HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - The City of Huntsville has selected a Tennessee company as its preferred developer for 25 acres of prime retail land on the edge of John Hunt Park.

GBT Realty, based in Nashville, beat out two other firms for the right to buy the coveted city-owned tract near the corner of Memorial Parkway and Airport Road. GBT plans to build a 240,000-square-foot mixed-use retail center there.

"All three candidates showed a great deal of design sensitivity to create an asset that will blend in with the John Hunt Park master plan," Huntsville Director of Urban Development Shane Davis said today. "All three firms were highly competitive, and it made the decision tough."

GBT has agreed to pay $8.2 million for the retail site, according to a news release. The city will use the money to improve John Hunt Park - site of Huntsville's first airport -- and buy 140 acres along Triana Boulevard for a future outdoor sports complex.

Once the sale of the retail tract is completed, GBT would be given about two years to get the first stores and restaurants open. Twenty-five percent of sales taxes generated by the new shopping center will be earmarked for John Hunt Park upgrades and maintenance.

GBT operates a number of shopping centers across the Southeast, including the Target-anchored Shoppes of Madison on U.S. 72 West and Westside Center on University Drive. The company also developed the new Academy Sports on U.S. 72.

The city will demolish a Huntsville Fire & Rescue station and firefighter training facility currently located on the retail site. A replacement fire station is slated to be built about a mile away on Drake Avenue; the city has already opened a new firefighter training center on Vermont Road.

Davis said part of the land sale proceeds will be used to rip out the old asphalt runways at John Hunt Park - the first step in a planned $100 million overhaul. An updated park master calls for a 4,000-seat indoor sports arena, festival area for outdoor concerts, multi-purpose activities center, tournament-caliber soccer fields, tree-lined jogging paths, more tennis courts, children's splash fountain, picnic areas and an expanded Benton H. Wilcoxon Ice Complex.

Mayor Tommy Battle has said he wants to turn 378-acre John Hunt Park into the Rocket City's version of New York's Central Park.

"We are excited to take this next step in our effort to reimagine John Hunt Park into a true central park for all of our citizens to enjoy," Battle said today.

Sembler/Greenstone Properties of Atlanta and Merchants Retail Partners from Birmingham were the other finalists to develop the John Hunt Park retail site. The Huntsville City Council still has to OK the land sale.