CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Residents of the Farmington and Stones Manor neighborhoods, along with Kirkwood campus teachers and Industrial Park employees, may soon get a grocery store under a deal approved by the Industrial Development Board this week.
At Wednesday’s Clarksville-Montgomery County IDB meeting, the board agreed to sell a 5-acre tract on the south Industrial Park to Arizona-based developer Brown Group Inc., which plans to build a grocery store at the location. Brown Group develops for a variety of retailers, and in Clarksville they built the Publix at Walker Farms on Trenton Road.
The IDB’s roughly 5 acres will be combined with about 9 acres not needed by Lori Smith, owner of the planned ACE Hardware Store. Smith had previously purchased 12 acres from the IDB and needs only 3; she will sell the remaining 9 to Brown Group. That will give Brown about 15 acres total, which will be enough to make their plan work.
The site near International Boulevard is bounded by Agero and the incoming ACE Hardware at the west, Rossview Road at the southeast, Rollow Lane at the east, and the IDB stormwater basin at the north. A traffic signal is already planned at Rossview and Rollow.
$1 million in local sales tax, additional tenants
The grocery store will bring in $30-$45 million per year in sales, generating $1 million per year in local sales tax revenue, and will employ 100-120 people, according to the IDB. The name of the grocery has not been announced.
Brown Group will also open three to four pad sites, along with multitenant space next to the grocery, attracting about a dozen national and regional retailers.
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Currently, the closest grocery stores to the area are the Wilma Rudolph Boulevard Walmart, off Interstate 24 Exit 4, and the Publix on Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, off Exit 11. “There is no grocery store east of Interstate 24,” IDB President Josh Ward told Clarksville Now. “Everybody that lives in Farmington, Stones Manor and (works at) Kirkwood Schools, works at Hankook, they have to go to I-24 Exit 11 to that Publix – that’s the closest one. That’s why this was a target retailer for us at this location.”
Stormwater basin improvements required
The land is part of an IDB stormwater basin, and as part of the deal, the developer will get it for a reduced price but will be required to make considerable improvements – keeping the status quo with stormwater retention and also retaining any additional volume of stormwater post-development.
Required stormwater improvements will include importing dirt, constructing a berm, installing a new outlet structure and potentially adding an injection well. This will add up to roughly $404,000 per acre, according to IDB estimates. To balance the development costs, the IDB is selling its 5 acres for only $27,500 per acre.
The IDB’s remaining adjacent 15-acre stormwater basin “will be radically improved because of this development,” Ward said.
The conversation led to a broader discussion Wednesday about stormwater basin management at the Industrial Park. Attorney Stanley Ross explained that the restrictive covenants at the Industrial Park require all tenants to pay a prorated share of the basin maintenance costs, based on acreage. He said it’s up to the IDB to enforce that maintenance and the payments.
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Triangle site to be sold for warehouse spec
Also Wednesday, the IDB accepted a letter of intent to sell a triangular piece of property formerly owned by Amazon for a spec warehouse development. The 20-acre site is an odd shape with Columbus Avenue running through the middle, and with overhead and underground utilities on the west, so only 10 acres are usable. The developer is planning two 60,000-square-foot warehouses on either side of the road.
The IDB is considering selling the 20 acres for $1.8 million, which is $270,000 over the IDB’s initial purchase cost. This also puts the property back in private hands for tax purposes and removes it from the Amazon PILOT incentive. Ward said the move will meet an open need for smaller warehouse space in the Industrial Park.
Costco final deal approved
The IDB took the final vote to approve the performance incentive deal to bring Costco to Freedom Farms in Clarksville. The deal had received Montgomery County Commission approval Monday night.
Montgomery County Mayor Wes Golden said making the incentive performance-based is great for taxpayers. “What I like about the deal is: If they don’t perform, they don’t get any incentive, and if they overperform, the community makes more money.”
Construction on Costco will begin in the first quarter of 2027, and they will open in 2028.
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