Happy Thanksgiving

I hope that everyone is having a very enjoyable day today. I took some pictures yesterday of the site. With only a handful of days left the detail keep coming to make this project complete.

All around the property there are landscaping teams working feverishly to get it all covered and looking great. Others are cleaning and still others are getting all of the safety signage up.

All of the restaurants in the Bingo Pavilion are really starting to look like a finish venues. They all have decorations on the wall and furniture on hand. While some have the furniture in place the other are just waiting for the final cleaning of the floors before they can be set up.

Down at Possum Holler Bed & Breakfast is all about landscaping and finishing the decorating inside. They have a bunch more George Jones art work to go on the walls that will make this a truly unique place to stay.

I have been told Friday is going to be a huge day because much of the staff gets to take control of the offices and more training will take place on site.

Total new jobs created by Country Crossing now exceeds 1,100!

As the date to open the doors draws closer, the excitement is building on the Country Crossing site. Now there is not only the construction crews working tirelessly to finish the project, but there are also employees from the different venues getting trained and are eagerly anticipating the day that they can take possession of their respective locations.

I quickly took some shots of some of the exterior details being completed on the Bingo pavilion.

The Celebrity Junction Amphitheater also continues to move forward. The lights were added today to the right side of the wall and the stone on the ticket booth gives it a very nice rustic look.

Progress as of 11-22-09

I would like to start of apologizing to the staff of HEDA. I told them I would have some employee specific pictures up yesterday and due to car problems the picture were not taken until this morning. Congratulations to all of the new hires!

WE are getting down to the wire so I decided to break the pictures down a little bit more so we can see where each venue is at. We will start with the Bingo pavilion. They are putting in the floors in the entryway and finishing off the desk areas. Most of the office furniture has arrived and the HEDA employees are expected to move in later this week. The MANY MANY chairs have been delivered and are ready to be placed at all of the electronic bingo machines.

Lorrie Morgen's Hot Chicken is getting the really cool memorabilia put up on the walls. The restaurant is looking so complete I would expect to see furniture delivered soon.

John Anderson's Cafeteria is getting cleaned up so the carpet can be installed. The kitchen equiptment is in place and the serving line is looking ready to take care of hungry guests.

The Worley Bird Saloon Has all of the TV mounts up and the bar is ready for the counter tops. The flooring is in and and I would expect to see decorations on the walls and furniture in place this week with no problems.

The Possum Holler Bed & Breakfast also got some really cool George Jones memorabilia put up. The patios have been stained and the walkways and drive ways were being poured today.

And finally the Celebrity Station Amphitheater. I know I have said this before but the stage is AWESOME! It really makes a statement looming so large with the beautiful backdrop of woods behind it. The lighting has been put up and the buildings are making good progress.

Major milestone today for Country Crossing

Houston Economic Development Association (HEDA)The non-profit that is running the Bingo portion of Country Crossing had a major day today. 241 members of the newly hired staff met today to fill out their employee information and begin training for their new positions. While some of the leadership has been working for a little while now today was the first official day of work for the majority of the staff. Next week they will continue training in preparation for the opening of the facility on December first. All that were in attendance were very excited and thankful for their new jobs. Karen D. Head of HR for HEDA told the group, "you are the cream of the crop. I have had to send out over 23,000 denial letter and you are the ones that we have chosen to fill these positions." This is a big step for Country Crossing but it represents only a portion of the over 6000 jobs that will be created over the next 5 years.

Progress as of 11-18-09

As each of the venues get closer to winding up the landscaping and plantings are ramping up. There are several parking areas that are now complete with grassy islands and trees, lines painted, and lights up. Even down in the RV park the areas in between the pads are getting grass and trees planted now.

The Bingo Pavilion continues to move forward and will be ready in less then 2 WEEKS! It was really neat to walk into the building and hear music through the PA system and the techs were doing PA checks in the different areas. The restaurants have the finish trim up, they continue to get the food service equiptment ready, and are even getting the TV's up.

The Bed and Breakfast now has a roadway around it so they can finish the walkways and get the landscaping in. The new manager has been hired and they are busily working on setting up the website and booking systems.

