BY MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
GLASGOW NEWS 1
Demolition is well underway now at 100 Leslie Ave. in Glasgow, the intended site of a new Dollar General Store to replace the one just east of there that itself will be demolished to make way for a new Barren County justice center.
Arched trusses constituting part of the structure’s bones were visible Thursday afternoon as heavy machinery gradually chipped away at the brick on the West Main Street side. From the West Washington Street side, no activity was apparent. The structure is widely known has having been a warehouse for Houchens stores.
Demolition is ongoing of this former warehouse at 100 Leslie Ave. in Glasgow. A new Dollar General Store is planned for the site to replace the one at 309 W. Main that is going away to make space for a new justice center. MELINDA J. OVERSTREET / GLASGOW NEWS 1
From information available through the Barren County Property Valuation Administrator’s office and elsewhere, a tract of land was purchased in 1937 and another in 1938 that apparently combined for the present site by some individuals named Ragland, and in April 1973, Houchens Industries bought it from Ragland Corp. of Tennessee.
In 2007, Larry T. Glass and Wayne Gaunce bought the building, later transferring it to G & G Realty, a limited liability corporation reflecting their last names, though Glass may have purchased the other share before Gaunce’s death in December 2020. The current owner, Rafferty Development, completed its purchase of the property Feb. 26 after Dollar General Corp. finalized the sale of its property at 309 W. Main St. for the justice center project.
Patrick Gaunce, one of Wayne Gaunce’s two sons, said that based on information passed along to him, the – or at least a – warehouse was there in 1937 or ’38.
Demolition is ongoing of this former warehouse at 100 Leslie Ave. in Glasgow. A new Dollar General Store is planned for the site to replace the one at 309 W. Main that is going away to make space for a new justice center. MELINDA J. OVERSTREET / GLASGOW NEWS 1
Rafferty Development LLC, though, had been working toward getting that location a new occupant since at least early last fall, as it applied for a zoning change from light industrial to general business. That request was approved by the Joint City-County Planning Commission of Barren County in September and subsequently the Glasgow Common Council. A preliminary development plan submitted by Rafferty Development to the Joint City-County Planning Commission of Barren County was approved in December and the corporation got the nod to move forward with its final development plan for the 2.2-acre site in February.
The plan calls for the store to be positioned essentially within the same footprint as the old building, but not the entire amount of that footprint, and oriented essentially the same. The new building is expected to have 10,640 square feet of space on the approximately 2.2 acres of land between West Washington and West Main streets. The existing entry points off Leslie Avenue and West Washington Street would remain, with the latter designated for heavy-truck traffic. Landscape buffers are to be installed between this property and the adjoining residential one.
The Barren County Judicial Center Project Development Board requested that the existing Dollar General Store be vacated by May 1, and it has been reported in one of the PDB meetings that Dollar General Corp. management has agreed to that deadline.
Demolition is ongoing of this former warehouse at 100 Leslie Ave. in Glasgow. A new Dollar General Store is planned for the site to replace the one at 309 W. Main that is going away to make space for a new justice center. MELINDA J. OVERSTREET / GLASGOW NEWS 1
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