presstalk 671-TALK
• After reading the Jan. 4 issue of the farragutpress, the problem of empty buildings seems to be a high priority. At least it was on almost all of the Town leaders’ lists for 2018. However, it seems Town leaders dropped the ball when Kroger moved into its new building. [Inaudible] shortly after the move, the [U.S.] Postal Service had expressed an interest in the [then] recently vacated Kroger building. It was said the Postal Service was interested in combining their delivery operations and their [inaudible] operations into a single location. [Inaudible] would have moved from Municipal Center Drive. Why wouldn’t that have made sense, especially for customers who pick up old mail or packages or wish to talk to a postal manager? …
Town leaders nixed the idea of the Postal Service. This was due to the eyesore created by all of the postal vehicles parked in the lot overnight and on non-delivery days. These would have been visible to anyone driving by on Kingston Pike. However, would this have not been preferable to an empty building? Not to mention the congested parking lot at the current [postal] location near Town Hall. I’m hoping the Town leaders’ responses might be to this. [Editor’s Note: the lease agreement concerning the former Kroger building, and Ingles’ desire not to sell its former location have reportedly been sticking points in filling these buildings].
• I was reading today’s [Through The Lens. Jan. 4 issue] in the farragutpress, and you had asked opinions about businesses in Farragut [leaving and creating empty buildings]. … They’ve got too many empty buildings. Nothing is mentioned about the old Kroger building. That place has been empty for years. You’ve got the Ingles building. You’ve got the old Silver Spoon building. [Inaudible] Something should be done about a town center when they first came out and told about it. I noticed on today’s front page, Bob Markli [Town alderman] said he would like to see four things accomplished [by the end of 2018], and one of them would be a pedestrian [tunnel] under Kingston Pike at Campbell Station Road and [North] Turkey Creek. That should be put on the back-burner until they get these other things done. If we had these [empty] buildings filled, then we would have no money for things like that.
