It surprised me when I looked back and realized several months have passed since the last general update on the various development projects around town. We’ve got a number of projects scheduled to be completed this calendar year, so we should be seeing some projects hitting the final lap. Several smaller projects are also underway or have been completed. Some announced projects haven’t made it out of the starting blocks.
I checked in on three projects we’ve covered that have yet to get visibly started (architectural and other work may be underway). The most recent announcement, the Sevier Avenue Streetscapes Project has yet to make a visible start. That isn’t so surprising as they recently announced the work would begin January 20. We are barely past that. I also checked in on the Axle Parking Lot which I reported in August would provide about 130 spaces for Axle employees. No evidence of progress is visible.
Finally, in the “No Visible Progress” category is ShotClub Social which I wrote last April had hoped to begin construction this past fall and to complete the project “around the end of 2025 or early 2026.” I’ll try to get an update on that, soon.
So, what is making progress? Lots of projects.
First up, Pryor Brown is being demolished, seemingly, brick-by-brick. A friend told me recently he had seen workers literally tossing a brick at a time. I witnessed it, and if you look closely enough at one of these photographs, you can see the single brick in the air. Maybe they are trying to preserve as much as possible? I’d like to think so. They did remove the windows and perhaps will recycle that metal. Maybe the bricks will find a new life. Some cities have imposed “deconstruction” rather than demolition as a condition to take down an old building and maybe that is what they are doing. Here’s hoping.
A couple of murals have also slipped in over the last few months that I have failed to document. One, by Meghan Lingerfelt, resides on the side of the Hilton Garage (she has another on the opposite side) and depicts hikers, canoes, a mountainside and other objects I can’t determine. It all appears to be on a backdrop of stars in one corner and stripes implying an American Flag. Across from Meghan’s mural, the renovations on the YWCA building continue.
The other mural is on the Langley (Walnut Street) Garage and it’s got an interesting source. Valspar Paints’ (think Lowe’s) Be Bright Campaign has placed murals in multiple cities, starting in Tampa, Florida. Ours, a tall beautiful, colorful affair, rises about seven stories on the side of the garage. It features the words “Better Together” on an outline of the state of Tennessee. The mural references family, dogwoods, mountains, and music.
Finally for part one, and adjacent to the Walnut Street Garage, the thin strip of ground between the Daylight Building and the garage has seen some movement. The murals depicting scenes from early 1900s Knoxville have been removed. Placed in 2016, the murals proved popular with tourists and locals alike. They served the purpose of hiding a large, blank wall.
Why have they been removed? Because construction is nearing for the site with the coming AC by Marriott occupying the spot facing both Locust and Walnut Streets. In addition to the removal of the murals, the space has been fenced off and the parking lot (which I parked in to shop at Watsons in the 1980s) is closed. As I recently reported, construction should start “any time now” and the hotel is expected to open in the fall of 2026.
We’ll look at more development projects tomorrow in part two.