If memory serves, the first time I heard of the possibility of a second phase for Marble Alley was the first time I heard about any of it. I think it was prior to 2010 that the plans for both parts of the development got a first blush of publicity. The first phase eventually opened in 2016, but by that time, due to high interest, I’d already written about the second phase. Just a short nine years later, developer Buzz Goss is ready to announce the beginning of construction of the Vintage Cal (often called Marble Alley Two, but with no relation to the first other than sharing a developer) adjacent to Marble Alley, at the northwestern corner of Union Avenue and State Street. I talked with Buzz about the very long journey and what we might expect in the new project.
We started with the delay: “I really intended to get started with this thing in late 2019 or early 2020.” The PILOT from Knox County had been approved about three years earlier, and the architectural process was underway when COVID-19 shut down the country and led to the subsequent supply chain issues, followed by sharp increases in material costs and rising interest rates. “You couldn’t predict anything. You had to wait until it settled down.” He said in late 2022 and the architectural process resumed.
Buzz reached out to Mayor Jacobs since the County Commission had suggested he go through them for the PILOT. He didn’t get through to Mayor Jacobs but was told to reach out to the Industrial Development Board. He sent the resolution that had been passed regarding the PILOT along with other paperwork and was told the mayor’s office suggested he submit a new application, with the implication it may not be supported a second time around. “It astounded me. It was already approved. We’re in the middle of a housing crisis. We are including affordable units. I was very disappointed that Mayor Jacobs would neither support nor meet to discuss the merits of the project.”
He said he reached out to Mayor Kincannon and told her that Mayor Jacobs no longer supported it and asked her what to do. She encouraged him to begin the process with the city, which ultimately led to approval of the PILOT by the city of Knoxville in June 2024. “I cannot say enough good things about Jane Justice and Ben Bentley and the staff of KCDC. They were awesome . . . I can’t say enough good things about the city.”
I asked about the name of the new building. I’ve called it “Marble Alley Two” for so long, that I confessed to struggling to call it anything else. Buzz said that he has Murphreesboro-based partners in the venture, and they like to use the word “vintage” along with a connection to the city. “Cal is for Cal Johnson, of course, and we will do another memorial (There is a Cal Johnson memorial on Marble Alley and both projects sit across the street from the site of his residence.) to a man, as you know, I admire.”
His partner in the project is TDK, “a development/construction firm with mine being a development/architecture firm.” He said the team of Tim Keach, John Keach, and Kent Ayer, along with Ross Bradley (who is local to east Tennessee) have been great to work with.
The result of their work together is Vintage Cal, a seven-story development featuring a story of parking and one story that is a mix of parking and commercial spaces. Included parking spaces will come in just below 200. Because of the slope of Union, the ground-level parking, with an entrance across from the Union Avenue entrance to the State Street Garage, will be under at the State Street end.
The second floor, including a half-floor of parking to the rear, will feature a commercial space at the corner of Union and State that Buzz imagines being something like a coffee shop or a wine and cheese bar. He said they’ve planned an outdoor dining area, including a covered portion, to augment any business that might lease there. The space will range from 1500 to 2500 square feet depending on final plans.
The remainder of the building’s frontage along State Street, starting at the corner from the commercial space will include, in sequence, the lobby, two office suites and six-to-seven entrances to live/work units with amenities like conference rooms to their rear. It terminates with an additional entrance to the garage adjacent to the entrance to the garage at Marble Alley.
Five floors will sit on top of the ground floor on State Street, all of which will be offered as apartments. The homes will range from studio apartments of about 500 square feet, to two-bedroom, two bath homes hitting about 1100 to 1200 square feet, all of which is comparable to Marble Alley Lofts. The homes will include balconies overlooking State Street, Central Street, Union Avenue or one of the roof-top plazas and, when finished, the top residential floor will rise about a story higher than the State Street Garage across the street.
There are 167 total homes, which is about 80 fewer than Marble Alley, representing the largest single infusion of homes in the downtown market since Church+Henley opened just over a year ago with about 220 new apartments. Even though this development is smaller than Marble Alley Lofts, the cost is higher to develop. Construction costs are estimated to run in the upper $40 million range, with total development costs running up to about $53 million. By contrast, the substantially larger Marble Alley carried a $36 million development cost, which was staggering to consider in Knoxville at the time.
In rough numbers, about 70% of the homes will be studio or one bedroom, with fewer than a dozen of those being studio. The remaining 30% will be two-bedroom units. Fifteen of the units, or about 10%, will be workforce housing tied to 80% of AMI (Average Median Income) for Knoxville. Buzz also said it will be a mixture across unit types, so it won’t be all studios.
The building will include a “really great fitness facility.” In addition to each unit having its own balcony (some will be Juliet balconies), along the front, above the first floor is an open court with amenities for the residents, with another open rooftop plaza to the rear. Included will be seating areas, landscaping, firepits, grills, and hammocks, with shaded areas covered by pergolas. Parking is also included at no extra charge, though it is uncertain if the spaces will be designated. A second space may come with an additional charge. In an interesting aside, Buzz said the parking spaces are costing him $50 thousand to $60 thousand per space to build, which make the Medical Arts spaces currently for sale a bargain.
He’s excited about the interior design and finishes and feels when people walk in they’ll want to live there (more on those details later). He points out that when Marble Alley opened in 2016, it was a test for the market and no one was sure how quickly, if at all, it might be filled. They built in a two-year run to lease units and within ten months filled them. He’s optimistic that this might be similar, pointing out that in most metro areas about 3% of residents prefer urban living. Even ignoring the metro area and focusing more narrowly on Knox County, we are still well short of offering downtown housing to 1% of residents. “We’ve created a place where people want to go.”
For now, architectural work is in final stages. There will be a period of permitting at the beginning of the year, followed by the beginning of construction which Goss hopes to happen by the beginning of March.