By J.J. KINDRED
J.Kindred@theknoxvillejournal.com
Knoxville’s downtown residents will soon not have to drive several miles to go shopping or get some basic necessities.
That’s because an announcement was made that plans were underway for University Commons, reported to be the city’s first urban, vertical retail complex, built over covered parking and featuring new locations of the Publix grocery store chain and Wal-Mart, among other retail outlets.
Officials hope that the two-story structure will revive the look and feel of a turn of the century factory, adapted for an urban shopping and dining experience for visitors.
University Commons will cover more than 12 acres, with 211,000 square feet of retail space and parking.
The new complex will be built at the former Fulton Bellows site, between Volunteer Boulevard and Alcoa Highway, adjacent to the University of Tennessee.
This project will fill a grocery and retail void in the downtown area, including providing grocery/supermarket services in a federally designated “food desert,” officials said.
A “food desert” is considered a low-income census tract (LICT) where a substantial number of residents have low access to a supermarket or large grocery store.
The principal partners in this project are also involved with the Northshore Town Center project.
“We knew there was a hole in the market, and this was the general area where (Publix and Wal-Mart) wanted to be,” said Mike McGuffin, a partner with CHM, LLC, the Knoxville-based developer of the project.
“We submitted a bid, and the initial conversation started with Publix and it later evolved what was going on. Wal-Mart came to the table and it was a hole in the market for them as well. They both have stores around universities that perform very well for them, so they both became immediately attracted to the project.
“They had conversations that allowed them to cohabitate in the same shopping center,” McGuffin continued. “Wal-Mart agreed to reduce to a smaller size and be a general merchandising store, and limit the number of grocery items that they will sell. It’s just the enthusiasm on both parts and being willing to work together on good terms to be able to cohabitate there.”
The project will have an approximate economic impact of $226 million on the Knoxville community and create more than 1,700 jobs.
With the current property classified as a brownfield site, officials said the development of University Commons will return a non-productive real estate asset to productive use, while anchoring several other major public and private development efforts in the area.
There are many hurdles involved in redeveloping this site, including securing the funding necessary to successfully complete the project.
“Because the current site is a brownfield, we will acquire some substantial expenses required to properly clean up the site, along with construction costs necessary to build this unique, vertical complex,” said Jim Harrison, another partner with CHM, LLC. “We will be seeking funding for the project through real estate and sales tax TIFs and through the New Markets Tax Credit Program.”
“An urban location creates challenges with traffic and connections and those sorts of things,” added McGuffin.
Once the land is purchased, officials hope to begin construction during the summer, with completion scheduled for the summer of 2014.
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