Background Report

Existing Land Use
The North City sector is composed primarily of single family residential.
Map 4: Existing Land Use

Residential Trends
The majority of the new residential units have been built in the northeast section of the sector along Tazewell Pike in the form of medium-sized subdivisions (21 to 70 units). There has also been significant growth in the Jim Sterchi Road-Dry Gap Road area. Many condominiums have also been built within the sector over the past five years.

Condo development consistent with surrounding low density residential.

Office Trends
Most of the office space is spread out along North Broadway, with the exception of two large complexes at Beverly Road and Knoxville Center Mall. The sector contains only 3 percent of the total office space within the city limits. Its vacancy rate of 10.5 percent is one of the higher rates in Knoxville partially because 15 percent of this sector’s office building stock is composed of buildings 26 to 50 years old. As of 2005, these older buildings have a 27.4 percent vacancy rate. The overall vacancy rate in the sector has actually improved considerably since 2004 because of the renovation of the 246,725-square-foot Callahan Office/Warehouse Building III that allowed it to be almost fully leased by 2005.

Commercial Trends
Three main areas contain the majority of the commercial space in the sector. North Broadway and to a lesser degree Central Avenue are commercial corridors, while the Knoxville Center Mall is a large node of commercial space. The Knoxville Center Mall contains 1,151,393 square feet and makes up 66 percent of the shopping center space within the North City. This sector has the second largest total square feet of shopping center space among the city sectors. Its vacancy rate is 7.7 percent, which is the same as the city’s total vacancy rate.

Industrial Trends
There are two main concentrations of industrial and warehousing/distribution uses within the sector. One is located by the railroad tracks along McCampbell Drive and the other is between Dutch Valley Drive and Interstate 640. Only 34 buildings are classified industrial in this sector, and their uses vary. The older industrial area near Beverly Road contains mostly metal production and some corrugated box manufacturing. The area near Dutch Valley Road contains light industrial uses such as warehouses, food distributors, wholesalers, and contractors. There is also a pocket of industrial uses near Inskip Elementary.

The industrial buildings’ 5.8 percent vacancy rate is much lower than the surrounding Central and East City Sector’s vacancy rates for industry, which are 23 percent and 31 percent respectively, reflecting the fact that industrial buildings along I-640 are fairly new.