Blog: City Blog

Mountain Outfitter, CrossFit Gym Among New Businesses Opening Along Sevier Avenue

This week, owners of two locally-owned businesses - Uncle Lem’s Mountain Outfitters and South Landing CrossFit - talked about their plans to open this fall at 1020 Sevier Ave.

On Wednesday, First Commercial Real Estate announced a project to renovate the 6,000-square-foot vacant building, owned by 1020 Properties LLC.

The project represents a combined $1 million investment by the owners and tenants, as well as about 20 new jobs. The Sevier Avenue location will be the second in Knoxville for Uncle Lem’s and the first here for South Landing CrossFit.

The redevelopment project team specifically wanted to be part of the growing vibe on Sevier Avenue.

"The City’s investment in the South Waterfront is what attracted us to the area," says 1020 Properties partner Danny Kirby. "The City of Knoxville has made a real commitment to enhancing the outdoor amenities in the area, with improved infrastructure, a beautiful new park and new access to the river, which is the heart and soul of Knoxville. It’s just a great place to be now and in the future - and we got lucky and landed the perfect tenants."

Sevier Avenue, Kirby and the business owners agreed, is an ideal location because it's convenient for visitors to South Knoxville’s 1,000-acre Urban Wilderness - and it's less than a quarter-mile from the City's new Suttree Landing Park, opening this fall.

The store and gym also will be convenient to downtown residents and workers - and, obviously, they will be just down the street from the Regal Entertainment Group headquarters and the Riverwalk at the Bridges luxury apartments now under construction at the former Baptist Hospital site. That'll be 1,300 people living and working at a prime waterfront site that's been vacant for eight years.

The City has been strategically investing in infrastructure and amenities along the South Waterfront for years, and that investment has helped to leverage recent private investment.

For example, Suttree Landing Park and Waterfront Drive represent a $6.6 million City investment. Short-term streetscape improvements along Sevier Avenue will total more than $5 million in combined federal and local funding when completed.

And Community Development Department commercial facade grants on Sevier Avenue - totaling $202,000 - have helped rejuvenate the exteriors of buildings housing Alliance Brewery and Three Bears Coffee (in the 1100 block, next door to the 1020 building); Computer Systems Plus (605 Sevier); a new coffee shop, bike shop and apartment building (700 Sevier); and a new restaurant (1147 Sevier). The owners of 1020 Sevier have also applied for a facade grant.

Sevier Avenue welcomes its newest businesses, Uncle Lem's Mountain Outfitters and South Landing CrossFit!

Uncle Lem's and South Landing CrossFit could be open in as little as a month.

Danny Kirby, 1020 Properties partner, explains the renovation project at an open house this week.

Danny Kirby tells guests why Sevier Avenue will soon be one of Knoxville's redevelopment hotspots.

Uncle Lem’s owner Kevin Hill says he's had his eye on Sevier Avenue from the day he moved to South Knoxville about six years ago. His first store is located on Kingston Pike.

"South Knoxville is on its way to being the center of the universe for outdoor sporting and activity," Hill says. "It's an urban wilderness with quick and easy access for the high density of people living and working downtown and near the South Waterfront."

A partner in the new store is Kendrick Smith, a compounding pharmacist. Rebranded as Uncle Lem’s Mercantile and Outdoor, the store will be stocking all-natural products that meet or exceed certified organic standards.

South Landing CrossFit, meanwhile, is a local start-up business owned by Crissy and Shane Glarrow. They moved to South Knoxville specifically to start their business, and they fell in love with the community.

“We want to get people healthy and strong in the gym, so they can take their health and wellness goals outside of the four walls of the gym and do what they are passionate about - whether it is rock climbing, mountain biking, or hiking alongside their grandchildren," Crissy Glarrow says.

Posted by evreeland On 22 September, 2016 at 1:52 PM