ATHENS, Ala. — Limestone County leaders steadily taking expansion to a whole new level with new restaurants, shops, housing, and more. Athens Mayor Ronnie Marks said they are currently working with developers as we speak. Looking ahead to 2024, Marks said will always continue to keep what is in the best interest of citizens at the forefront.
Also, as the city of Athens continues to develop, downtown Athens shopper Gary Allen believes more facilities will eventually be needed. "The city has grown here so much, probably quadrupled over the last three or four years. A lot of people living outside of Huntsville have moved outside the Limestone County. But yeah, they're going to need the facilities, like for more shopping than just the town square."
That request could be granted sooner than some may think. "We hope to have the TJMaxx shopping area to open by about May, maybe June of this next year. So it's less than six months away. Other development is out across the road from close to Dunkin Donuts, as we call it, old venue equipment, property there. And there's so much going on. You know, we've just yet to break ground on new ACE hardware. So all those things are so exciting. And the good part of that is, is generating sales tax dollars, which helps to provide the services to our citizens, " explained Marks.
Downtown Athens shop Pimentos store owner Teresa Brodie believes the new shopping center will be very beneficial for her because it will more than likely bring new business to the downtown area. "You know, you may not have ever come to the downtown before, and you might come down 72 and just start to explore. So, you know, we're a hidden gem here. So, I think that's that's great."
Athens resident Addison Anderson believes having new shopping centers, restaurants, and things of that sort in the Athens area creates a more fun, productive, and overall better environment for even the younger generation in the community. "Growing up we had some things, but they've all kind of been like torn down like skating rink and stuff, so it's nice to have new businesses coming in so that we have more things to do around here. And it's just bringing more people in and having a better community, like I mentioned."
That is not the only thing in the works in the city of Athens. An additional Starbucks is also on the way. This Starbucks is said to be among the state's largest. "Located at our latest Publix facility out across Athens High School football stadium is a T-Mobile store, is moving, and I understand it's one of the largest Starbucks stores in the state of Alabama. [Also], our sunrise parks, about 32 acres and we've spent a long time working to get all the ground work done, so to speak, to get ready to start moving dirt. And hopefully we will have in the next 60 to 90 days our bid package going out for the entire children's playground area. it will be all the way from splash pad to a pavilion to our and it will keep what we do for an amphitheater, what we do for greenspace, what we do for cutting roads through, a possibility of a dog park."