Looking to develop something in Brown County? Two landmark properties along State Road 46 are now for sale.
The land where the former Little Nashville Opry once stood on State Road 46 West and the land where the Olde Time Flea Market is now on State Road 46 East are both on the market.
The sale of the Little Nashville Opry property is being handled by owners Gail and Darlene Wayman. Their son, Scott Wayman, had bought it in 2012 at a sheriff’s sale. It had been his dream to reopen the Little Nashville Opry, but the project never advanced to the groundbreaking stage. Scott passed away in May.
A “for sale” sign appeared on the empty 6.5-acre lot the first week of December. The phone number listed went to Wayman’s Furniture and Appliances in Martinsville. A person who answered the phone said he’d leave a message for Gail and Darlene, but the couple could not be reached for comment by deadline.
The price they’re asking for the Opry property is unknown. The phone number listed on the sign is 765-342-4339.
The list price for the 58.5-acre Olde Time Flea Market property is $650,000.
Broker/agent Mark Pratt and agent Andy Roberts of Breeden Commercial of Columbus are handling the listing for owners Charley and Marsha Placke.
The couple had sold the property on contract in the spring of 2018, but got it back after the new owners defaulted on the contract. A pending foreclosure lawsuit was dismissed, which means the property will not go to sheriff’s sale and it was able to be listed through the real estate market.
A building that spans about 4,000 to 5,000 square feet sits on it now, along with open-air flea market booths.
Breeden Commercial was hired to handle the sale about a month ago.
“I think everybody in the area knows what it’s been used for,” Pratt said last week.
“We’re exploring what might be a good use for it.”
Both properties are zoned general business, said Brown County Planning Director Christine Ritzmann.
General business zoning allows for a multitude of uses including residential, agricultural, public facilities, businesses and recreation.
The flea market property does have sewer access.
The Opry property does not have a sewer hookup, though a wastewater treatment plant sits about a mile from it. Having to figure out wastewater treatment could raise the cost of development depending on what a buyer might want to put there.
Water is available at both properties.
A portion of both of the properties is also in the floodplain, and the back part of the flea market property is in floodway. Nothing can be built on the floodway portion because it is known to flood, but structures can be build in the floodplain if certain rules are followed.
Affordable housing is an issue this county continues to discuss as a way to bring in more families.
Housing developments are allowed in floodplain, but Ritzmann said most communities are not willing to approve major subdivisions in the floodplain “because of the greater cost of infrastructure and a more concentrated risk to life and property.” In a floodplain, homes must be elevated to at least 2 feet above base flood elevation, which varies in the county depending on where the property is. Building homes at a higher elevation is more expensive, she said.
“Properties not served by public sewer systems must rely on septic systems, and current regulations make it difficult, if not impossible, to get approvals in the 1-percent annual chance floodplain area,” Ritzmann said in an email last week.
Pratt said the flood zone makes it difficult to make every part of the flea market property buildable due to the restrictions, but “there are not issues for using it (the flood areas) for outside storage,” he said.
“As you get closer to the highway, there’s more frontage that is higher in elevation, which would put it outside of the flood hazard area,” he said.
Even with the flood zone designations, the flea market could be used as a recreational area, he said.
“In the state park, there’s low areas that might flood, but are used for recreational uses, like hiking, and there are some just outdoor recreational (activities), like zip lining. Obviously, there’s not a lot of trees on this property necessarily, but I think that’s something that somebody could envision there,” he said.
Breeden Commercial plans to market the property throughout the state and in portions of Kentucky and Ohio.
“It’s a lot of land in one piece, so that has a bit of appeal,” he said.
Anyone interested in checking out the flea market property can contact Pratt or Roberts at 812-376-9300.
“You think back, and there are probably those that never dreamed there would be a music center where the new music center is. When you market it, you don’t try to fit into a particular slot,” Pratt said.
“You try to price attractively that it could be many different things, and we hope we get a lot of interest.”
The Brown County Redevelopment Commission is allowed by state statute to “promote the use of land in the manner that best serves the interests of the (governmental) unit and its inhabitants.”
It would be clearly within the RDC’s duties to help market the Opry property and the flea market property to potential buyers and to help shape what gets built there, said RDC member Jim Schultz when asked about the RDC’s role in these listings last week. However, the RDC is not currently involved.
Schultz added that the flea market actually was the backup location for the Brown County Music Center, but music center organizers wanted it to be within walking distance of town, so it didn’t end up in Gnaw Bone.
A few years ago, the RDC talked about putting available commercial properties in Brown County on the RDC’s website, but that never happened, Schultz said. The RDC is planning to have a meeting in January to talk about what its priorities should be for the next year.
