KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — UPDATE (9/29): The roads around the vacant Pryor Brown Garage in downtown Knoxville reopened Wednesday after the city said the owners addressed the immediate structural issues that led to the closures.
The historic structure is believed to be one of the oldest parking garages of its kind in the U.S., standing since the 1920s.
Last week, the city ordered the property owner of the vacant garage to fix unsafe structural issues with the building as soon as possible after a portion of the structure's roof collapsed. A similar situation unfolded in 2015 after an earlier partial roof collapse.
The city said on September 20 someone reported seeing large cracks along the top of the structure, and engineers later found shifting along the north and west walls.
The roads and sidewalks running next to the garage remain closed to traffic due to structural concerns. That included Church Avenue between Market and Gay streets, and Market Street between Cumberland and Church avenues.
On September 29, the city reopened those roads -- saying the owners received a permit for repairs and removed the collapsed portions of roof. The city said the work was inspected, and determined the immediate safety concerns had been resolved.
The city's original order called for the owners to either address the concerns or demolish the garage. Knox Heritage called on the Knoxville community once again to save the historic structure, despite plans continually stalling to restore or renovate it.
"So with the Pryor Brown Garage, you know, it is important really on a national level as one of the early examples of a parking structure, and just the evolution of the city and Mr. Brown's stories, it's a way for people to understand how Knoxville evolved," said Todd Morgan, Knox Heritage executive director.
Knox Heritage first put the nearly century-old parking garage on its Fragile 15 list of endangered places in 2014. It's been a list regular ever since.
