With today’s groundbreaking ceremony, Love’s Travel Stop & Country Store is on track to open by Thanksgiving.
Following the ceremony, Love’s Real Estate Project Manager William Gleason told WGIL the new location will be strategically located for the chain of more than 350 truck stops.
“The reason we picked Knoxville is, naturally, the interstate,” he says. “When you look at the ease of on-off traffic for the truckers to be able to come off and get in and then get back out, the small towns, rural town’s like this, really work great.”
The truck stop will fill 15 acres just south of Interstate 74 along Knox Highway 9 and will include Chester’s Fried Chicken and Subway restaurants in addition to the truck lot, fueling stations and convenience store. Gleason says he expects construction to begin May 9 and the businesses to be open by Thanksgiving, weather permitting.
A hotel is planned to follow.
Mayor Pro Tem Dennis Maurer said the scope of Love’s is a game changer for Knoxville.
“We’ve had some opportunities occur here with smaller businesses,” he says, “but this one, by far, is going to be so huge.”
Other officials at the ceremony included Knoxville School Board President Patrick Callahan and Knoxville Mayor Bob Johnson, who has been been ill since the middle of last year.
