police: Clarksville officers executed arrest warrants for two men with long criminal histories, and the resulting standoff ended in gunfire.

2. Military families find surprise liens on homes: Facing hard-sell tactics from salespeople saying their children’s lives are at risk, many families are buying water softener systems. But they’re in for a shock when they try to sell their home.

3. City partnership awarded 2 homes, but 10 months later, families’ lives on standstill: In September 2022, the new Going Local Initiative announced it was building homes for two families. But a year later, nothing had been done. In November, they finally broke ground.

4. 184 donated lockers will stay at Northeast High School: The lockers, which were bought at auction, given to the school and then rejected, will stay at the school after all, thanks in part to a local business.

5. Body ID’d as that of missing teenage girl: For over 40 years, investigators were unable to determine the identity of remains found in 1981 in a Cheatham County landfill. With DNA matching, they now know it was a teenager from Clarksville.

6. County leaders address concerns about Juvenile Resource Center: The push for a facility in Clarksville has raised lots of questions about race, incarceration and rehabilitation. County leaders and judges tried to answer them.

7. School Board denies charter school again: There was a lot of uncertainty after the board voted, and the public was not quiet in voicing their confusion as the board once again rejected proposed charter schools in Clarksville-Montgomery County.

8. 10-story building, Millan Center, planned downtown: A massive mixed-use development is headed for downtown, and it will become Clarksville’s tallest building.

9. CMCSS brings middle school football back after 43-year time out: Local schools dropped junior high/middle school football in 1980. But it came back this fall, and with cheerleaders.

10. Nicole Kidman movie ‘Holland, MI’ films downtown: Franklin Street was decked out as another city for filming of a parade scene for the Amazon Studios movie.

In memoriam

Philanthropist Cathi Maynard, left, and her husband Joe Maynard in December, 2022. Cathi Maynard died June 23, 2023. (APSU, contributed)

Here are some of the notable locals that Clarksville lost during 2023:

Christian Brown, Jordan Renfro, Lee Erwin, Jeff Matthews, Wesley Irvin and Kamea Ferguson all contributed to this report. 

Chris Smith is editor-in-chief of ClarksvilleNow.com. Reach him by email at csmith@clarksvillenow.com or call 931-648-7720.