Knoxville Developers Plan To Complete, Rename Belle Island Village in Pigeon Forge
Opening of ‘Riverwalk Village at LeConte Center’ targeted for 2012PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (Feb. 2, 2011) – Knoxville real estate developer Darby Campbell and and his business partner Bob McManus have entered negotiations to acquire the bankrupt Belle Island Village project in the heart of Pigeon Forge, complete its construction and operate it as Riverwalk Village at LeConte Center.
Their company for this development is LeConte Village LLC.
“This is a $70 million project that is 70 percent built. The economy is turning around and the opportunity is great,” said Campbell, who will lead the project.
The development is on a 21-acre parcel on an island in the Little Pigeon River. It has more than 280,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and lodging space. The Belle Island Village concept was announced in 2003, with a projected opening in 2005. It eventually bogged down in the national economic recession and went bankrupt in 2010.
“Pigeon Forge has remained strong through the recent tough economic times, and Riverwalk Village at LeConte Center will simultaneously benefit from that strength and add to it,” Campbell said.
Campbell announced his plan for Riverwalk Village at LeConte Center at the same time the City of Pigeon Forge announced it will build a $44.9 million multi-purpose special events center nearby. It will be named the LeConte Center at Pigeon Forge and will have more than 230,000 square feet of space for trade shows, church assemblies, youth rallies, athletic competitions and other special events.
A city-owned 1,600-space parking facility lies between Riverwalk Village and the LeConte Center at Pigeon Forge and will serve both locations after the city builds a pedestrian bridge from the parking facility to Riverwalk Village.
Campbell and McManus will build the special events center on a 10-acre site they own and will enter a long-term lease agreement with the city for its operation through Pigeon River Land Partners LLC. Construction on that project is expected to begin this summer and to be completed in the spring of 2013.
In addition to Riverwalk Village, Campbell also announced that he and McManus are purchasing 12 acres adjacent to the special events center and plan to build a 200-room full-service hotel, the LeConte Event Center Hotel, on that site. That property will complement the 138-room Riverwalk Village Hotel, creating 338 rooms in the immediate area.
“Based on our current projections and assuming no adverse conditions arise, we hope to restart construction of Riverwalk Village at LeConte Center this summer and have the hotel and some restaurant space open in the spring of 2012. We look for completion of all construction by the summer of 2012,” Campbell said.
“We have already been in contact with some large entertainment companies that have expressed significant interest in being in Pigeon Forge at Riverwalk Village, and we also have been contacted by some of the former prospective tenants of the stalled Belle Island Village,” he continued.
Campbell and McManus have developed more than 150,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space in the Pigeon Forge area, plus two Pigeon Forge hotels, the Inn on the River and the SpringHill Suites by Marriott. Among their Pigeon Forge restaurants are Bullfish Grill, Blue Moose Burgers and Wings, the Mellow Mushroom and the Texas Roadhouse.
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Contact:Darby Campbell
Darby@concordmarina.com
865-588-0321