The City of Knoxville is officially cutting the ribbon on the new Public Safety Complex in North Knoxville October 25, 2023 at 4 p.m. at 1650 Huron Street.
The ceremony will include Mayor Indya Kincannon, Chief Paul Noel, and Chief Stan Sharp, the Knoxville Fire Department Honor Guard, and the Fulton High School Band.
Members of the community are invited to take part in the ceremonial ribbon-cutting, explore first responder vehicles, and take guided tours of sections of the new facility. In addition, those in attendance will learn more about possible redevelopment on other sections of the former St. Mary’s campus.
While KPD, KFD, the E911 backup system, Pension System offices and City Court operations moved into this new location over several months earlier this year, there is still some ongoing construction.
The City of ensures meaningful access to City programs, services and activities to comply with Civil Rights Title VI and ADA Title II laws and reasonably provides: translation, interpretation, modifications, accommodations, alternative formats, auxiliary aids and services. To request language translation services, contact the City’s Human Resources Department at TitleVI@KnoxvilleTN.gov or 865-215-3100. For disability accommodations, contact City ADA Coordinator Stephanie Brewer Cook at SCook@KnoxvilleTN.gov or 865-215-2034.
The three-year reconstruction project to transform a vacated North Knoxville hospital into the City’s Public Safety Complex will be substantially completed by the end of 2022/early 2023, with employees and operations moving in incrementally.
The Public Safety Complex consists of three repurposed former St. Mary’s Hospital office buildings between St. Mary Street and Huron Street, near Woodland Avenue, just west of Fulton High School.
The cluster of buildings will serve as a combined complex for the Police and Fire Departments, the E911 backup system, Pension System offices and City Court operations.
Additionally, the City cleared the northern end of the former hospital campus to make room for future private redevelopment – likely, new housing and green space. The private redevelopment will be anchored by the stalwart, stately and iconic 1929 Building, the original St. Mary’s Hospital, which was carefully preserved and safeguarded by the City and its contractors. By clearing the site of obsolete, unusable buildings that had for decades surrounded the 1929 Building, this marble-accented architectural gem is now free-standing and visible from all directions.
Next door, at the former Magdalen Clarke Tower, Lincoln Memorial University is privately investing $40 million and will graduate hundreds of nursing and dental students each year. A tree-lined LMU-funded quadrangle is planned, adjacent to the new City Court.
On the south side of the site, the City, Knox County and McNabb Center are partnering to convert the 25,000-square-foot former St. Mary’s Ambulatory Surgery Center into an urgent care and behavioral health facility.
By the time the Public Safety Complex opens, the City will have invested more than $70 million to consolidate key government services, prevented a vacant hospital campus from devolving into blight, and supported and enhanced with various private partners the surrounding North Knoxville neighborhoods.
Mayor Madeline Rogero announced initial plans for the Public Safety Complex in her April 27, 2018 State of the City budget address https://www.knoxvilletn.gov/cms/One.aspx?portalId=109562&pageId=11968409
