Beginning today (1/6/25), crews with E. Luke Greene Co. will start the project to demolish the Pryor Brown Garage. The four-story brick structure has been empty for years and the roof is missing.

The city released information to warn downtown residents and visitors that the project will require temporary street and sidewalk closures.

The building is 100 years old, having started as a stable. Problem is, it’s functionally obsolete, structurally unsound, basically ugly and the property owners want to redevelop the site. Government permits have been obtained for the demolition.

Jack Neely wrote an excellent piece in 2016 for the Knoxville History Project. It’s worth a read. Timeline of Knox Heritage efforts to save the building here.

The garage sits on a downtown city block bounded by Gay Street, Cumberland Avenue, Market Street and Church Avenue. Most of the block is now used for surface parking, with the vacant garage fronting on Church Avenue.

To accommodate the demolition, one-way Market Street will be closed between Cumberland Avenue and Church Avenue while work is underway, and the south-side (eastbound) lane on Church Avenue will later be closed.

The east-side sidewalk on Market Street and the south-side sidewalk on Church Avenue beside the garage also will be closed. But sidewalks on the other side of both streets will remain open.

Once the prep work is done, demolition will start. The Church Avenue lane and sidewalk closure are anticipated to begin around Jan. 13.

The city of Knoxville provided information for this report. The opinions are the author’s.