Hoops Drive-In to be torn down

Main Street Blytheville is gearing up to give the go-ahead for demolition to start on the old Hoops Drive-In lot.

Main Street Blytheville president Tobye McClanahan said the board has been working on this project for a while, and members are excited to finally be nearing a start date.

McClanahan said the Main Street board has been wanting to do something in the Hoops Drive-In lot, located adjacent to the Greyhound Bus Station, for the past few years, and things finally lined up. Recently, the Koontz, Caraway and Simmons CPA firm, which owned the deed to the lot, agreed to donate the land to Main Street, provided the organization kept some of the parking spaces.

McClanahan said around this same time, the board was approached by Southern Bancorp, which expressed interest in partnering with Main Street on a project to spruce up the area.

"We've been working on doing something like this for a long time, and it finally kind of came together for us," McClanahan said.

The property will be turned into a landscaped parking lot, and the project will be funded by Southern Bancorp.

Though a start date has not yet been set, McClanahan said the board hopes to have the building torn down by the end of July and the entire project completed by mid- to late September.

cpinkard@blythevillecourier.com