Between the Parking Lines: St. John’s Episcopal Buys $10.65M Lot

St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral has purchased the parking lot at Church Avenue and Walnut Street for $10.65 million, following stalled plans for a nine-story hotel slated for the site. 

Rev. Chris Hackett confirmed the purchase from Atlanta-based Vector Hospitality Group, Inc. in an interview with Inside of Knoxville this week. The property, currently operated as a paid public parking lot by Metropolis, will remain open for both monthly and transient parkers under the same management.

Vector bought the parcel in 2023 for $8.4 million from Premier Parking of Knoxville. Plans were submitted in 2024 to the Design Review Board for a 175-room Tempo by Hilton hotel with ground-level retail space, a restaurant and 275-space garage. But construction never began.

“We’ve had our eye on that lot for 20 years, and when it sold in 2023 to Vector we were wanting it,” Hackett said. “Parking is getting worse and worse and our congregation is growing.” 

St. John’s Sunday services draw about 400 parishioners, and the church hosts other events like funerals that require accessible parking. Hackett said they explored other options: discussions with Vector about sharing the garage, and a valet service that “some of our elderly used, but it never really caught on.”

St. John’s, the oldest Episcopal congregation in East Tennessee, has been a downtown institution since 1844. Hackett emphasized its role in the broader community, from long-term partnerships with nonprofits to serving as a venue for events like Big Ears Festival.

“We’re good for the city, we’re involved, we want to make it stronger, and we want to survive another 150 years,” Hackett said. 

A capital campaign is underway to help cover the cost. Though the congregation includes some well-heeled members, like the Haslams, Hackett said it’ll be a collective effort. “They understand it,” he said. “Everyone who’s come and not been able to find a parking space, they get it.” Revenue from the Metropolis lease will also go toward the note. The church confirmed the lot will remain on property tax rolls.

A Lot More Than a Lot

As many have voiced in recent years, urban surface lots can be points of contention in a hemmed-in downtown like ours where every square foot counts. What would be more broadly impactful than a parking lot in this space? Probably almost anything, goes the argument. 

A hotel with public-facing amenities, for instance, would generate tax revenue, stimulate local business, and maybe we get another decent rooftop bar. (For those keeping track: a 91-room Holiday Inn Express is already going in next door above Yassin’s Falafel House, which has temporarily relocated to Marble City Market during construction. And there’s more; we’ll have a downtown hotel update for you soon.)

After at least three decades of out-of-town ownership, St. John’s purchase of the transactional patch of asphalt could be considered a step up, in that at least now it’s locally owned. (#ParkLocal, right?) Nice $2.25M flip, Vector. 

Still, it keeps another sacred block of downtown hollowed out. And it excavates a question: how do churches—especially old, downtown churches—fit into the fabric of a modern urban core?

Churches & the Urban Equation

Able-bodied folks with a modicum of downtown savvy might scoff: “We figured out parking—why can’t they?” 

Churches often serve older populations and value the eldership, experience and connections to their congregation’s past that these longtime members contribute. Their buildings are often historic, their traditions rooted, and their members—like their pews—don’t always move easily. 

For some of those commuting to downtown churches, accessible parking isn’t just a convenience, it’s a necessity. Some obstacles—be they physical, digital or logistical—can quietly push people away from the communities they depend on.

Decisions made by urban churches may frequently fall in line with contemporary urban design principles, but sometimes they don’t. St. John’s made a decision to serve its congregation and it’s not hard to understand why. It’s not their mission to adhere to a cohesive design plan for downtown. Conversely, if downtown becomes a place where only the QR-code-literate and able-bodied can comfortably participate, we’ve failed at creating a truly inclusive city.

To add an additional layer of nuance: In some corners of public opinion, St. John’s has carried the reputation of an unreliable steward of downtown real estate ever since 2013, when the church demolished two historic buildings at 710 and 712 Walnut Street despite public outcry, petitions and preservationist pleas.

That demolition is a case study in how power, preservation and community priorities can collide. So when St. John’s acquires another prominent parcel, especially one previously slated for dense, mixed-use development, it reopens a familiar set of questions: Who gets to shape downtown? 

According to the City of Knoxville, there are more than 1,200 city-owned surface lot spaces downtown not including many more in private hands. These lots gobble up land that could otherwise house people, businesses or public spaces. Most contribute very little to the street life we say we want.

St. John’s shot its shot and secured what it claims to need. But this lot is just one of many. Just a block north of the St. John’s lot sits an even more vast surface parking lot: privately owned, gated and largely empty outside of 9-to-5 on weekdays. That’s not shared or accessible. That’s dead space.

If there’s a Venn diagram for the goals of each organization or business downtown and the city’s overarching vision for unified urban growth, then there will naturally be spaces in the diagram that are not shared. It doesn’t help anybody to pretend that those spaces aren’t there. How transparent and generative these conversations are now will have an impact on the long-term health of our urban community.