Historic Old North Knoxville

On November 8, 2000, members of the Old North Knoxville neighborhood met with Mayor Victor Ashe, City Director of Development Doug Berry (who has since resigned), City Council representative Larry Cox, and head of codes enforcement, Ken Flynn.  The lunchtime meeting took place at the Steamboat restaurant.  This meeting was reported on in the November 30 - December 6 Metro Pulse, in an article entitled "Central Concerns," which is duplicated below:  

North Central Avenue can feel like a time machine.

As you head north on the street across Broadway, you encounter block after block of low-slung buildings, crammed together in a way that feels both urban and old-fashioned.  Some of them are vacant, but many are occupied by small independent businesses, ranging from small car lots to sandwich shops to general merchandisers.  There's a 1950s-era ice cream joint on the left, just north of Baxter Avenue, and a string of funky antique dealers on the right.

Without a big-box retailer in sight, the area seems to have avoided both the promises and problems of late 20th century commerce.  It's a stubbornly neighborhood-oriented corridor, serving the locals and not much concerned with the heavy traffic on the parallel Interstate 275.  But that might be about to change.

Doug Berry, director of development for the city of Knoxville, says the city has started a comprehensive study of the area to go along with its plans for redeveloping the Coster Shop rail yards that lie between Central and the interstate.  "It's a profile of the physical characteristics of [the] existing area," he says of the study, which is partly funded by the federal Economic Development Administration.  "Average lot sizes, their uses, the types and sizes of structures and their conditions" are included, he says.

And the roadway itself is being accessed, which is what has some local residents talking.  In a meeting with residents of the adjacent Old North Knoxville* neighborhood a few weeks ago, Berry mentioned that the study could lead to recommendations for widening pieces of Central Avenue.  That prompted speculation about the impact of such a project, which could include displacement of some existing businesses.  [Note from webmaster: click here to see map of area being discussed.] 

But Berry says there's no cause for alarm.  "There is absolutely no money anywhere to proceed with a widening," he says.  "We are basically going to be doing a methodical analysis of the transportation network.  We've to look at all these roads and how they need to function."

The city hopes to spend about $5.5 million to acquire the Coster Shop property and clean up environmental problems on the site.  Berry is lining up potential tenants including Eagle Distributing, which plans to relocate there from its current site on Radford Place.  Because the Coster yards are so visible from the interstate, Berry says the project would send a signal about Knoxville's dedication to inner-city redevelopment.

But it would also affect surrounding neighborhoods, probably by increasing truck traffic to and from the interstate via mostly narrow streets.  Berry says some intersections may need widening.  But he also hopes the EDA study will identify improvements the city can make to help local residents as well -- by routing traffic off neighborhood streets, for example, and by identifying small commercial properties that could attract new investors.

The EDA study is a required step toward qualifying for federal development funds for the Coster project.  Berry hopes to get $1.1 million in EDA money for the site.  The study should begin in January and be completed by the end of March.

--Jesse Fox Mayshark

*The Metro Pulse actually reported that it was the Oakwood neighborhood that met with Doug Berry, but when contacted for a clarification, Jesse Fox Mayshark corrected that statement, saying that it was indeed the Nov. 8 Old North Knoxville meeting that he and Berry discussed.