At least four new businesses are set to open along Sevier Avenue in South Knoxville in the coming months, adding to the rapidly growing list of business owners taking up shop south of the river.
By early May, Echelon Bicycles, which currently operates out of a location in Farragut, will open another location on Sevier Avenue.
Christopher Morton, who owns Alliance Brewing Company also located on that road, says the biking company will be soon joined by a veterinary clinic, a noodle bar and a clothing store called Uncle Lem’s Mercantile and Outdoor.
It comes after Honeybee Coffee opened in January and City Lights Bar & Grill opened in March along the avenue. In addition, Morton recently launched a mixed-use women’s clothing boutique and yoga studio adjacent to Alliance.
As businesses move in one by one, Morton hopes to make the area a hotspot destination.
He is leading an effort to unite several of the businesses coming into town, and hopes to start coordinating events at the nearby Suttree Landing Park before summer begins.
“If everybody can get on one calendar, you can say, ‘Hey, I’m going to [go to] South Knoxville today, and I'm going to come down and spend four hours,’" he said.
In November, the city opened Suttree Landing Park along the riverfront – Knoxville’s first new park in 12 years. With access to the scenic Tennessee River just down the street from all of the incoming stores, Morton hopes to create an experience similar to that of a beach town.
"They have breweries, boutiques, health clubs, coffee shops, restaurants, outdoor outfitters, bike stores,” he said, “and we have all of that on Sevier Avenue."
By the end of the year, Morton expects a total of at least eight Sevier Avenue businesses to have opened in 2017.