Bel-Air at Beckwith Plans

Developers and representatives of Bel Air at Beckwith, plan for the 500-plus acre development off the Beckwith Road interchange of Interstate 40, to be like Providence...only bigger.

The property is unique in that it encompasses parts of three planning and zoning jurisdictions - the Cities of Mt. Juliet and Lebanon and Wilson County. It is bounded by Interstate 40 on the north, Beckwith Road on the west, South Posey Hill Road on the east and Posey Hill Road on the south.

Rezoning of a portion of the property has been approved by the City of Lebanon. While no rezoning was requested in the Wilson County segment of the property, the county approved an Interlocal Agreement related to cities' boundaries within the project. The Mt. Juliet zoning process, including 239 acres of the total parcel, begins with the presentation of a concept plan to the Mt. Juliet Planning Commission, which is slated for the April meeting.

Representatives including John Van Mol and attorney Jere McCulloch, who represents the owners, said that nearly one-fifth of the development will be preserved and developed as parks and open space, including protected acreage with walking trails along Sullivan Branch, a picturesque small stream running north and south through the property.

Developer Brock Rust said the Mt. Juliet portion of the property will be a PUD (Planned Unit Development) with mixed use.   They envision a retail neighborhood type ‘Town Center' within the same structure and plans for this will include a community with retail, office space and/or condos as well as green space, lots of criss-crossing walking, biking and running paths with parks interspersed.

Rust added that developers envision an assisted living facility within the Mt. Juliet portion of Bel Air at Beckwith as well as apartments, single- and multi-family housing. Retail space will be generally closest to I-40 and Beckwith Road, with the mixed-use office and residential areas further inside the central core of the property. The residential component of the development is planned to include single-family homes, possibly townhouses (connected single-family homes), and luxury apartments.

Rob Porter with Civil Site Design, main designer of the development, said there could be approximately 400 residential units to impact Mt. Juliet, but the addition in schools and fire and police protection would come with the increased sales tax revenue garnered by the project. Infrastructure, he said, for the project was implemented at the time the Beckwith interchange was built. He added that within Mt. Juliet, the estimated retail space could be as much as 500,000 square feet and around 400,000 square feet of office space.   For the entire property, the number could be as much as 3 million square feet of office space.