Good Hope Mayor Jerry Bartlett, left, and Love’s Senior Real Estate Project Manager Bill Gleason, shovel a little dirt at Feb. 8, 2023, groundbreaking for the travel center.

GOOD HOPE — The city of Good Hope broke ground at the site of the future Love’s Travel Stop Wednesday, preparing to give those traveling along I-65 one more reason to make a pit stop in Cullman County, city officials said.

Mayor Jerry Bartlett said that the discussions of adding a Love’s location in Good Hope began nearly a year ago when he received an email from Love’s Senior Real Estate Project Manager Bill Gleason.

“I just wish he could have seen my face through that email,” Bartlett said. “You know when you start talking about a business coming to your city with your council and your city planner, we get excited. I mean we just get thrilled and it can’t happen soon enough.”

The store will be located just a stone’s throw away from the Sun Flour Bakery on County Road 222 at the 305 exit. City officials are hoping that this addition — along with adding lights to the exit’s on and off ramp with funds secured by US Congressman Robert Aderholt — they will be able to turn what has been primarily used as easier access to Smith Lake and the south end of the City of Cullman into a destination stop for travelers.

Gleason said that the projections are that the location will attract roughly 1,000 trucks per day, bringing in tax revenue to the city that would have otherwise have been missed.

“That is tax money that is going up and down 65 that wouldn’t be stopping here if it wasn’t fort the Love’s,” Gleason said.

Bartlett said that the location will have amenities that include a country store, dog wash, tire store and truck wash. Gleason also said that Love’s had been working to add EV charging stations to all of its locations across the continental US. By doing so, Gleason said that the roughly 100 jobs that are estimated to be created between Love’s and the attached McDonald’s would be be available regardless of “whatever the fuel is in the future.”

“It’s been a total win-win for Love’s and for the municipalities. We love locating in small cities that we make a big difference to their tax revenue,” Gleason said.

Good Hope City Planner Corey Harbison describes the area as a “blank canvas,” and is hoping that Love’s will be an incentive to attract other businesses that the community has expressed a desire for in the area.

“I think to get the Outbacks and the Olive Gardens, you’ve got to have fuel first and something to get people off the interstate. So, I’m excited to have them [Love’s] as an anchor to get people off here,” Harbison said.

Construction at the site is set to begin June 1 with a projected opening sometime in the Spring of 2024. The city will also be using this time to upgrade the 3 inch sewer line that services the are to an 8-inch line to accommodate the area’s current and future expansion projects.