After having been closed since January for remodeling, the Visit Knoxville Visitors Center is throwing open the doors this morning to present a brand new look that is as fun, cool and colorful as the city itself.
The Visitors Center has called the late-1800s building on the corner of Gay Street and Summit Hill home since 2004. It last received a makeover in 2017 (Alan wrote about that here) and it was time for an update. The space – which is equal parts information hub, coffee counter, gift shop and performance venue – functions as a sort of front porch for downtown, a sensei for the city’s visitors and a place to show off what makes us us.
If you’ve been downtown lately, you’ve already gotten a sneak peek at the exterior upgrades. The large mural on the south side of the building, originally installed in 2013, has undergone a sealant restoration.
The façade now wears the same deep, mossy green used in Visit Knoxville’s “Calling the Curious” rebranding, and it calls up the street to the Tennessee Theatre’s iconic blade. A marquee sign glows above the entrance, the shutters are gone, and the whole building has been pressure-washed.
I got a preview of the interior yesterday, and walking in I felt like one of those people on an HGTV home makeover show reentering their house after a complete overhaul. It’s almost unrecognizable – so much more spacious-feeling and brighter, with vignettes “calling the curious” to explore.
“The team had not seen the space the entire time,” Visit Knoxville President Kim Bumpas told me during our walkthrough. “Since January they have had to enter through the back. When they walked in, jaws were on the floor.”
The renovation was designed by McCarty Holsaple McCarty Architects, with construction by Holston Construction Services.
Kim said inspiration came in part from a visit her team made to another visitors center in Kentucky that successfully captured a sense of place. “They brought back how it made them feel,” she said. “That really got us talking about what this space should feel like for Knoxville.”
The answer was: fun.
A bold new mural by local artist Curtis Glover stretches through the lobby. It manages to feel both contemporary and distinctly East Tennessee, with punchy, abstract forms that very subtly evoke the layered ridgelines of the surrounding mountains.
The WDVX Blue Plate Special performance area feels more polished, with acoustic improvements and less clutter on stage. The historic performance legacy remains part of the story — yes, the famous wall of plates confirms, Sturgill Simpson and Chris Stapleton really did play here — but the space itself now feels less like your quirky aunt’s living room and more like a legitimate venue. An adjacent window peeks into the WDVX recording studios.
Elsewhere, the gift shop has been completely reimagined with custom millwork by local maker Clancy’s Millwork, flexible pegboard displays, clearer sightlines and a curated, creative presentation for the local artists and makers whose work fills the space.
A new enclosed meeting room offers private space for internal use and public rentals, while seating throughout the center has been reconfigured to encourage lingering. In addition to casual lounge seating, there are seats along the window and the bar with outlets for charging your various modern appendages. Practical and appreciated in the year 2026, sure. But I also appreciated the absence of digital displays, both inside and out; not every available surface needs to be yelling at us.
For many visitors, this may be their literal first impression of Knoxville. But for locals, too, the Visitors Center has long functioned as somewhere to duck into for a coffee, catch live music, browse local goods or point visiting relatives when they ask what there is to do around here.
The reopening also comes during a notably busy tourism year, which made the construction timeline especially ambitious. Kim says their goal was to reopen in time for the Savannah Bananas series next week and they are, cutting the ribbon today with a few final punch-list items still underway.
“We picked the craziest year ever to do a project like this,” she laughed.
Worth it!
The Visitors Center officially reopens to the public today at 301 S. Gay Street with special activations and local musician Hayden Bright performing on the new Blue Plate Stage until noon. Stop by and have a look! WDVX’s Blue Plate Special will return to the space live on May 27.
Hours are Monday – Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday noon to 4 p.m.
Learn more at the website here.
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