Share and Follow
KINGSPORT, Tenn. (WJHL) — The Kingsport Board of Mayor and Aldermen unanimously approved tax increment financing for a proposed new car dealership at the Westside Inn property along West Stone Drive.
Friendship Hyundai is under contract with the current property owner and the company plans to build a new dealership.
Friendship has two Hyundai dealerships in Johnson City and Bristol, but owner Mitch Walters says Hyundai would like to see them expand to the Model City.
“That’s why we decided to go to Kingsport,” Walters said. “And we’ve got a really great property, and the city has been wonderful to work with.”
City Manager Chris McCartt said the tax increment finance will help make the proposed development happen.
“The funding helps go in and either through demolition of a site, providing utilities on the site, or doing a total rehab of their current site,” McCartt said. “And so these dollars, much like what we have seen elsewhere within Kingsport, will go in and help provide the necessary funding to bring this project to life.”
Walters said the TIF would help with the costs of demolishing the Westside Inn.
“The price we pay for the property, the amount it’s going to take to demo the property and get it ready to build a brand new $10 million building, we needed a little help,” Walters said. “And Kingsport stepped up to the plate to help us and we’re very appreciative.”
McCartt said many times redevelopment means having to start from the ground up, like at the current Westside Inn property.
“Removing foundation means removing, in certain situations, asbestos, depending on the date of the building. And to do that is costly,” McCartt said. “This project alone had over $3 million worth of site costs before they even went vertical.”
McCartt also said the redevelopment of the Westside Inn property will impact other nearby properties as well.
“There is often a ripple effect in terms of the overall improvement in value of property redevelopment of other properties that would not necessarily qualify for TIF,” McCartt said. “And so it’s a positive impact on that area. We’ve seen that in the Stone Gate residential development. We saw that with the East Stone Commons development. Those all led to other development opportunities, which were positive things for both city and county.”
The TIF plan will go before the Sullivan County Commission on Thursday.
“Sullivan County’s action on Thursday night will then send everything back to the Kingsport Housing Redevelopment Authority and they’ll begin working with the owner to establish the necessary TIF debt and the structure of that debt,” McCartt said. “And then the project would then move forward into construction and as we stated here tonight, they desire to begin in roughly 90 days with the goal of having the facility open in the summer of 2025.”
Friendship plans to close on the property on May 6.
Current residents of the Westside Inn have until April 19 to vacate.
