Community Corner

New Interiors For 3 Repurposed Buildings, Footers Poured For New Court Building In Knoxville

Messer Construction personnel are performing slab on grade pour backs, pouring trenches, and excavating and starting footings.

November 18, 2021

Two very different things are happening right now at the former St. Mary's Hospital site in North Knoxville as it transitions toward its next life as the City's Public Safety Complex.

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No. 1, an array of crews have turned their attention in recent months to the painstaking process of building out new interiors in the shells of what had been the hospital's Professional Office Building, Central Wing Annex and Women's Pavilion buildings.

This is a welcome next chapter in the $62.3 million campus makeover, following more than a year of demolition of antiquated buildings, site preparation and debris removal.

Find out what's happening in Knoxvillefor free with the latest updates from Patch.

No. 2, a new City Court building will soon rise on the interior of the site, adjacent to the Central Wing Annex and near the Magdalen Clarke Tower.

Footers have been poured. Look for framing to go vertical in the coming weeks.

The City is investing $55.8 million to reconstruct the three former hospital buildings into new work spaces for the Knoxville Police Department, Fire Department and Pension System, plus construction of a new City Court building. Another $6.5 million has been allocated to raze the obsolete, long-vacant buildings on the north end of the site, preparing the tract as a "blank canvas," ready for reuse as part of a future private redevelopment.

Currently, Confidence Construction crews have started one-siding dry-wall and insulating the 7th floor of the Professional Office Building, and they are finishing up the same work on the 8th floor. KPD will be moving into the Professional Office Building when it's completed next year.

Del-Air Mechanical is roughing in the duct work and installing drains on the top floor, while installing copper pipe on other floors. The 6th floor plumbing has passed inspection. Variable Air Volume (VAV) HVAC parts are being installed by Del-Air on the 8th floor as well.

Service One Electrical is installing conduit and hangers in the top floor of the Professional Office Building, pulling wire on the 6th floor and roughing in walls on the 5th floor.

Seventh-floor framing by Messer Construction and Confidence passed inspection.

Meanwhile, in the Central Wing Annex, which will house KPD and Pension System staff, Confidence Construction is framing the LL2 floor. Interstate Mechanical crews are installing ductwork, overhead plumbing and in-wall plumbing on LL2, as well as chilled water piping, copper pipes, sanitary pipes and hangers for ductwork on LL3.

Messer Construction personnel are performing slab on grade pour backs, pouring trenches, and excavating and starting footings.

RoofChoice crews completed coping on the main Central Wing Annex roof.

Over at the Women's Pavilion, which will house Fire Department administration operations, Del-Air crews continue to lay out mechanical and plumbing systems throughout the building.


This press release was produced by the City of Knoxville - Blog. The views expressed here are the author’s own.

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