KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The City of Knoxville is moving along on its plans to build the new police and fire headquarters at the old St. Mary's hospital with hopes to start moving in by the end of 2021, according to the city's chief operating officer, David Brace.
Mayor Madeline Rogero was briefed Tuesday on where designs and development stands in the project and was told designers are about 95% through programming.
The team has spent the last few months working with the Knoxville Police Department, Knoxville Fire Department, the pension office and courts for designers to understand their needs.
Brace said they're hoping to have the programming wrapped up toward the end of August, and by the end of September they hope to have the environment survey completed.
At this point, the city is moving toward a November or December closing date on the property, with construction scheduled to begin around May 2020. The city hopes to have the departments move in around December 2021.
"We're excited about where we're at, and I think the mayor's team has a good understanding of the project," Brace said.
The city voted back in May to purchase much of the former site of St. Mary's Hospital in North Knoxville to make way for the new public safety complex after Tennova's Physicians Regional Medical Center closed in Dec. 2018.
City Council voted in July to move forward with construction at the 19.5-acre vacant site.
The city's proposal splits the site in two. The new safety complex will occupy the southern half of the site from Emerald Avenue to Woodland Avenue. The city plans to demolish large swaths of the northern part of the property with the goal of creating a master redevelopment plan for that part of the site.
Crews will renovate three buildings. According to Brace, one building has asbestos in it, but the city knew that when it announced it wanted to acquire the old hospital.
"The older hospital facilities actually have less asbestos than anticipated, so much of it had been mitigated by the owners," Brace said.
As far as construction goes, the city maintained that it's not repurposing the hospital. Brace said the hospital was being torn down except for the original 1929 hospital, which will be preserved.
Brace anticipated the northern campus would be master-planned and redeveloped for uses that are market-driven. They'll renovate three of the newest buildings and the old, inefficient buildings will be mitigated and demolished.
The south campus, which includes renovation, some demolition, and a little new construction, will be where KPD, KFD, city court and pension will be.
Work on that campus will cost an estimated $40 million, and the north campus is expected to cost $6.5 million.
The northern campus includes preserving the 1929 hospital and some redevelopment.
The project's total estimated cost is $46.5 million.
The city hopes having all the departments in one building will fix inefficiencies within the city.
"Bringing those units together for a modern facility, modern training facility, for recruiting and training for officers and firefighters makes a lot of sense," he said.
He also mentioned the city hoped to improve lighting and amenities as well as add workout rooms, rooms for media advisories, and community meeting rooms.
Brace said the project has already attracted outside organizations like Lincoln Memorial University.
LMU wants to use part of the building to retain its nursing program on the site and expand its educational footprint, he said.
Since the site is so close to Fulton High School, Brace said the principal has also expressed interested in creating career tech tracks with police and fire programs at the new headquarters.
"I think this is exciting for the old Lincoln Park neighborhood or really for the Broadway corridor and Central," Brace said.
He said there's a lot of great energy up those corridors.
"Trying to bring investment in a location where there was some disinvestment was one of Mayor Rogero's key principals in this project," Brace said. "As the hospital closed, bringing investment in that then spurs private investment is really what a public-private partnership is all about."
Brace also said they'll still need to study what could go into 1929 original hospital that's being preserved.