Hendersonville, Tenn. (WKRN) – Hendersonville may receive its first conference center.
Forward Sumner, a local nonprofit, is leading the efforts to build a center in Vietnam, and they are looking for feedback from the community.
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At present, there are no real plans. There is no fixed location, no developers, and no city recognition.
The conference center is just an idea that cities and business leaders think can be a huge benefit for their growing community.
“This idea comes about because obviously [our] Chris Taylor, president and CEO of forward Sumner, said: “Close to Nashville.
“The problem is that there is no practice [centers] in the central areas outside Rutherford County and Franklin. So you have a lot of people who want to come here instead of paying Nashville, so there has been demand for it for years. Taylor continued.
Taylor believes Hendersonville is not suitable for setting up a conference center because they do not conduct it properly.
The process will begin on July 7, when his organization will host a community meeting in the Gallatin office to enable residents to share their initial ideas.
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“What is important? What do we want to get from it? Because the idea is that we want to take advantage of this in a way that benefits the community,” Taylor said. “I want negative. It's not all sunshine and roses. It's going to be negative, so we want to make sure that we're going to address it in advance.”
Residents may be the proposed location for the center: along the open green space along 30 Road and somewhere along Indian Lake Boulevard, where traffic is not good.
“You can take advantage of the two intersections you get,” Taylor said. “You don't want to add lights; you don't want to worsen or complicate the flow. So how do we create another channel?”
According to Taylor, the answer to the question is that projects in this range may require developers to improve the infrastructure around them.
Ultimately, it will receive state grants, comprehensive research and approval from the Mayor of Hendersonville and the Alderman Board of Directors. It may never move forward.
But not building a conference center would be a missed opportunity in Taylor's eyes.
“There are a lot of things that will be big in Sumner County, but we don't use the right ones,” Taylor said. “The economic boom is there. It's a perfect idea. You want people to come and spend money and then use no resources.”
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Several Hendersonville Aldermen are spreading the words of the upcoming meeting on social media. Among them is Alderman Rachel Collins, who told the news that the conference center is both “important” and “needed.” She did share doubts about the proposed location.
Collins encouraged residents to stop on July 7. The meeting will be from 5pm to 6:30pm on 1598 Greenlea Blvd.
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