Warren County’s efforts to convert a section of the Three-Star Mall into an Agriculture Expo Center have been shelved for now.
Warren County Executive Terry Bell said the county will need to receive state funding for the project. Bell said the county is not in a position to take on the estimated $35 million to $50 million project.
“We are kind of in a holding pattern to see if there is anything that comes along when the budget hearings start in Nashville this spring, and after the first of the year, to see if there is any possibility of Warren County getting the additional funding to make something like that happen,” Bell said.
Bell said the county has had conversations with Governor Bill Lee about the project and believes the idea was received well. Bell said the county is continuing conversations with elected state officials, but he is not expecting state funds to come in the upcoming budget cycle.
“We will be electing a new governor, so I don’t expect a lot of movement this year because of the election going on, but we are still having those conversations with them, hoping that we can move things forward,” Bell said.
Bell said the plan is still to convert the McMinnville Roses portion of the mall into the expo center once the lease ends three years from now. Bell said the county may be a long way out, but he believes the project will happen.
“In time, I think we will be able to make something happen,” Bell said. “And that’s how anything like this starts. It may be several years before we actually get anything going, that you see anything happening. But I believe eventually we will be able to get something done. Because even without that, we are looking at trying to repave the parking lot on the county’s part of the Three-Star Mall to bring it upgrades which is badly needed.”
Bell said there are still plans to purchase property behind the Three-Star Mall to build a new campground. Bell said Warren County is the Nursery Capital, and the county would love to have a place to host nursery conventions.