Turkey and Dumplin sure sound good

A developer who helped shape a West Knoxville shopping mecca is hoping to replicate that success in Sevier County.

A group of investors led by Knoxville's John Turley on Monday closed the purchase of a 190-acre parcel of land at the southeast corner of Interstate 40 and Winfield Dunn Parkway (Highway 66).

The group is planning a shopping center called Dumplin Creek that would include up to 800,000 square feet of retail space and 400,000 square feet of entertainment and hospitality offerings.

The proposal promises to reshape an intersection that already is heavily used. Besides serving as a main entry point to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, I-40's Exit 407 is also home to a Bass Pro Shops store and to Smokies Park, home of the Tennessee Smokies minor-league baseball team.

In an interview at his Knoxville office, Turley said his group sees a chance to draw more people to Sevier County. "What we see is that the growth in Sevier County and the surrounding counties warrants some synergy like Turkey Creek," he said.

Turkey Creek is a 410-acre mix of discount stores, upscale retailers, restaurants, offices and other shops in West Knoxville and Farragut.

To build the Dumplin Creek project, the investment group known as Kodak Land Co. will have to clear some hurdles. Turley said the group is pushing for a series of infrastructure upgrades, including a new entrance onto westbound I-40 and a new intersection at Bryan Road. The terrain also will present a challenge, as the group will likely move some four million cubic yards of rock.

But the payoff is access not just to the millions of visitors to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park - 9.4 million in 2006 - but also to year-round residents in growing areas such as Loudon County and East Knox County.

"It'd be a great boon as far as continued growth and development out there," said Sevierville city administrator Doug Bishop. "It would add a different type of shopping that's missing on the north end of the county, but also offer regional shopping."

Bishop said improvements to both utilities and roads in the area would be needed.

Turley said his group would pay $22 million for the land and the total development price tag would exceed $150 million. The developers are hoping to have construction pads available by the first quarter of 2009. "This is a five- or six-year deal," he said of the project's overall timeline.

Turley declined to name other investors in the group. He said the 1.2-million-square foot project would include a theater, a department store and an anchor tenant he declined to name.

The property was purchased from several owners, including Dumplin Valley Associates, which owns a Best Western hotel at the site. Turley said the hotel will remain in operation for a couple of years.

The shopping center - which derives its name from a creek that runs behind the property - is the second largest Sevier County project to be announced in the past week.

Last week, a Florida company purchased the former home of Boyds Bear Country, a five-story retail property in Pigeon Forge that will be transformed - along with the adjoining property - into an American Bandstand-themed museum and theater.

Business writer Josh Flory may be reached at 865-342-6994.

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