An improved Tillman-Bethel Road will help with development of bordering parcel
City and county government officials at a Tuesday afternoon special called Henderson Fiscal Court meeting discussed a project to widen Tillman-Bethel Road so that land located between that road and the future I-69 will be ready for development.
Missy Vanderpool, the executive director of Henderson Economic Development, said developers have expressed interest in the triangular-shaped plot of land owned by Boots Niagara Inc.
Vanderpool and Henderson Mayor Brad Staton said that on the developable land—roughly 120 acres, which is city-owned land—they hope that a mixed used development can be built.
That includes hotels, multi-family apartment complexes, single-family residences, restaurants and retail, they said. Abby Dixon, the executive director of the Henderson Tourist Commission, said The Summit in Lexington is the type of development that this one could emulate.
But before any of that can occur, Tillman-Bethel Road needs to be widened, officials said Tuesday. Vanderpool said that one of the top things developers have asked about is access to the property from I-69. Tillman-Bethel Road would also need to be widened and upgraded so that the road could handle the traffic that would come with a development.
For that to occur, the City of Henderson is asking that the city and county take on the project together, equally sharing the costs. And then once the road is reconstructed, the city would take it into its system and maintain it, Staton said.
Tillman-Bethel Road is a county-maintained road, while the land eyed for development is city-owned, Henderson County Judge-Executive Brad Schneider said. He added that precedents have been set with previous county roads that were reconstructed and then annexed into the city for it to maintain.
The proposal presented at Tuesday’s meeting shows one section of the road on the south side of the parcel having three lanes and moving to two lanes on the east of the parcel. Easements along the roadway would need to be acquired so that it could be widened.
Vanderpool didn’t have a cost figure for the work at the meeting, but Schneider said that an estimate is $1 million.
Staton also mentioned the number of empty buildings in the city that commenters will point to and say they need to be filled first before new development occurs. He said the city has created an incentive package with hopes that it will spur building owners to find businesses to fill the empty buildings.
There were no votes cast Tuesday because it was a special called meeting for fiscal court. Staton told the fiscal court that the Henderson City Commission would discuss the proposal at Tuesday’s regularly scheduled meeting.
Officials see this parcel of land as one of the first that motorists will see once they cross over the new I-69 bridge and move into Henderson, and it will set a precedent for other developments along the I-69/U.S. 60 corridor if it is done right.
“I don’t see this as a gamble at all,” Staton said. “I see this as more of an investment than a gamble for sure.”
