Following a lengthy Committee of the Whole meeting, Hopkinsville City Council approved loaning $375,000 of economic development funds to the Hopkinsville Industrial Foundation at their Monday meeting.
Toward the end of 2024, it was announced that Kitchen Food Co., an Australian-based ready meals business, was going to establish a production facility at the Christian County Spec Building on Frank Yost Lane. The deal has still not been fully confirmed, so in the meantime the foundation has been responsible for keeping up with the payments for the building.
John Crenshaw from the foundation says they need help making interest payments that were originally due in November and that they hope to close the deal with Kitchen Food by April 11. He also assured council members that the loan would be paid back to the city.
The loan will help cover a year’s worth of interest payments, and Crenshaw says the Christian County Fiscal Court has already loaned the foundation $375,000.
Ward 5 Council Member Amy Craig raised concerns about the building’s closing date being pushed back. South Western Kentucky Economic Development Council Executive Director Carter Hendricks says the Hopkinsville facility will be Kitchen Food’s first North American facility so officials with the company are working to ensure the facility will be successful before they close the deal.
The loan was originally discussed at the council’s March 18 meeting and since then the agreement has been amended, Ward 6 Council Member Travis Martin say the municipal order requires the foundation to pay back the loan once the building is sold or within one year whichever comes first.
The committee approved forwarding the municipal order to their Monday council meeting where it was approved. The council also approved zoning a recently annexed parcel of land known as Newcomb Oil Co. LLC as an arterial commercial district. The land is along Pembroke Road across from Bill Bryan Boulevard and is set to be home to a FiveStar gas station and convenience store.