City

Lenoir City and Lenoir City Utilities Board recently obtained property off Creekwood Park Boulevard that could have a future economic impact.

Tony Aikens, Lenoir City mayor, said LCUB in December paid $600,000 to First Horizon Bank for 13.3 acres beside the current office building, while the bank donated 8.92 acres beside The Venue at Lenoir City to the city.

“The property to the right of the utilities we felt like, not in the immediate future but in the future, LCUB may need that property,” Aikens said. “It was a good time to get it. We have no immediate plans.”

Aikens is eyeing something big for land beside The Venue.

“Obviously, you can build on it, and we may try to market the property next to The Venue hopefully when the coronavirus, when that situation gets better,” he said. “We may try to market the property next to The Venue for a hotel.”

There have been discussions in the past about a possible hotel near The Venue.

“(First Horizon) wanted to show that they’re good neighbors to the city, and certainly they didn’t just come up to us and say, ‘We’re going to donate this property to you’,” Aikens said. “We have been in talks with for quite some time with that property and the utility property. They saw a good opportunity and so did we. ... They don’t really want to be in the land business, and they would like to market — I mean, obviously, all that’s on the market out there. But it was a good deal for the city.”

Aikens said prior to the COVID-19 pandemic he was in talks with a developer of a potential hotel.

“I was going to approach First Horizon, and then when we started talking about the property next to the utilities, that’s when I started talking to First Horizon about the property next to The Venue,” Aikens said. “I saw a good opportunity there, and they were acceptable to donating the property. They gave us eight acres of prime property.”

He hopes something can happen once the economy improves.

“I think right now I don’t think they have any interest at all until the country goes back to work,” Aikens said. “I don’t foresee anything taking place right there until we all go back to work. ... Obviously, we would want a nice hotel out there. I don’t want a motel, I want a hotel. I think it’d be a perfect fit for that situation, but it’s just too early.”

Allison Sousa, The Venue director, said a hotel could make a big difference.

“Rachel (Harrell, Loudon County Visitors Bureau executive director) and I met last week to discuss (a request for proposal) for a travel writers conference,” Sousa said. “... It’d be a four-day event, and between The Venue and the meeting rooms next door and Rachel working with the hotels, we felt — it was 150 rooms for four nights — we felt like we could make it work. We’re reading through, we’re hitting all the parameters, it’s looking great and then we get to ‘sleeping rooms must be on site or within walking distance,’ and 90% of the RFPs that are out there for conferences and conventions have that requirement.”

Sousa believes building beside The Venue is just another step toward growth on Creekwood Park Boulevard.

“When you look at how (U.S. Highway) 321 is right now, it’s logical to think it’s got to expand somewhere,” she said. “I think having a hotel next door would not only bring in group-type business and tourism-type business, but I think it would also serve as an anchor perhaps for more of the retail and restaurant development, and especially in conjunction with the medical that’s there. I mean that’s becoming a hub as well, and when you think about the people in and out of those medical facilities, I think it could all work together really nicely to kind of come together and create some critical mass.”