North Central Telephone Cooperative, or NCTC, has gone from foothold to large footprint after its expansion into Warren County.

The company gained a foothold in Warren County back in 2017, when it was approved as a non-exclusive cable and internet service provider by Warren Fiscal Court.

Now the Lafayette, Tenn.-based company, which has expanded its footprint in Warren and surrounding counties through a partnership with Warren Rural Electric Cooperative, is ready to plant its flag along one of Bowling Green’s fastest-growing corridors.

NCTC won approval March 19 from Warren County’s Urban Growth Design Review Board for amendments to an overlay development plan on the former Spartan Garage property on Lovers Lane, clearing the way for the company to establish customer service, equipment storage, and maintenance space in the 8,260-square-foot building.

“It will be a multi-purpose building,” said Johnny McClanahan, NCTC’s president and CEO. “It’s going to be our customer service office, and it also has a big warehouse for storing electronics. We can maintain some vehicles there as well.”

It’s not the first physical presence NCTC has had in Warren County, but it’s much larger than the building at 176 Porter Pike that has been serving as the company’s local office and warehouse.

“It’s quite a bit more space,” McClanahan said. “We’re not planning on going anywhere.”

That’s evident in the investment NCTC has made, purchasing the 980 Lovers Lane building in December 2024 for $2.85 million.

McClanahan said the growth that has allowed for that investment is due largely to the partnership with WRECC.

Starting with its original “pilot project” with WRECC to serve some 800 homes in the Boyce community, NCTC has now expanded into several previously underserved areas of Warren and surrounding counties.

In 2021, WRECC was awarded a 24-month, $10 million contract by Warren Fiscal Court to extend fiber optic cable and bring high-speed internet service to the final underserved parts of the county.

That contract was complemented by the $2.3 million WRECC was awarded through the Federal Communications Commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund created to inject billions of dollars into the construction and operation of rural broadband networks.

The result has been rapid growth in the southcentral Kentucky region for NCTC. McClanahan said the company now has more than 10,000 total customers in Warren, Grayson, Edmonson, and Butler counties, with more than half of them being in Warren County.

“We’re adding customers every month,” McClanahan said.

The CEO said the Lovers Lane building is being remodeled now. He expects it to be open for business in April.

Two other approvals made at the March 19 Design Review Board meeting are expected to also lead to more growth along the Lovers Lane corridor.

The Koin Group headed by local Realtor Andy Shultz won approval for an overlay development plan on 1.27 acres sandwiched between the Traditions residential development and J.C. Kirby Funeral Home. Shultz’s plan calls for building a multi-tenant retail space on the property. Preliminary plans submitted with the application show two units totaling 6,395 square feet.

Also approved was the overlay development plan of TCP Properties LLC headed by Trapper Pendleton on 3.53 acres located on the southeast corner of Mt. Victor Lane and Old Lovers Lane.

Pendleton’s plan calls for constructing four apartment buildings totaling 96 residences.