Most of the 2026 changes on North Jackson Street in Tullahoma are going into space that was already developed. Wawa plans to reuse the old Ruby Tuesday building. Dutch Bros was approved for a strip of land cut from a credit union parking lot. A food truck moved into a suite behind Chick-fil-A. A local bank is building across the street from its current branch. Taken together, these projects show a commercial corridor that is growing in place, with only small pieces of land left to work with.
Most of the effects show up where cars turn in and out. The Wilson Avenue intersection at North Jackson already has a changed traffic pattern, and that will last through the end of TDOT's construction.
The Ruby Tuesday building gets a second tenant
Ruby Tuesday had been on Jackson Street since it opened in late 1996. By Thursday, Sept. 24, a sign on the door read "We are closed." Residents had been discussing the restaurant's future online after they spotted the item on the Planning Commission agenda.
The agenda item was a Wawa. At its Sept. 21 meeting, the Tullahoma Planning Commission unanimously approved a site plan for a 6,374-square-foot convenience store with a 16-pump fuel station at 1936 N. Jackson St. The applicant was James Luety of CSC Properties, and the civil engineering firm was Kimley-Horn.
The plan keeps the existing building and calls for extensive interior and exterior improvements. The property is zoned C-2 general commercial, which already allows this kind of business. Nick Kimbro, the city's Planning, Codes & Life Safety Director, said staff recommended approval. Mayor Lynn Sebourn, who also sits on the commission, said he had known for some time that the property would be redeveloped. "We're just glad somebody's coming in bringing a quality product like that," he said.
During the brief discussion, Sebourn said city staff had signed off on traffic flow into and out of the site, and he called that an important part of the plan. A sit-down restaurant and a 16-pump fuel station draw traffic at different times and in different patterns. On this site, the city's review focused on the driveways more than the building.
No opening date has been reported for the Tullahoma Wawa. Manchester's Wawa, at 24 Campground Road on the former Arrowheads and Aerospace Museum site, is scheduled to open in October. Manchester approved that site plan in May 2023. That project took more than three years from approval to opening. Approval is the first step, and it doesn't set a timeline.
A coffee shop on a 90-foot strip
The Dutch Bros project shows even more clearly how little room is left on the corridor. On April 20, the Planning Commission approved a subdivision plat, a site plan and a variance for Palmetto Tullahoma, the developer bringing Dutch Bros Coffee to town. The city's minutes list the address as 101 William Northern Blvd. and the applicant as Palmetto Tullahoma North Jackson Street LLC.
The land wasn't sitting empty. The site comes out of the Ascend Federal Credit Union parking lot, along William Northern Blvd. where it meets North Jackson Street. The new lot also gets an easement to use Ascend's existing entrance on William Northern.
The developer's variance request spelled out how tight the lot is. It has about 90 feet of frontage, and after the required setbacks, only about 45 feet of buildable width is left. The building fits within that, but the drive-through canopy extends slightly into the 35-foot front-yard setback along William Northern. City staff recommended approval "due to the insignificance of the projection," and the Board of Zoning Appeals granted the variance 3-1. Chairman Alex Rice voted no. He said the developer should have answered the questions on the variance form directly instead of attaching a general statement.
Since April, no construction start or opening date has been reported, and Dutch Bros was not on the commission's Sept. 21 agenda.
Another drive-through coffee chain is already open. 7 Brew opened at 2102 N. Jackson St. on Monday, July 20, and Tullahoma News reported crowds the next day. The menu includes coffee, energy drinks, smoothies, teas and other customizable drinks. Both chains depend on lines of cars waiting to order, and neither site has much room to spare.
Growing in place: the bank, the food truck and the hardware store
Some of the newest projects on North Jackson come from businesses that are already here and need more room.
Coffee County Bank held a ceremonial groundbreaking on Tuesday, Sept. 29, for a new branch directly across the street from its current branch at 511 North Jackson Street. CEO Carter Sain said the bank had outgrown the Tullahoma branch, with too little space for both staff and customers. The bank expects to finish the new branch by May 2027. Sain also said the bank bought the Partners for Healing building at 109 West Blackwell Street, which gives it a larger "campus" style footprint. The bank's main office is at 2070 Hillsboro Blvd. in Manchester. In Tullahoma, it chose to expand across the street from where it already operates.
Kaki Japanese Cuisine followed a similar path on a smaller scale. After three years as a food truck, the owners announced in November 2025 that they would open a storefront at 1802 N. Jackson St., Suite 675, behind Chick-fil-A and next to Results PT. The restaurant said the storefront would carry the food truck's best-selling dishes and add Vietnamese food, including pho and several specialty dishes. The announced target was January. No exact first day of service has been reported, but Kaki's online ordering page now lists the Tullahoma storefront with business hours and a menu that includes pho.
Ace Hardware is the biggest retail opening on the corridor this year. The Tullahoma Area Chamber of Commerce held its ribbon cutting at 1711 North Jackson St. on Friday, April 17. Owners Greg and Christa Yandell welcomed customers that day. The store combines a hardware store, garden center, gift shop, pet-supply shop, houseplant shop and barbecue destination.
Where each project stands as of early October 2026
| Address | Business | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 1711 N. Jackson St. | Ace Hardware | Open since April 17, 2026 |
| 2102 N. Jackson St. | 7 Brew | Open since July 20, 2026 |
| 1802 N. Jackson St., Suite 675 | Kaki Japanese Cuisine | Online ordering live; opening date not reported |
| 1936 N. Jackson St. | Wawa, in the former Ruby Tuesday | Site plan approved Sept. 21, 2026; no opening date |
| 101 William Northern Blvd. | Dutch Bros Coffee | Approved April 20, 2026; no construction or opening date reported |
| Across from 511 N. Jackson St. | Coffee County Bank | Ground broken Sept. 29, 2026; completion expected by May 2027 |
Three of these six are open. The other three are approved or under construction, and only the bank has given a completion date.
Where the corridor meets Wilson Avenue
Road construction is also part of the change. TDOT's Wilson Avenue project, State Route 55, widens the road and replaces a bridge between First Avenue and the junction with North Jackson Street, also known as State Route 16 and US-41A. On Feb. 12, 2026, TDOT shifted traffic into Phase 2 and reduced the road from three lanes to two.
The city posted a notice explaining the change at the intersection. The left-turn lane on Wilson Avenue at North Jackson Street is closed. Drivers can still turn left onto North Jackson, but only from the right lane. The road has been restriped with a double yellow line, and a "Stop Here on Red" sign and a new stop bar keep right-lane traffic farther back from the intersection. That gives vehicles turning from North Jackson onto Wilson enough room to make the turn. The city also warned that the shorter stop line can make it harder to see cross traffic. To keep drivers from treating the right lane as a yield lane, TDOT installed a "No Turn on Red" sign.
Construction is still underway. TDOT's activity report for Oct. 1–7, 2026, lists Phase 3 work with one lane open in each direction and intermittent flagging. The report doesn't give a completion date.
When this project finishes, a wider Wilson Avenue will feed into a North Jackson Street where the old Ruby Tuesday building may be a 16-pump fuel station and a former credit union parking lot may hold a drive-through coffee line. Each new tenant changes how people use its driveway, and those driveways all open onto the same road.
If you own commercial property or a business on North Jackson, or you're thinking about investing along the corridor, these planning approvals and road projects affect what a site is worth. I'm Shawn Wright with CENTURY 21 Wright Realty, and I watch these Planning Commission agendas closely. If you'd like to talk through what a project like these could mean for your property, let's connect.
