Major New Development Connects Old City & Beyond

Natural and (mostly) man-made barriers squeeze downtown as we’ve come to accept it into a tiny footprint the size of West Town Mall and its parking lot. For that reason, our imperative in building a dense, walkable downtown is to cross barriers and connect the nodes as they develop. Short of the Interstate and highways, one primary barrier is the railroad (now reduced in width). A new development helps connect the Old City with Regas Square, White Lily and the Mews projects on the north side of the tracks.

Located at 100 West Depot (and the corner of Central and Depot), the proposed development includes seven stories of mixed use in what is now a large parking lot across from White Lily Lofts and adjacent to the Southern Railway Station property. Two-story commercial spaces will line Central Street, with apartments filling floors three through seven. The company behind the project, Quad Capital Partners, is a privately held company out of Ann Arbor, Michigan which focuses on residential development in “university town markets.”

Three retail spaces are projected along North Central, which would be tiered along the sidewalk (because of the rise in elevation from the tracks to Depot and like the tiered sidewalks in front of Regas Square Condos. A corner retail space is included as is a lobby and live-work units planned to line the building along Depot to the west of the corner retail space.

The first two stories will form the rectangular podium common to most recent commercial developments and will include a two-story structured, 283 space, parking facility to the rear of the commercial space. A portion of the parking structure will be visible from the sidewalk with a larger setback to accommodate wider sidewalks and space for street trees. A raised landscape bed is also included.

The top five stories will include 270 new homes with “large open-air vertical voids facing the adjacent railroad tracks (rear of the structure), creating private courtyards with outdoor seating and a swimming pool as a residential amenity,” on the third level of the building. Garage access for the second floor of the garage will be from Central Street and from Depot Avenue to the first level. A landscaped dog run will also be included along the southeastern side. The site is more uneven and sloped than it initially appears and the topography will influence the structure.

While fiber-cement panels will cover the top, some brick will be included and “the brick veneer is the primary material at the building’s corners and the first two levels along the street-facing elevations. The residential floors will feature a mix of Juliet and hanging balconies. The commercial spaces and the lobby entrance will include canopies, and the commercial spaces will feature “granite-faced bulkheads.” Murals are planned on the wall facing the portion of the tracks nearest Central Street and “on two sides of the garage in the southwest corner of the structure.”

I met with Christine Kolb, Managing Director and Head of Development, who is based in Chicago, to look at the site and learn a bit more about the project. She said the company has completed projects in Madison, Wisconsin and just got the approvals in place in Boulder, Colorado. They have two underway in Charlottesville. Knoxville is their next project, making it an early choice as they expand across the country. She said the cities were carefully chosen after screening for variables like the trajectory of growth. She said the presence of UT, Oak Ridge labs, and the high level of investment were all significant factors. “It feels like there’s a civic backbone that helps support very conscious development locally.”

While the company focuses on cities with major universities, she said, “We don’t build student-oriented housing.” For them, she said, “It’s the fact that when the university combines with private investment and (has) an innovative economy, it creates more opportunity for conventional housing.” She noted that the city is supportive of development. “We really like the Old City corridor, which isn’t as student oriented as some of the neighborhoods closer to the university.”

The apartments will range from studios to three bedrooms, with the final mix to be determined. The bulk of the project will be market-rate housing, though there will likely be a percentage of work-force housing. Zoning has been lined up, and Design Review approved the plans by Norr Architecture on Wednesday. Final site inspection (they were taking core samples as I took these photographs) and due diligence will be completed before the execution of the contract to purchase. The company is working with KCDC and will go to City Council when they have final details in place.

While there is no way to give a firm timeline, it’s not unrealistic to think the project could break ground this year, which will be followed by approximately two years of construction. A perfect timeline would see it welcoming residents in 2028. “We’re moving as fast as we can, right now. We’re very excited about this opportunity,” Kolb said. “Every time I come to Knoxville it feels like home. The vibe, the authenticity and the character that flows from the built environment, and the people … it’s a wonderful community. We take the opportunity to build here very seriously.”