In recent years, staff from our Information Services Division have created new online tools to make local demographic, development, and economic information more accessible.

These include our Census Explorer, Panorama, Density Explorer, and Groundbreakers tools – all created and maintained in house to provide information and data to our partners, local officials, and the public.

Looking specifically at Groundbreakers, this tool is updated on a regular basis to reflect changes in the local landscape. Groundbreakers includes a detailed inventory of major building and renovation projects, including those that are currently under construction, proposed for development in the near future, or recently completed. These include commercial, industrial/warehouse, and medical projects, as well as mixed use, retail and residential projects, excluding single family homes.

Knoxville-Knox County Planning collects information for Groundbreakers from several sources: building permits issued by Knox County, the City of Knoxville, and Town of Farragut; development applications approved by the Planning Commission; local news reports; and field review.

The active inventory presented in Groundbreakers includes major developments that have been in the works in the past five years and the inventory is updated regularly as new projects are underway. Throughout the year, our team updates each project listing with a new picture, the current stage the project is in, and any relevant news articles.

For more information about Groundbreakers and other digital tools, visit knoxplanning.org/tools.