KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Knoxville City Council approved plans to buy a former hospital in North Knoxville and turn it into a new public safety complex Tuesday night.
The $40 million project would turn the St. Mary's Hospital into a public safety complex that would be home to a headquarters for the Knoxville Police Department and the Knoxville Fire Department.
The council approved a budget of more than $2.6 million for McCarty Holsaple McCarty, Inc., an architectural firm. It also approved a contract of about $246,000 with Quantum Environmental & Engineering Services, LLC for environmental and geotechnical consulting.
Plans are approved for the southern part of the nearly 20-acre site to be converted into a new public safety complex.
What would happen to the rest of the site is still in question. The city is negotiating with Lincoln Memorial University to to sell the tower. The school would use it for at least its nursing program, and maybe more.
Changes to the northern part of the site are more uncertain. Right now, the plan is to demolish all but the historic hospital center and redevelop. David Brace, chief operating officer of the city, said redevelopment could potentially bring housing and jobs. He said the next mayor will have to decide what happens.
The council has until December to close. The city will soon be in a 120-day due diligence period, during which it will go in with an environmental team and designers to look for structural and environmental issues.
Once that happens, the work isn't over. Right now, the city's plan includes 11 months of design, a year and a half of construction and two months to move KPD and KFD into the new complex.
The Knoxville Police Department is currently in three locations throughout the city, and the city said that needs to change.
"The fact that all of those folks are not in location makes it very inefficient," Brace said.