In the past, we told you about the City’s plans to help reinfuse life into the historic Burlington Center in East Knoxville through streetscape improvements and the construction of a new firehouse for that area: July 2025. The $19M project has already been funded by the City Council.

So how are things going?

The new $8.7M two-bay firehouse is currently under construction, with a projected completion date of mid-December 2026. Last summer, after design approvals, the site was cleared, and the earth-moving and soil-compacting work was completed in the fall of 2025. The building’s reinforced concrete foundation has recently been completed, and masonry block work and concrete pad pours are now underway, according to Johnson & Galyon, which is overseeing the site. Steel erection will follow once that preparatory work is complete.

The launch of the related $10.3M Streetscapes phase, already under contract, will follow this spring. Context is important here. Recall that the old Burlington Center has been around for over 100 years. Buildings have become tired and rundown. Once thriving businesses closed.

The Streetscape work will require major utility excavation and piping rework by KUB, as well as the associated upgrade of telephone and cable utilities. That also-funded phase of the work will begin this spring, before the road repaving and streetscaping can be implemented. The surface appearance work will include new sidewalks, street lighting, traffic controls, and tree plantings to enhance the Center’s attractiveness. The streetscape rework is scheduled for completion in early March 2027.

Aerial photo of streetscape

Here, as it has elsewhere in the city, it is hoped that public streetscape investment and the new firehouse will encourage renewed business life in the area. New blood and investment are joining the existing Barnes barbershop, which has been in business there since the 1950s, or the nearby Lunch House. The City has previously added a major bus stop on Kirkwood Street in Burlington, and other active businesses in the vicinity include the First Horizon Bank and Buddy’s Barbeque — sound anchors on the western edge of the Burlington business district.

The future?

One can imagine investors deciding to repurpose the old firehouse building into a coffeehouse or firehouse brew pub—potential successors to the once-thriving Ruby’s coffee and breakfast restaurant. Perhaps a local hardware store or clothing shop. Time will tell. Locals eagerly await renewed commercial services for this historic area.

Nick Della Volpe is a lawyer, a gardener, and a former member of the Knoxville City Council.

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