A building in south Knoxville, undergoing major restoration and renovation last year, caught the attention of readers. I recently learned that the building at 2018 Davenport Road, just off Sevier and backing up to Hi-Wire Brewing, is the new headquarters for Johnson Architecture. The firm, most recently located at Cherokee Mills, is responsible for a number of the beautiful spaces we enjoy downtown, such as J.C. Holdway, and Vida and The Vault, as well as major renovations to the First Presbyterian Church and the development at First Creek at Austin.
I toured the building and met with founder and president Daryl Johnson, Heather Overton, Director of Administration and partner in JAI Properties (owners of the building), Jeff Williamson (V.P. of Johnson Architecture, President of JAI Properties), and Jimmy Ryan (Designer and Architect, partner in JAI Properties) to learn more about both the building and the company.
A complete history of the building isn’t known, but it appears to date from the 1920s. The most recent owner, who is from Ireland, had the building painted orange and green to represent the Irish flag. An older section on the back had fallen away and there had been a fire at some point the roof was compromised. The building was used for storage over the years, and perhaps for painting buses for a company located across the street. A loading dock to the rear of the property along the railway is older and may date to the late 1800s.
Jimmy Ryan noticed the dilapidated building as early, he thinks, as 2020, and eventually pitched the idea to the team of purchasing the building and renovating it for a headquarters. The team was all-in even though parts of the building were crumbling. Mr. Ryan said, “We were really struck by the industrial nature of it.” He said knocking it down and building from the ground might have been less expensive, but “there’s a character factor that you really can’t build new. We’re all about adaptive re-use with projects we do, so we did everything we could to save as much as we could.” That meant replacing the wooden roof with metal decking and adding structural upgrades before the new design could even be implemented. It’s “also fun to see the before and after and the new life” for the building.
The firm is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary this month as it was founded by Mr. Johnson in January, 1994. The firm has grown to twenty-four employees, including architects and interior designers. They’ve deliberately diversified from Mr. Johnson’s background in retail and entertainment construction to include projects including “spiritual, residential, commercial, entertainment, office buildings and medical” facilities. “One of the things that we’re most proud of is our long term clients.” They’ve worked with Copper Cellar since its inception, and have long-term relationships with Dollywood, Nick Cazana, Knoxville Zoo” and others. He’s excited about their current work on the Kern’s Food Hall project.
Mr. Johnson said from early on, “One of our big goals was to be in a building we designed.” They started out in small offices and as they grew “the personality of the firm continued to evolve. We kept moving closer to downtown. When this opportunity presented itself, it was a nice middle-age change.”
Mr. Ryan said, “I don’t know that it was love at first sight. I drove by the building in December, 2020 . . . I saw the ‘for sale’ sign and thought it could be cool . . . it was a weird time to talk about buying a building because we were all working from home. Partner Eric Bowen holds an annual event he calls, “The Big Block of Cheese,” in which employees can pitch any idea to improve the business or boost morale. At the next event, Jimmy presented the idea of buying the building.
Mr. Johnson said it fit with other ideas being expressed by employees to “have a work environment where they could go to lunch together and walk.” At the new location, he explained that is simple. Ms. Overton pointed out that they “all walked over to Red Bud, yesterday,” adding that employees had walked to South Coast Pizza, and enjoyed walking the sidewalks at lunch for exercise. Mr. Ryan took the lead on the design, working with others on staff, and Mr. Johnson said, the are “thrilled to be a part of this community.”
Brandy Hatmaker and Kelly Reynolds coordinated the move over a single weekend and had the staff fully operational by Monday morning. The new space contains almost all new furniture and offered a fresh start for everyone. There is still more to do, such as placing art work, but the function was in place immediately. In addition to walkability, they needed parking, an outdoor space to gather (they are building a courtyard) with picnic tables, and cornhole boards (they are getting a professional setup), and this spot covered all those needs. Mr. Johnson said, “Literally all of the pieces fell into place here.”
Mr. Williamson added, “I really think our company identity melds well with south Knoxville. We try not to be super polished. If anything, the building maybe feels more polished than we are . . . South Knoxville has a fun energy to it. All the restaurants and bars are pretty awesome. The fact that there are apartment complexes around us becomes a selling point for younger hires . . . to live nearby and be able to walk or bike. Then, we’re a quick jump over to downtown if we need to go to the City County Building or meet any of our clients.”
They also made their parking lot a pay lot at night and on weekends, allowing people who are visiting the restaurants and bars to park there when the firm isn’t using it. The money raised goes back to the company monitoring the lot.
The building also includes showers for employees who walk or bike to work or exercise during lunch. They plan a fire pit for the back, with string lights above the courtyard. They also have plans to host art events and are working with Dogwood Arts to place one of the annually rotating sculptures nearby. They’d also like a mural on the wall adjacent to the pending greenway along the tracks.
Mr. Johnson said the new facility should take care of them for many years, saying, “We’ve had the opportunity as a firm to grow . . . but we’ve been more selective about the types of projects we take, so our staff can stay in the 21 to 28 range . . . We never really wanted to be that firm that brags about the number of employees . . . We think we have a sweet spot and it’s pretty darn nice to know everybody’s spouse’s names and the names of their kids.”
They also said Rick Friel and Joey Staats (also partners in the firm and part owners of the building through the LLC) were critical to the process, along with Joseph Construction and First Horizon. They purchased the building in July 2022 and started construction in January 2023. Mr. Ryan said he was particularly proud of the steel addition on the front of the building, saying, “we wanted to put our mark on this building . . . but we tried to keep the front addition as minimal as possible, but impactful.”
So, now you know who resurrected the building. What was once a dilapidated eye-sore for the community is now an attractive addition and they didn’t carry several tons of debris to the dump to make it beautiful. They say they’ve had people stop by and ask about it or take pictures, so if you are out that way and want to have a look, please do. And thank this great Knoxville company for making Knoxville better, both in their own building and in the many other projects they’ve completed.