Gluckstadt's Next Places to Gather Are Being Built by One Family Off Calhoun Station Parkway

"They didn't ask the city to contribute financially," Gluckstadt Mayor Walter Morrison told WLBT about the new baseball complex on Stout Road. "We don't have any skin in the game, but we greatly appreciate what they're doing."

The same is true of most of what is going up nearby. In the coming months Gluckstadt gets a youth sports complex, a restaurant with a fenced yard, a ladies' boutique, a new Burgers & Blues and six more commercial buildings. Nearly all of it sits on or just off Calhoun Station Parkway, and nearly all of it ties back to two brothers, Lee and Steven Sahler. The city's role is approvals and design review. The money is private. On December 5, the city's own Christmas parade comes to that same parkway.

A Ballpark Due in Late November

TD Select Baseball covers 40 acres off Stout Road, near Calhoun Station Parkway. Developer Lee Sahler told WLBT he is putting $10 million of his own money into it. The first phase takes up 10 of those acres: four baseball and softball diamonds, two soccer fields, and a 10,000-square-foot building with batting cages and administrative offices.

WLBT reported on October 28 that the complex was about four weeks from opening. That puts the target in late November, which matches the Clarion Ledger's October 19 estimate of completion by late November, weather permitting. No opening day has been announced.

Ty Dean, who owns TD Select Baseball, will run the facility, the practices and the teams. According to the Clarion Ledger, the program fielded 13 youth teams from 7U through 14U as of October, with plans for older age groups and softball.

The project is planned in four 10-acre phases. Phase two adds four more fields and a second 10,000-square-foot building, and Sahler said construction on it begins by the end of this year. He told WLBT he has been planning the complex for 10 years and wants it to become a tournament site within the next year. Stout Road sits near Calhoun Station Parkway, where the restaurants are going up.

One Developer, a Second Address Behind Sullivan's

Lee Sahler's other project is the Kayo Center, the development behind Sullivan's Grocery. You get in from Kayo Drive off Calhoun Station Parkway. The Clarion Ledger calls it a $30 million entertainment district. The city first approved it in 2025, and the developers have compared it to The District at Eastover off I-55 in Jackson.

Two things about the site affect day-to-day use. It will have more than 200 parking spaces, and it has an agreement to use the Sullivan's lot for overflow parking. The grocery store and the new restaurant block will share parking.

Here is where each piece stood in the latest reporting:

No opening dates have been announced for Burgers & Blues or West of 55. Planning and Zoning Administrator Caine Dearman told the Madison County Journal that the middle six buildings are "unique buildings while being cohesive with the whole development." The Architectural Review Board approved them on the condition that every public-facing side meets the city's architectural standards. The city's job on this site is design review. Building and paying for it falls to the developer.

Crafted 81 Is Planned as Two Restaurants Under One Roof

The second brother runs the restaurant side. Steven Sahler owns Crafted 81, the fourth restaurant in the Burgers & Blues family. The Madison County Journal reports it will sit at 179 Calhoun Station Parkway, directly behind Sullivan's Marketplace, with a menu built around pizzas, tacos and smash burgers.

The name comes from the craft of cooking and from 1981, the year Sahler and his wife, Abby, were both born. The layout splits the restaurant in two. Outside is a large fenced area with televisions, cornhole boards and green space, about 7,000 square feet according to the Clarion Ledger, which also reports a full bar. Sahler described the plan to the Madison County Journal:

"Our outdoor space is where you can watch football and throw some cornhole. Inside is for date night where you can concentrate on the person in front of you. We want to have two different vibes rolled into one restaurant."

The building will also have a lane for online orders, and Sahler told the same paper, "it is a pickup lane, not a drive-through." You order online and get a text when the food is ready.

When the Journal visited in mid-October, crews had just poured the front sidewalk and the parking lot was due to be finished within days. Sahler is posting construction progress on the Crafted 81 Facebook page. If the work stays on schedule, he expects the building to be done by the end of the year and the restaurant to open in early March 2027.

December 5 Brings the City's Own Day to the Same Parkway

All of that is private construction. The City of Gluckstadt's public day comes on Saturday, December 5, 2026, and it runs down Calhoun Station Parkway too.

• Jingle Market, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Gluckstadt Police Department, with local vendors, Christmas gifts and treats.
• Christmas Parade, 3 p.m. on Calhoun Station Parkway. The city says it will post the exact route closer to the date.
• Theme: Storybook Christmas. The Christmas Parade Committee judges every float, and trophies for Best Float, Best Dance, Best Car and Most Christmas Spirit are handed out at the closing ceremonies.

The schedule has changed since last year. The Madison County Journal's 2025 holiday roundup listed Gluckstadt's parade at 9 a.m. on December 13, with the Jingle Market right after it. This year the market comes first and lasts all day, and the parade moves to the afternoon, eight days earlier on the calendar. A morning at the market and a 3 p.m. parade now fit into one Saturday.

Holiday shopping in town starts a little earlier. Birdie's Toy Chest, at 102 Dees Drive, Building 200, Suite L, is already open, and the Gluckstadt Madison Business Alliance lists its ribbon-cutting for November 19.

What's Scheduled Between Now and March

From publication day through spring, here is what has been announced, in order:

1. November 19: Ribbon-cutting at Birdie's Toy Chest on Dees Drive.
2. Late November, estimated: TD Select Baseball opens phase one on Stout Road. The date depends on weather.
3. December 5: Jingle Market from 9 a.m. at the Gluckstadt Police Department, then the Storybook Christmas parade at 3 p.m. on Calhoun Station Parkway.
4. By year-end: Construction starts on TD Select's phase two, and the Crafted 81 building is expected to be finished.
5. Early March 2027: Crafted 81 opens its doors and its yard at 179 Calhoun Station Parkway.

Burgers & Blues, West of 55 and the six middle buildings at the Kayo Center don't have dates yet. They are the next openings to watch for behind Sullivan's.

We follow how projects like the Kayo Center and TD Select change the streets around them, because those changes show up in how buyers and sellers value Gluckstadt addresses. If you'd like to know how the Calhoun Station Parkway buildout affects your street, Highland Realty is glad to talk it through. Schedule a Local Market Consultation.