A No Trespassing sign stands at the entrance of the former Tyson Mexican Original factory site at Huntsville and Happy Hollow roads.
Photo: Todd Gill, Flyer staff
Kum & Go is one step closer to building a new gas station in southeast Fayetteville.
City Council members on Tuesday approved a rezoning of the property where a dilapidated building stood at Huntsville and Happy Hollow roads.
The site, once home to a Tyson Mexican Original tortilla and corn chip factory, was zoned General Industrial. The new Neighborhood Commercial zoning will allow Kum & Go to build a fueling station and convenience store on a two-acre site at the northeast corner of the former Tyson property.
The city purchased the 11.2-acre property for $1.1 million in 2004. Part of the land was used to build a new fire station and to realign and widen Huntsville Road. Kum & Go purchased a portion of the remaining property from the city for $1.115 million in February.
City officials initially planned to foot most of the bill to demolish the factory building to make room for the new gas station, but instead listed the property for salvage on GovDeals, a third-party online auction website similar to eBay. Dallas-based Ar-Rahim Metal Trading was the high bidder and paid $91,026 for the right to scrap the plant and clear the area.
If possible, the city plans to save some of the plant parts at the request of council members Matthew Petty and Sarah Marsh. The two aldermen requested that city officials look into repurposing some of the former factory’s industrial equipment into aesthetic amenities to be placed on the remaining city property in a park-like setting similar to Seattle’s Gas Works Park.
