Blog: Safety Complex Updates

Week 100: Public Safety Complex is Two-Thirds Completed!

It's a milestone of sorts - contractor crews have now logged their 100th week of transforming a vacated hospital campus into the City's new Public Safety Complex. They're two-thirds of the way done, with the North Knoxville project's completion expected late this year.

Site-clearing work began in March 2020. Here's what the site looked like a few months into the project, as the obsolete Central Wing and Annunciation Wing at the former St. Mary's Hospital were being razed:

Aerial view, September 2020

And here's what the site off Broadway, next to Fulton High School, looks like now (view from Huron Street):

View from Huron Street, January 2022

It's a work in progress, but it's now much easier to envision the future mix of government offices, college classrooms, private redevelopment and public green space in what had been, two years ago, a massed maze of vacant buildings.

Buildings that once had been needed for a hospital were outdated and unusable after the hospital closed. The City strategically opted to invest at the site to keep it from deteriorating and remaining empty for years - possibly decades - to come.

The City razed the buildings that could not be repurposed and is reconstructing three empty buildings - the former Professional Office Building, Central Wing Annex and Women's Pavilion - to serve as a combined complex for the Police and Fire Departments, Pension System, and City Court and E-911 backup operations. It's a $55.8 million public investment.

One unexpected surprise was the sudden re-emergence of the spectacular 1929 Building, the original St. Mary's Hospital. For decades, the stately marble-accented icon, parapets and all, had been unintentionally hidden from view by the addition of the non-descript hospital wings.

The historic 1929 Building, January 2022

The historic 1929 Building, January 2022

Now, the safeguarded and preserved 1929 Building is free-standing. It will anchor future private redevelopment on the northern end of the former hospital campus, made possible because the City invested an additional $6.5 million to create a blank canvas, clearing the north end of obsolete buildings.

Another huge plus is due to the vision and deep financial commitment of a community partner. Last year, Lincoln Memorial University began offering nursing programs in the Magdalen Clarke Tower. LMU has eventual plans to build out the tower, bring in hundreds of additional students and create a landscaped public quadrangle-type green space.

Click HERE for details.

Concept rendering, courtesy of Lincoln Memorial University and Sparkman and Associates Architects, of what the public green space by the Safety Complex may look like in the near future.

In coming years, the City and County also will be jointly converting the 25,000-square-foot former St. Mary's Ambulatory Surgery Center on the south end of the site into an urgent care and behavioral health facility.

This blog post began by noting the project's 100-week timeline milestone.

Crews this month reached a major construction milestone: The new City Court building is going vertical. Steel columns are now in place.

Steel columns are in place for the new City Court building.

Steel columns are in place for the new City Court building.

City Court construction as of January 2022

Posted by evreeland On 26 January, 2022 at 12:15 PM