The stage at the Amphitheater is HUGE! It is looking so good and I can't believe how fast it is going up. The concession/bathrooms are bricked and roofed and they are working on all of the internal systems. You can also see all of the post points for the entryway and front wall. Our little "train station" is getting national attention already. In just over 3 weeks we will be getting together to enjoy our first of MANY MANY concerts.

Progress as of 11-16-09

The days are ticking by fast and the work is getting done. I have a feeling that some of the projects are going to go down to the wire but there is no doubt in my mind that Country Crossing will be open for business in December. There have been loads of trees brought in and so many have been planted. The parking and street lights look great and they have done a fabulous job on lighting the trees on the boulevard and other areas. The signs are going up and soon we will see event announcements on the sign/billboard that is right on 231. The sewer treatment plant looks like it is ready to get powered up and do what it is made to do. Even the Amphitheater has come a LONG way in the last couple of days. The left hand building is getting shingled, the siding is going on, and the brick is almost finished. The right hand building has a roof on and they were beginning to prep it to start putting bricks on it. Even the Ticket office now has trusses and you can see were the fence and the entrance will be. This is all very exciting. I am constantly getting questions from people as far away on the west coast that are looking forward to coming out and visiting us in Houston County Alabama.

In the Bingo pavilion the restaurant's are getting closer and closer. Granite counter tops are being installed and finish trim is going up. I know that there are many people that have recently been hired that are itching to get in there and get things set up to serve some fantastic food. There is constant work on the networking of computers and setting up monitors and displays. The Main Bingo floor is beginning to take shape as the opening date draws near. Most of the structural work is complete and now it is down to finishing and setting up all of the networks and systems that disappear behind the scenes.

The Bed and Breakfast is getting so close. Yet at the same time there is a huge amount of finishing details that need to take place. Today the cleaning crew was hard at work getting things squeaky clean while others were putting up blinds and installing closet doors. In the next couple of days we will see parking areas put in, patios and walkways poured, and then we get to see landscaping go in.

Progress as of 11-13-09

The Amphitheater is really starting to take shape now that the stage is being erected. I took these pictures at 10am and they had only been working on it since the day before. With less then a month before the first concert there is not doubt that the show WILL go on as scheduled. In regards to the Kellie Pickler Wiregrass food bank concert. As of noon on Friday they had received enough money and food donations to serve over 96,000 meals. WOW! that is a HUGE benefit to the Wiregrass area. Thank you Country Crossing. Not only are they providing jobs they are feeding the area's most needy! The left hand bathrooms/concessions is getting its brick and they are building the connecting roof from the ticket office to the restroom/concessions buildings.

The Possum Holler Bed and Breakfast and the Bluegrass Hollow RV Park are coming right along. The Bed and Breakfast is getting furnished and the finishing touches are being tweaked to make the whole facility look perfect. All of the pads are poured in the RV park and they are working on getting the roadways in. At the same time they are working on hooking up all of the power boxes and bringing in top soil so the landscaping can follow.

Signs are going up on the Bingo Pavilion!! Lorrie Morgen's Hot Chicken was the first portion on the venue to get the sign put up. Inside, the restaurants have the walls decorated and are either getting the flooring put in or it is complete. All of the food service equiptment is on site and are either installed or in the process of being installed. Out on the main Bingo floor the cashier area has the counter tops and the drink area's are taking shape. The rest of the building is getting finished up and everything is taking shape for the December 1st Grand opening.

Progress as of 11-12-09

I was not able to get out to the site until after dark. I did take some picture and I will post them tonight but I am not going to go into much depth in this blog post. I was very surprised at some of the progress over the last 2 day so I am making a point to go out in the morning to take pictures and do a very in depth post tomorrow. There are signs going up and the stage is taking shape. You will see it all tomorrow.

progress as of 11-10-09

This is the first time I have gone out to take pictures at night. I am sorry for the picture quality but it does give a different perspective on County Crossing. Even at this hour there were quite a few people there working hard to get this project completed.

At the Possum Holler Bed and Breakfast the furniture has been unpacked and each of the rooms are taking shape. They have also got lots of the artwork and decor items that really polish off the look. I am very impressed with the decorator that turned the concept into reality.

The Bingo Pavilion has work done all over the place but the biggest item that sticks out in this set of pictures is the progress at Lorrie Morgan's Hot Chicken. The have the floor down and the walls are coming along. It will not be very long now until we will start to see furniture going into this part of the project.