Auto dealer Freeland amasses more than 100 acres
Auto dealer Ben Freeland hopes to reshape more than 100 acres off Interstate 24 in Antioch into a more vibrant shopping and entertainment zone that stresses the diversity of the area’s population, he said Monday.
Freeland has retained restaurateur David Swett Jr. — whose family started Swett’s Restaurant — as a consultant to help craft plans to revitalize a nearly empty strip mall that Freeland bought earlier this year.
They hope to turn the 112,000-square-foot center in the 5300 block of Hickory Hollow Parkway into a global market offering a diverse array of ethnic foods, artisans, merchants and entertainment. The market, expected to open in the first half of 2012, will be “a multi-cultural destination that reflects the area’s diversity,” Swett said.
The plans don’t include a third Swett’s Restaurant location, Swett said.
The market is just one part of a broader redevelopment effort envisioned by a group of Antioch officials, residents and business owners who meet monthly at Freeland’s dealership.
The partnership’s effort has gotten major financial backing from Freeland, who has spent nearly $7 million to acquire almost 110 acres in the area this year, public records show. The purchases, all made though Freeland Realty, include:
The strip mall across from Freeland’s auto dealership. Freeland paid $2.95 million for the 9.3-acre site once anchored by Best Buy.
Nearly 96 undeveloped acres in The Crossings at Hickory Hollow, a planned development centered at Old Franklin Road and Crossings Boulevard. Freeland paid more than $3.26 million at auction for the land.
Two acres at 520 Cane Ridge Road, purchased for $200,000.
The former Cracker Barrel at 500 Collins Park Drive. Freeland bought the 2.2-acre site for $525,000 and already has turned it into his dealership’s commercial sales lot.
Freeland said he hasn’t decided what to do with the Cane Ridge site but has hired consultants to craft a master plan for the vacant land in The Crossings.
The parcels are zoned separately for industrial/warehouse/distribution, commercial and multi-family housing, but that could change.
It’s possible some of that land could be used to support a potential HCA data center on 55 acres that the Nashville-based hospital chain bought in July, Freeland said.
The only thing planned for certain is the global market, which could include ethnic restaurants, organic grocers, a farmers market and a hydroponic urban farm, Swett said.
Freeland called it “the starting point, the game-changer” toward remaking the image of Hickory Hollow and Antioch.
“This is the diamond in the rough of Davidson County,” he said of the area. “It has a great location, a great workforce. It just needs some (tender loving care) to get going.”
“We’re trying to change the brand and image of our community,” said Metro Councilwoman Jacobia Dowell, who represents the area and is part of the Hickory Hollow Action Partnership. “We’re more than just the (Hickory Hollow) Mall.”
Contact Duane Marsteller at 615-259-8241 or dmarstelle@tnnessean.com.
