Imagine a story that involves a former bank, a Knoxville art gallery, New York art galleries, a boutique art hotel, an empty building, high-end shops, and the sale of seemingly unrelated buildings a mile away. There’s a lot to unpack, with the ultimate storyline being the development (at long last!) of the former TVA Bank building at the corner of Wall Avenue and Gay Street.
The modern portion of the story began in 2019 when TVA Bank announced their plans to move to the much smaller 31 Market Square, where they operate today, and to place the original building on the market. In 2020 the building sold to Ilana Brodt who, with her husband Avi Zenatti, owns numerous downtown properties. In 2021 the Ephant group entered a 99 year lease with plans to develop the building as a hotel. Two years later, in October 2023, those plans fell through and the building was offered for sale. At that time, however, Ilana made her intentions clear:
My vision for Gay Street is to be more elegant and high-end retail,” she said, and so HD Patel’s plan, she felt, was a very good one. Now that those plans did not materialize, she would love to see someone do something similar. She said if the building doesn’t sell or lease in a timely way, “I will develop it.” To that end, she is proceeding with plans to do just that.
So, two years later, after several iterations of plans, the design and use have come together. In some respects, the plan is like the 2021 plans in that the upper floors will be home to a hotel, The Onyx Art Hotel, which will feature “50 to 60 rooms.” A management company (potentially a national hotel chain) will operate the hotel. One unique art component of the hotel will be the inclusion of original works in each room, all available for purchase.
The ground floor, continuing the art concept, will be entirely different from the original plans and will be anchored by the new home for the Lilienthal Gallery. Which brings us to those buildings about a mile away—in Emory Place. Ilana has sold the buildings she owns on the northwestern side of Emory Place, including the current location of her gallery, to a family member who will continue her vision there. The revenue generated from that sale will fund the construction of the new TVA/Onyx project. Lilienthal Gallery will continue to operate in its current location until its new space is ready.
The gallery will inhabit the core of the first floor of the massive building, but the 8,000 square foot interior will also include space for multiple mini galleries of art representing New York galleries with whom Ilana has worked. An additional possibility offered by the space is a location for arts events including musical performances surrounded by the works.
The exterior of the building on both the Wall and Gay Street sides will be lined with as many as seven shops (500 to 700 square feet) Ilana hopes are high-end businesses offering items or services currently unique to downtown. She plans to have something beautiful and special on the north wall facing the parking lot and Visit Knoxville. It’s all part of her dream to have Gay Street become a long arts district from the historic theaters near the river through galleries along Gay and the 100 block, on to Emory Place as a northern terminus.
Plans also include making the building downtown Knoxville’s first net-zero hotel for energy usage. The rooftop will not include a bar as previously planned but will include large drain water collection systems and solar panels. The basement of the building will house purifiers to allow the water to be used inside the building. The solar panels will shift position with the sun to elicit maximum energy collection and a storage system for the energy will also be housed in the basement.
Avi said the building is “in a prime location” and is a “federal building, so everything is built well. Everything is built of concrete and it’s a jewel.” The current timeline calls for requesting final approvals from the city in February and starting construction “six weeks later.” The couple feels construction can be complete within a year. The couple said the building is in such good shape that interior construction can begin immediately and should go smoothly.
The architect guiding the project is Amy Sherrill with Benefield Richters, with Dani Miller of Lauderdale Design Group heading the design effort. I spoke with Dani who said she’s worked with Illana through several concepts, with the constant being gallery space for Lilienthal and for New York galleries. “The design honors the design of the building with new design concepts on top of that, including gallery lighting.” Final designs are a work in progress, but the vision includes rich, gemstone colors to complement the Onyx theme. “We are keeping the granite, and the gallery will remain light and bright.”
We hope to have more detailed plans and renderings as more work is completed and approvals are in place.
In the meantime, you can begin your art enjoyment at the building starting immediately. An art pop up featuring many of the artists whose exhibitions have graced the Lilienthal Gallery, has been installed in the large window facing Gay Street. The focus is on smaller works to make them more affordable as potential Christmas gifts with prices ranging from $100 upward. A person will be on site to facilitate purchases Friday-Sunday 1-7 p.m. through the end of the year and potentially into January.