Potential Land Purchase Off Highway 111 Could Serve As Cookeville Aquatics Facility Site

Cookeville may have found the site to be used for the potential aquatics facility.

City Manager James Mills said that the 109-acre piece of property on Old Sparta and Old Bridge Roads was put on his radar in the hunt for land suitable for the facility.

“We think at least part of the property could be used for an aquatics facility if this council or a future council decides to pursue an aquatics facility,” Mills said. “But we do think it’d be a great location.”

Sitting just off Highway 111, the price tag for the land owned by Trinity Assembly sits at some $30,000 an acre, or just over $3 million. The aquatics facility requires about 15 acres of land, with the parcel expected to be one facing 111.

“And if you remember in some of the reports I gave you on tracts I looked at for the aquatics facility we were finding 15 acres, property owners wanted more than that for 15 acres so,” Mills said. “We have a contract that has been approved by the church, they’ve authorized the sale of it at $30,000 an acre, and it also calls for a deposit of $10,000 upon execution of the agreement.”

The council will vote to authorize the purchase at its meeting Thursday. Following its potential approval, Mills said that the next step would be to initiate a closing with the property owners to acquire the property.