Historic Greenlee’s Bike Shop Property Has New Owner

As of today the property at 1402 N. Broadway, best known as the longtime home of “Greenlee’s Bicycle Hospital,” has a new owner. Buyer Poovindran Pillay already has a stake in the corridor, having last year purchased the commercial building directly across Glenwood Avenue that’s home to Mia Piccola, Roots & Releaf, Blossom Bowls, Good Time Barber Shop and Especial Express.

“We own the building next door, and we thought this would be a good opportunity to help uplift the neighborhood,” Pillay said. “We already have an investment here, and we want to see the area continue growing in the right direction.”

Although many Knoxvillians know the address simply as Greenlee’s, the property is actually a cluster of four interconnected structures totaling roughly 5,400 square feet: a house dating to about 1900, its original carriage house and two commercial storefronts built in the 1920s. 

Pillay’s plans include rehabbing the property’s original house as a rental residence while leasing the two Broadway-facing commercial storefronts to small businesses, with the carriage house as a possible additional workshop type space. 

There’s a lot to work with: a Broadway-facing brick façade long concealed by siding and a host of historic details inside the house, including beautiful dark wood trim, pocket doors into the dining room, charismatic fireplace surrounds and a handsome staircase. 

There’s also a lot of work to do.

“We’d love to bring the building back to some of its former glory,” Pillay said. “Over the years, people added things that didn’t really do justice to the original architecture.”

The house hasn’t functioned as a residence since the ‘70s, serving in recent decades as storage for bicycle parts. Back in 2014 Alan chronicled the history of Greenlee’s on IOK, one of the oldest bike shops in the country, tracing its origins to downtown in 1899 (it has been at 1402 N. Broadway since 1962). Perched on the seam of bike-happy neighborhoods Old North Knox and Fourth & Gill, and operating a mower shop out of the back, it did good business until its pandemic-forced closure in 2021. 

Yesterday I tagged along on a walk-through with Jack Coker, a commercial real estate broker with Avison Young who represents the property, and Hollie Cook, Knox Heritage’s director of education and research who wanted to document the space before it moves forward.

Coker has poured tremendous energy into researching and assembling the property’s history through newspaper clippings, photographs and public records. Cook has a sharp eye for the clues hidden in details as small as a doorknob, teasing out the story a building has to tell. Walking through the house with the two of them, it almost felt possible to see into its past.

Among its first original inhabitants was Eva Williams Malone, a prolific author and women’s suffrage advocate, who lived there from 1902 until her death in 1908. It was a period when North Broadway was still lined with stately residences rather than businesses. In 1895, Malone had made the bold decision to divorce her abusive husband, a Confederate veteran, at a time when divorce carried immense social stigma particularly for women. 

She fled with her children and ultimately supported her family through her writing, going on to publish hundreds of poems, short stories, biographical works and suffrage writings. Of the eight children she bore, four survived to adulthood, and much of her writing was inspired by them. Her children’s book Out Among the Animals remains in print more than a century later.

Malone belonged to the Tennessee Woman’s Press Club and counted many of the state’s leading suffragists and civic leaders among her contemporaries. Her family’s ties reached into Knoxville’s prominent circles: when her daughter, Constance Vernon Malone, married in 1907, the flower girl was Catherine Ayres, daughter of Brown Ayres, for whom the University of Tennessee’s iconic Ayres Hall is named.

The house also briefly sheltered another future Knoxville notable. Walter Mynatt lived there as a teenager in the early 1910s before becoming the city’s mayor in 1938. 

More recently, the home’s staircase appeared on the cover of local jazz musician Carter Floering’s album Time to Play.

What lies ahead for the property? While future tenants have not yet been selected, Pillay expects the businesses will complement those already operating across the street. “Various people have approached us about the space,” he said.

Don’t expect a strict historic restoration, but Pillay said he wants to respect the building’s roots: “It’s an exciting project for us because the building has so much history, and we’re hopeful we can bring back some of its original character.”

Well wishes to this special property, and many thanks to Coker for sharing the research that helped bring its past to life and for helping to facilitate its path forward.

“I believe buildings shape neighborhoods, and it’s a privilege to help connect people with places that have the potential to strengthen the community,” he told me. “I’m grateful to have played a small role in helping this property begin its next chapter on Broadway.”

Here are some photos of the commercial and carriage house interiors:

From the shop, you enter the house through this funny little door:

Interior house photos:

July 7 update: The new owner is wasting no time getting the property a new lease on life. Here are some photos of the old brick beneath the facade, which they ripped off almost immediately after closing. They also went right to work replacing the roof on the house.