Recommendation
Staff recommends approval of Certificate 10-D-26-DT subject to the following conditions.1) Meeting all applicable standards of the Zoning Ordinance.2) Meeting all applicable requirements of the City's Department of Engineering.
Applicant Request
Level I - Board Review: Minor alteration/additionMinor alteration/addition
- UPDATE: This request is for reconsideration of the raised glass guardrail. The board approved a Certificate of Appropriateness (9-A-26-DT) for this project last month, with the condition that the glass guardrail be the same height across the entire balcony by implementing planters or other permanent fixtures, pending approval from both Engineering and Planning staff. For safety reasons, City Engineering is not comfortable approving planters or other permanent fixtures.
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New second-story (mezzanine level) balcony, hung from the underside of the existing canopy. The balcony wraps around the Gay Street and Union Avenue corner of the building, connects to the existing balcony on the Gay Street facade, and extends 120 ft along the Union Avenue facade, terminating over the ground-floor hotel entry. The balcony will be over the sidewalks adjacent to the building, but will remain on the subject property and will not extend over the public sidewalk.
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- ACCESS: One new doorway will be created above the existing Union Avenue hotel entrance by removing the large central windowpane (see Exhibit A) and installing a new full lite door with sidelites. The existing storefront (window) framing and two outer windowpanes will remain. The new door and framing will match the existing storefront color.
- BALCONY: The new balcony will have an 11'-0" sidewalk clearance and will match the existing balcony on the Gay Street elevation in design, material, and color (see Exhibit B). The balcony has a maximum depth of 10'-9" on the Gay Street elevation, and 6'-0" on the Union Avenue elevation. The glass guardrail will be 5'-0" tall and 4'-0" wide when adjacent to a Union Avenue streetlight for safety purposes. Otherwise, the glass guardrail will be 3'-6" tall. Structural hangers will support it on the outside and inside edges of the balcony, aligned with the outside edges of the existing second-story storefront systems.
- EXISTING CANOPY: The underside of the existing canopy will be modified to include a soffit where the structural hangers connect to the canopy and a recessed blue ceiling between the soffits to match the existing on the Gay Street elevation. See Exhibit B and plan sheet A1.3. The existing canopy lighting will be retained.
- LIGHTING: The underside of the new balcony will have round lights along most of its length, and LED tape lights at the Union Avenue ground-floor entrance. The lighting will match that on the existing Gay Street balcony.
- UPDATE: This request is for reconsideration of the raised glass guardrail. The board approved a Certificate of Appropriateness (9-A-26-DT) for this project last month, with the condition that the glass guardrail be the same height across the entire balcony by implementing planters or other permanent fixtures, pending approval from both Engineering and Planning staff. For safety reasons, City Engineering is not comfortable approving planters or other permanent fixtures.
Property Notes / Work to be Completed
- Comments:
- ZONING STANDARDS: The property is zoned DK-H (Downtown Knoxville Historic Subdistrict). This proposal meets all applicable zoning standards.
- PEDESTRIAN AND BICYCLIST SAFETY: The lighting on the underside of the canopy will supplement the streetlights, which the canopy will partially block.
- BUILDING MASS, SCALE, AND FORM: The balcony adds a human-scaled element to the street level, similar to a typical storefront canopy in depth and sidewalk clearance.
- BUILDING MATERIALS: The proposed materials match the existing balcony on the Gay Street elevation.
- ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER: The balcony adds visual and pedestrian interest to the lower portion of the structure.
Applicable Guidelines
Downtown Design Guidelines
See Guidelines- Section 1:
- A. PUBLIC REALM
- The public realm is composed of streets, sidewalks, and public open spaces. Public space is defined by development and supports a diversity of uses. It promotes transit use and pedestrian activity. It can be considered the "outdoor room" created by surrounding buildings.
- 1. Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety
- Consider pedestrians first, then transit, then the automobile in designing and developing downtown places.
- 1a. Prioritize pedestrian safety and comfort through public amenities, such as pedestrian-scale lighting, benches, and trash receptacles.
- B. PRIVATE REALM
- The private realm is composed of the buildings, structures, and private or quasi-public open spaces. The private realm is commonly defined by building envelopes.
- 1. Building Mass, Scale and Form
- Building form should be consistent with the character of downtown as an urban setting and should reinforce the pedestrian activity at the street level. Creating pedestrian-scale buildings, especially at street level, can reduce the perceived mass of buildings. Human-scale design elements are details and shapes that are sized to be proportional to the human body, such as, upper story setbacks, covered entries, and window size and placement.
- 1a. Maintain a pedestrian-scaled environment from block to block.
- 1c. Use building materials, cornice lines, signs, and awnings of a human scale in order to reduce the mass of buildings as experienced at the street level.
- 4. Architectural Character
- Buildings should be visually interesting to invite exploration by pedestrians. A building should express human scale through materials and forms that were seen traditionally. This is important because buildings are experienced at close proximity by the pedestrian.
Meeting Date
October 21, 2026
Embassy Suites
507 S. Gay St. 37902
DK-H (Downtown Knoxville, Historic Subdistrict)
