HAAP relocating fence to further development
05/10/2004
By: Jeff Bobo

MOUNT CARMEL - The security fence at Holston Army Ammunition Plant will be moved back approximately 1,000 feet south from Highway 11-W sometime late in 2004 to allow for commercial development of a significant portion of HAAP highway frontage, BAE Systems Director of Strategy Tony Hewitt said Wednesday.

Hewitt met with Mount Carmel Mayor Gary Lawson Wednesday morning at City Hall to discuss BAE Systems' plans for the property, as well as what assistance the company could provide to Mount Carmel's efforts in obtaining two traffic lights on 11-W.

Hewitt said BAE Systems plans to move the fence back sometime in the fourth quarter of 2004, but an exact time will depend on how long it takes to relocate security installations at the facility and the company's administrative offices. He said bids have already been let to a contractor for the fence work, however.

Hewitt said the move will open up about 250 acres of what he considers prime commercial property between the eastern edge of HAAP in Kingsport beside the National Guard Armory and the guard shack across Highway 11-W from the Englewood Avenue intersection in Mount Carmel. Traffic counts on 11-W in that portion Kingsport and Mount Carmel total about 30,000 vehicles per day, which Hewitt said he hopes will be an enticement for commercial retail or light industrial development of the property.

Hewitt said plans are already in motion to develop a 5-acre lot just west of the armory into a retail strip mall, possibly with a restaurant, while contracts have been signed to construct a bank on a single acre adjacent to the proposed strip mall property. He withheld the names of prospective businesses, however, opting instead to allow individual businesses an opportunity to make their own announcements.

The goal is to begin marketing the highway frontage property for development beginning in mid-2004 so that by the time the security fence is moved back BAE Systems will be well on its way to subleasing highway property. Hewitt said he prefers to develop the property at the Englewood Avenue intersection immediately with hopes that would be an "enticement" for future developments to move toward the center from both sides.

"That is my desire, but of course that all depends on the level of interest there is in developing that property," Hewitt said. "We've already developed the business incubator, but it's kind of back a ways from the highway and doesn't really poke you in the eye when you drive by. People probably don't believe we're actually going to develop the highway frontage and won't believe it until they see something more substantial go up.

"I think when the fence goes back and work begins on the other (strip mall and bank) projects, the interest level in this property will rise as potential developers realize that this really is going to happen."

As for the traffic lights, Lawson asked for Hewitt's support in obtaining state permission and funding to place lights on 11-W at the Independence Avenue and Englewood Avenue intersections. Hewitt said he could justify support for the Englewood Avenue traffic light because there is already a great deal of tractor-trailer traffic leaving HAAP across from that intersection.

As for a second traffic light, Hewitt said it's premature at this time to suggest a specific location because it's not known how development along HAAP's 11-W highway frontage will unfold.

BAE Systems' support for the traffic light will come in the form of a letter expressing the company's intent to move the security fence back and begin marketing that property for commercial development. Lawson and other Mount Carmel leaders plan to take that letter to a legislative conference in Nashville next month, where they will lobby for the traffic lights.