staff view cd director
Farragut ‘very busy’ with biz growth
Even with the impacts of COVID, increased interest rates and supply-related challenges, the Town of Farragut has continued to remain very busy in terms of development-related activity. The past three Planning Commission meetings have involved multiple-hour discussions over a variety of planning and development-related items.
In October, after a nearly year-long public outreach effort involving three separate community visioning workshops and two Planning Commission workshop sessions, numerous amendments to the Future Land Use Map in the Comprehensive Land Use Plan were approved for the Kingston Pike, Smith Road, Boring Road Study Area.
At the November Planning Commission meeting, approvals were granted for final plats involving 101 house lots in the Ivey Farms subdivision and 66 house lots in the Grove at Boyd Station subdivision.
A preliminary plat was also approved involving 47 townhome units that will be part of the Town Center at Biddle Farms project. Also approved in November were eight small cell support structures and associated fiber installations that will be situated on commercially zoned properties, mostly within the Mixed-Use Town Center portion of the Town. These structures will greatly enhance 4G and 5G coverage.
At the December Planning Commission meeting, an additional fiber-related project was approved to facilitate development along Brooklawn Street. Also approved was a Chase Bank project at the eastern intersection of Brooklawn Street and Kingston Pike.
This project will include the demolition of an abandoned building and parking lot that was most recently used for a Mexican restaurant. Also approved at the December meeting were site-related modifications to a portion of the former outlet mall building off Outlet Drive that will help facilitate a boat dealership that is interested in locating in a portion of this building.
Along a different portion of Outlet Drive, the Topgolf project was finalized over the summer and has been very successful. Adjacent to the Topgolf site, a Tommy’s Watersports boat dealership is moving along with construction and will likely be opening in 2023.
Other development-related items include the completion of the Aldi building in the Town Center at Biddle Farms and multi-family residential projects that are moving forward at South Watt Road and in the Town Center at Biddle Farms. New restaurants have also recently opened in the former locations of Newk’s (Yamato Ramen House & Poke Bowl) and China Pearl (now CM Chicken), and it is anticipated that building permits will soon be submitted for commercial buildings in the Town Center at Biddle Farms.
The tenant space that was previously occupied by Stefano’s Pizza should be opening as a burrito bar in 2023, along with a new restaurant in the remaining tenant space at the Farragut Gateway project at the southwest intersection of Kingston Pike and South Campbell Station Road.
It’s been a busy year for the Town’s Community Development Department, and we look forward to another active year in 2023.
