KINGSPORT, Tenn. (WJHL) — Downtown Kingsport’s 134 Cherokee Street is currently a third of an acre of concrete, but that could soon change.
Local developers are working on a plan to convert the parking lot into a court for food trucks called Kingsport Junction.
Kingsport developer Travis Featherstone thinks now is the perfect time to replicate the food truck parks that have opened in larger cities.
“There’s a rise, actually, in the number of food trucks here in the Tri-Cities area,” Featherston told News Channel 11. “There’s over 80 that come as far from Knoxville even, to serve for Fun Fest, Racks by the Tracks, things like that.”
With no set location, food truck owners face a problem that Featherstone said he hopes to solve.
“What do they do in between all the festivals?”
Featherstone and his business partners conducted a survey of local food truck owners to gauge their interest in the project.
“We got a pretty overwhelming about 80% back,” Featherstone said. “They’re very excited about us opening and having a spot to call home on a Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday night. “
Plans for the park include indoor/outdoor seating facilities, a bathroom, a small artificial turf field and a 30-foot screen for movie night events.
Featherstone said he imagines the finished Kingsport Junction as a family-friendly hangout.
“If you’re not sure what to do on a Friday or Saturday night and you just want to get the family out of the house and you can’t figure out what are they all going to want to eat, you just bring them down here to the Kingsport Junction,” Featherstone said. “Let them all pick something from different food trucks and sit and watch a family friendly movie.”
Featherstone said he hopes to open within the first quarter of 2024.
