• Land Use
  • Map 5: Existing Land
  • Map 6: Shopping Center Access
• Least Constrained Land

Land Use

There was no appreciable change in land use in the Central City Sector between 1995 and 2000. About 90 percent of the land is developed. Slightly less than 1,000 acres of the sector’s land is vacant, including parcels that are difficult to develop, such as portions of Sharps Ridge.

Approximately one-quarter of the land is devoted rights-of-way, including major interstates, thoroughfares and local streets. A summary of major land use categories follows.

Residential development. Single family residential uses comprise almost 2,000 acres or 19.5 percent of the sector’s land use. This proportion is lower than most sectors (for example, 27 percent of Knoxville’s overall land use is low density residential). Most of the single-family housing has been developed on relatively small lots along the grid street patterns.

Multifamily residential uses, which represent 5.7 percent of land use, are proportionately higher than other sectors. This is a logical outcome of policies that were developed in the post-World War II era to provide higher density housing closer to the central business district. There are concentrations of apartments in Fort Sanders, along I-640 and in public housing areas.

High rise apartment development is generally associated with a public purpose (for example, university or senior citizen housing). Such uses do not take up much of the land, but because of their height, buildings like Isabella Towers or UT’s Laurel Tower are prominent on the landscape.

Commercial development. The sector’s proportion of commercial uses (4.8 percent) is similar to that of the city as a whole (5.1 percent). Areas with the most intense retail activity include Cumberland Avenue, Broadway, North Central Street and Magnolia Avenue. The historic retail function of downtown has largely been lost. With the exception of the Old City, most of the downtown commercial uses serve office workers, such as restaurants and service-oriented establishments.

Shopping center and supermarket access: Developers and planners recognize similar standards regarding the location of shopping centers. Of foremost concern in this sector are neighborhood shopping centers, which are traditionally anchored by a supermarket and are created to meet the day-to-day needs of residents. The number of people to be served, buying power and service area are key components to shopping center location formula. The recommended service area is a 5-10 minute drive or 1.5-mile radius. The general service areas of existing shopping centers are depicted in Map 6.

Kroger in the Broadway Shopping Center is the only supermarket currently located within the sector.

The Broadway Shopping Center is the only neighborhood center located within the sector. Other centers are near the edges of the sector, including the Northgate, 640 Plaza, Clinton Plaza and Knox Plaza/Bi-Lo. The substantial area, encompassing Downtown, Fort Sanders, Lonsdale, Beaumont and Morningside is not readily served. A proposal has been made as part of Hope VI and Empowerment Zone planning to create a small shopping center and grocery store near Mechanicsville Commons.

Office uses. Office uses comprise 2.7 percent of the land use. Although the relative amount of land devoted to office use is small, the square footage of downtown office space is significant. By the year 2000, the downtown area contained 6.1 million square feet of gross office space (up from 5.6 million square feet in 1992). Still, suburban office space expansion has been at a higher rate, and the downtown share of the overall office space has decreased to 36.1 percent in 2001 (compared to the 45.7 percent in 1992).

Characteristics of downtown office space: Almost 44 percent of the downtown office space is occupied by government, compared to 19 percent areawide. In fact, 80 percent of government office space is located in the downtown area. Over 80 percent of the office buildings in downtown are over 25 years in age. However, renovation of some of those older buildings, such as the Miller’s Building, has added high quality space to the market.

Office reuse in historic buildings is a recent trend in the central business district.

Vacant industrial buildings comprise over one-fifth of industrial floor space in the I-275 corridor.

Industrial, warehousing, transportation and utility uses. These uses, covering approximately 992 acres, are primarily located along the CSX and Norfolk Southern Railroad corridors and in the Pleasant Ridge Industrial Park. The sector has the most significant concentration of industrial activity of any city sector. Approximately one-third of the industrial building space is located in the Central City. The sector’s industrial and warehouse space, however, includes a higher share of industrial buildings that are in poor condition and vacant multi-story industrial buildings.

Industrial floor space: Over half the city’s floor space and almost one-third of the county’s floor space is located in the Central City. The characteristics of the space, however, vary considerably. The proportion of vacant space in the North Central Street area (22 percent) and Norfolk Southern Rail corridor from the Old City to the Cherry Street area (14 percent) is high (the county average being 7.2 percent in 2002). Pleasant Ridge Industrial Park is the most modern of the facilities and a high percentage of its space (52 percent) is devoted to manufacturing uses. The age of the building stock is also a concern. In looking at the four major industrial areas within the sector, one finds that over 40 percent of the buildings have been in existence for 40 or more years (compared to 20 percent of Knox County’s industrial buildings). This higher proportion of older buildings is expected, in that the buildings are part of Knoxville’s oldest industrial areas. The upkeep of the structures is a significant concern: over half of the industrial and wholesale buildings are in poor condition.

Reuse of underutilized industrial land is a significant economic development opportunity.

Table 4. Industrial Space in Central City 2001

Table 5. Central City Sector Industrial Building Conditions 2002

Table 6. Characteristics of Central City Industrial Areas 2001

Source: MPC’s Industrial Space Inventory
(a) part of this area is in the West City sector
(b) part of this area is in the East City sector (it is referred to as the East Knoxville industrial area in the MPC’s Industrial Space Inventory)

Public, educational and recreational uses. Over 2,000 acres of public land, including places used for educational, utility and recreational purposes, are located in the sector. Such uses account for more than 23 percent of the sector’s land use (higher then the city average of 13 percent for similar uses). This is understandable, given the extent of such holdings as those of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville College, and the uses associated with federal, state and local governments.

Vacant land. This sector has slightly more than 1,000 acres of vacant land. A substantial portion of vacant land is on steep slopes. However, there are still several hundred small, vacant residential parcels. Such lots have been targeted for redevelopment. Housing programs like the Knoxville Housing Partnership, Habitat for Humanity and Hope VI have led to infill development in the past five years.(3)

Potential areas for redevelopment. Another indicator of under-utilized land are parcels where there are buildings in poor or very poor condition. Over 150 acres of commercial and industrial property have buildings that are in such condition (representing about 9 percent of the commercial and industrial areas). These buildings are concentrated along the North Central Street corridor and the rail corridor from James White Parkway to Cherry Street. Additionally, there are over 300 acres of residential parcels with dwellings that are in poor or very poor condition.

Least Constrained Land
One measure of future development opportunities is the amount of vacant land not constrained by floodplains and steep slopes. There are only 547 acres of unconstrained vacant land in the sector and much of that is on small scattered parcels. There are a few larger tracts, such as those associated with the Central City Business Park and the former site of Brookside Mills, which have significant opportunity for redevelopment and are further discussed under “Special Opportunities.”

Such institutional development as the University’s academic buildings account for almost one quarter of the sector’s land use.

There are dozens of vacant parcels in various neighborhoods, such as this block in Lonsdale, that are potential redevelopment sites.

Total Land in Sector

Total Constrained Land

Total Unconstrained Land

Total Developed Land

Total Vacant Land

Total Developed or Used Land

Constrained Developed or Used Land

Unconstrained Developed or Used Land

Total Vacant Land

Constrained Vacant Land

Unconstrained Vacant Land