TVA-City of Knoxville Downtown Parking Garage

Knoxville, Tennessee

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has issued an environmental assessment (EA) and finding of no significant impact for its joint proposal with the City of Knoxville to construct and operate a parking garage in downtown Knoxville.  The garage would be located on the northern portion of the block bounded by Summer Place, Union Avenue, Walnut Street and Locust Street, as shown below in the figure.  The Liberty Building currently occupies part of this site.  The garage would help meet TVA’s need for additional parking near its Knoxville office complex and the City’s need for more downtown parking spaces to better accommodate the public.  TVA and the City have entered into a conditional Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for this purpose.

Location of proposed parking garage.

The garage would provide additional parking for TVA employees, TVA visitors, and future occupants of TVA’s East Tower office space.  Under the terms of the MOU, the City would purchase the site, remove the existing Liberty Building, and prepare the site to a “shovel ready” state for transfer to TVA.  TVA would fund, design and construct the garage and subsequently be the owner/operator.  TVA would make parking spaces available to the public during evenings, weekends and federal holidays in accordance with the City’s current free nights/weekends parking program.  The garage would be six to seven stories high with 800-1,000 parking spaces.  Where practical, TVA would seek input from and cooperate with the City in developing the design of the Parking Garage, consistent with the City’s Downtown Knoxville Design Guidelines.  The garage design would include charging stations for electric vehicles, light-emitting diode lighting, and bicycle lockers.  TVA would also consider incorporating alternative energy features in the design.

TVA issued a public notice describing the proposed parking garage in July, 2012 and requested comments on the scope of the environmental assessment.  TVA received 42 comments; these were considered during the development of the environmental assessment.

Documents

Finding of No Significant Impact (PDF, 77 kb)

Environmental Assessment (PDF, 822 kb)

Appendix A - Public Scoping Documentation (PDF, 860 kb)
Appendix B - Cultural Resource Correspondence (PDF, 1.7 mb)
Appendix C - Solid and Hazardous Waste Reports (PDF, 2.5 mb)
Appendix D - Air Quality Emission Calculations  (PDF, 925 kb)

Contact

Charles P. Nicholson
Tennessee Valley Authority
400 W. Summit Hill Drive, WT 11D
Knoxville, TN 37902-1499
Phone (865) 632-2101
cpnicholson@tva.gov