Blog: Safety Complex Updates

Coming Soon: Peaceful Green Space at Center of Public Safety Complex

For the past year, the images you've seen from the Public Safety Complex reconstruction site in North Knoxville have mostly been of demolition - obsolete St. Mary's Hospital buildings coming down, or concrete walls being poured, or rubble piles being removed.

The sudden re-emergence of the spectacular 1929 Building - no longer obscured by non-descript medical wings that for decades had blocked it from view - was a pleasant surprise.

But to help imagine the green oasis that soon will be, take a look at these Lincoln Memorial University concept renderings by Sparkman and Associates Architects:

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.

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.

LMU this semester began offering nursing programs in the Magdalen Clarke Tower (the tallest building on the site, at the top center of these renderings), after renovating the first two floors of the tower and the parking garage.

That's just a start: LMU is proposing a new west-facing entrance into Clarke Tower, connecting with a public quadrangle-type green space.

Here is how Pete DeBusk, Chairman of the LMU Board of Trustees, describes the concept for the quad:

“Lincoln Memorial University wanted to bring an appropriate collegiate look to the site," he said. "Drawing inspiration from Thomas Jefferson, specifically the Lawn and Rotunda he designed at the University of Virginia, this proposed new façade and west-facing entrance includes a long and lush lawn leading up to grand entrance to the LMU Tower.

"LMU is investing a fortune to repurpose this building, which has great bones, but it would be a mistake not to realize its full potential. Not only will these plans give the facility an elegant look, it will provide a beautiful community space.

"The hundreds of LMU students who will attend the LMU Tower will help revitalize this historic area of the city.”

These renderings above offer the view looking eastward.

To the left is the historic 1929 Building, the original St. Mary's, with its parapets and marble accents. Many see it as an example of the Colonial Revival architecture style, popular throughout the country at the time of the hospital's construction.

The 92-year-old icon is being carefully preserved, and it will anchor future private redevelopment on the northern end of the vacated hospital site. The City invested $6.5 million just to clear the tract of a maze of unneeded buildings and create a blank canvas conducive to future reinvestment.

To the right in the overhead view rendering is the City's Public Safety Complex, which will house Police, Fire, City Court, E-911 and Pension System offices and operations.

The squarish low building closest to Clarke Tower is new construction, the space for City Court.

Beside and behind it are the former Professional Office Building, Central Wing Annex and Women's Pavilion, plus a 700-space parking garage. These are all being repurposed into City offices and a backup E-911 operations center.

No timeline has been announced for the new Magdalen Clarke entrance and quad, but the Public Safety Complex is scheduled to open in summer 2022, and the site will be at least preliminarily landscaped by then.

Posted by evreeland On 02 March, 2021 at 3:51 PM