Ohio businessman Brad Huebner sees the new section of Highway 99 to be built between Swamp Road and Highway 41A as a site for commercial and possibly residential growth in Eagleville.

He owns about 150 acres along both sides of the proposed new section of roadway. He bought the property in the late 1980s and early 1990s and once owned about 200 acres along the path of the road. He says he has lost about 50 acres to condemnations done by the county, the state transportation department and for utilities.

Huebner sees the logical growth for Eagleville will be to start at the intersection of the new Highway 99 and Highway 41A, and then come back up the new section of 99.

The property near the intersection of the new road and 41A south of Eagleville could be used for commercial development with possibly some municipal buildings, Huebner said.

The part toward the Swamp Road end could possibly be used for residential if a public sewer system is put in place, he said.

Eagleville Vice Mayor Ronnie Hill believes the west end of the new road could bring new commercial growth now.

"I think it will open up an area to be developed for new businesses that we didn’t have before because this land on either side of the new road will probably perk so that will allow some things to be built there," Hill said.

Huebner noted that development along the road as well as other areas of town is being hampered by the absence of a public sewer system which he blames on the "lack of leadership."

"The community is not going anywhere until we get a sewer system," he said. "There have been great strides in technology on (self-contained) sewer systems that would be very appropriate for Eagleville."

He says the future is bright for Eagleville if the city gets the "right" leadership.

"The demographics are in place, and it could be a really neat community if it is planned out carefully," he said. "The city has a chance to do it now, but once it starts growing it’s too late."

Huebner, who is a lifelong resident of Toledo, Ohio, said he learned about the land in Eagleville through a realty company and his first purchase was about a 150-acre farm that he bought from John Edward Turner.

He purchased property in Eagleville because of the growth potential.

"I study demographics, and the whole mid-South has the demographic statistics like the perfect storm for continued growth," he said.

Huebner said the influx of "half backs" is an indicator of the potential for growth.

"Half backs" are people from the north who have gone farther south looking for a better way of life for retirement then move part of the way back toward the north.

"They get blown out of there by hurricanes, congestion and heavy taxes and settle half way back in the western Carolinas, the mid-South and in Middle Tennessee," he said. "There is a moderate winter and they like the change of seasons, the cost of living is much less and they are a little bit closer to their families."

Huebner is descended from a line of business people who settled in the Toledo area. His great grandfather came there from Germany, and the family developed a large brewery in that area.

"When prohibition hit in the late 1920s, it killed all the independent breweries," he said. "Our family, which had the largest brewery in the area, sold all their equipment to the Mexican brewery Carte Blanca and that was the end of that."

Three generations of the Huebner family, including Brad, were involved in the management of the Hardy & Dischinger Co., a major pipe, valve and fitting distributor in the Midwest. His father retired as chairman of the board of the company in 1986.

Huebner is also involved in developments in Idaho and in the Dickson, Tenn., area.

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