During Tuesday afternoon’s meeting of the Brownwood Municipal Development District Board of Directors, BMDD Executive Director Ray Tipton shared that Ollie’s intends to open this summer at its 315 East Commerce location, site of the former Big Lots.

“Ollie’s has their sign up and they’re doing renovations inside,” Tipton told the Board. “When I was at a conference last month I did speak with a representative and they were looking at a July-August opening. They were unsure, but sometime this summer. But with the signage up I’m assuming it will be pretty quick.”

Tipton also shared that the demolition of the basketball courts is underway at Coggin Park. Beginning the week of June 23, work will begin on the new basketball courts, sidewalks and surfacing. Tipton stated the project should take a couple of months to complete and should be ready to go by the end of the summer or first portion of the fall.

The City of Brownwood has received the construction plans on the Shops on Commerce – which will house Ross, Ulta Beauty, Five Below, James Avery and Bath & Body Works – for review. TABAT Properties is working with its contractor in an effort to get a start date on site work, and Tipton added, “I think we’ll be seeing some movement on that pretty soon.”

Tipton added that the Assistant Director of Economic Development & Tourism job posting has been made. Eight applications have already been received and additional applications will be taken, likely through the end of June.

The Assistant Director of Economic Development & Tourism will assist the Division Director to coordinate the activities of the MDD; assist with the administration of the MDD program including prospect development; business and industry contacts; negotiate to encourage location and expansion in Brownwood; and assist in the administration of the Hotel Occupancy Tax funds to attract tourists to Brownwood.

The designing of Phase II for Riverside Park improvements are underway, which will not require the park to be shut down again when they are eventually implemented. No further details were available Tuesday.

Also, a 19-acre area of land near Good Shepherd is expected to feature a new housing development, but the details shared in the meeting were limited.