FUTure of the Strip
It's not what it used to be. But could it be better than ever?
The Strip could have a new lease on life.
In the last issue, Torchbearer reported that the face of the Cumberland Avenue Strip—the retail corridor near the UT campus—was changing quickly as businesses come and go. The stores and restaurants generations of students knew and loved are mostly history. The Strip is buffeted by issues including a parking shortage, a less-than-attractive appearance, and a highly mobile student body that drives to other parts of town for dining and shopping.
But all that may change. The city of Knoxville received a grant and has hired a consultant to improve traffic flow and make Cumberland Avenue an attractive destination. UT is keenly interested in the proposed improvements, according to Chancellor Loren Crabtree.
“We can create something really new and fresh here,” Crabtree said at a public forum. “We can create a real front door to the university.”
As the university attracts more of the best and brightest students, its surroundings need to become more upscale, Jan Simek, chief of staff to the chancellor, says.
“Cumberland Avenue is the gateway to UT and downtown Knoxville. The university needs and wants to be part of improving this corridor.” UT hosted design “charrettes” where members of the community shared their ideas about what the Strip needs.
Glatting Jackson of Orlando, Florida, and Kennedy, Coulter, Rushing & Watson LLC of Chattanooga are consulting on the project. They are looking at the length of Cumberland Avenue from Alcoa Highway to Henley Street, not just the Strip through campus. The work is managed by Knoxville’s Regional Transportation Planning Organization with a $270,000 grant from the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
The two consulting firms are also collaborating on revitalizing the South Knoxville waterfront. Stroud Watson, a principal in Kennedy, Coulter, Rushing & Watson, knows the Strip well as a former UT architecture professor.
“With the wonderful redevelopment that’s taken place in downtown Knoxville on Market Square and the World’s Fair Park, reinventing Cumberland Avenue is the next logical step,” Simek said. He emphasized that safety of students, employees, and visitors is the university’s number one concern. He laments that the Strip is thought of as a “place to party before football games” rather than an area with interesting and attractive bookstores and coffee shops that draw people from throughout the city.
The university’s Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy, under construction on the southeast corner of Cumberland and 17th Street, will complement the Strip facelift.
Some improvements discussed so far are wider sidewalks, underground utilities, turn lanes, landscaping, and more residential development. Glatting Jackson is expected to present its concept in March.