Local Development Activity Shows Mixed Results According to Recent MPC Report

Each year MPC publishes its Development Activity Report, summarizing residential and commercial building permit, zoning, and subdivision figures for the City of Knoxville, Knox County and Town of Farragut. The 2011 edition was recently released, reporting mixed reviews about local development trends.

Residential building activity dropped sharply across Knox County in 2011 as 997 new units were completed, a 43 percent decrease from 2010 results. Detached dwellings claimed the largest share of this year's residential construction with 679 units, while multi-dwellings (apartments) were a distant second, reporting 133 completions. Attached dwellings (101 townhomes and condominiums) and mobile homes (84 units) rounded out the total. Two notable residential projects delivered this year were Raintree Assisted Living Facility (62 units) in the Southwest County Sector and Maple Sunset apartments (48 units) in the North City Sector.

In non-residential development news, construction numbers showed a moderate up-tick in activity for 2011, recording 69 new units comprising $90.4 million in total value, more than doubling 2010 investment figures. Costco Warehouse ($21.5million) in the Southwest County Sector and The University of Tennessee medical offices ($7.8 million) in the South County Sector were two of the larger projects contributing to this year's non-residential investment upswing.

Subdivision activity saw slight gains in 2011 in terms of number of residential approvals (75) and affected acreage (403 acres), but the inventory of new lots created (490 lots) was down from 2010 levels. The average residential subdivision was 5.8 acres in size and comprised of seven lots, each 0.8 acres.

Additional Knox County development trend information from the 2011 Development Activity Reportis available on MPC's website. Historical information on development activity can also be found online.

Posted 5-09-2012, written by Bryan Berry