Comment on this story 1616 Coker Avenue 3 bdrm/2 bath 1,923 sq. ft. $149,900 Contact: Vic Dyer Coldwell Banker 584-4000

It’s a product of central-city warming

by Matt Edens

It’s a cliché, really, the old saying about a rising tide lifting all boats. That’s certainly true of inner-city redevelopment, the scenario where the “rising tide” analogy is often encountered. An ebbing tide, however, will eventually leave all boats sitting high and dry—as in the slow downward spiral of decay, abandonment and profiteering that slowly robs a city of its population, tax base and the accumulated capital assets that are its housing stock.

The tide’s been going out for more than 50 years now. And, eventually, all that depreciated real estate catches up with us in the form of rising property tax rates (and you county dwellers are not immune either—half the county’s tax base is inside the city limits). So even if you live in Farragut or Powell, a boarded up house on Fifth Avenue or an overgrown lot on Parkview is hurting your bottom line.

Luckily there’s a bit of a sea change going on at the moment. Center-city neighborhoods are back on the real estate market’s radarscope for the first time in a generation or more. From downtown lofts, to Fourth and Gill Victorians, to Island Home bungalows, middle-class homeowners are returning to the city in ever-greater numbers.

It didn’t happen overnight—it was more than 20 years ago when the first “pioneers” turned up in places like Fourth and Gill. And there’s still a long way to go—central Knoxville’s population is a little more than half what it was 50 years ago. But rather than daunting, some folks see that as boundless opportunity.

Take the owner of this house, for instance. It was about nine years ago when he went shopping for a house to fix up. Fourth and Gill was already on its feet by then, and Old North Knoxville not far behind, so he went looking for the next frontier and wound up on Coker Avenue, not far from Belle Morris Elementary. It was a shrewd decision. Tucked between three of the center-city’s strongest real estate markets—Fourth and Gill, North Hills and the Emoriland-Fairmont area—the neighborhood around Coker, Chicago, Nadine and Washington Pike seems prime to capitalize on that success.

You can find some real gems like this 1910 Victorian Cottage, too. Never divided into apartments, when the current owner bought the house, it was surprisingly intact. The woodwork had never been painted and all the original hardware was still in place. And now, after nearly a decade of refinishing and remodeling, the house is a Victorian showplace with a magnificent entry with leaded glass transom and sidelights, refinished oak and pine floors, three fireplaces with original mantels and tile, and a built-in china cabinet in the dining room that is original right down to the drawer pulls. The owner has also added a few flourishes that blend seamlessly with the past—interior shutters, embossed wallpaper and plaster ceiling medallions.

An equal amount of work has gone into landscaping the house’s large double lot. In addition to plenty of mature maple trees and off-street parking, there’s privacy fencing, a roofed and screened hot tub reminiscent of a Japanese garden pagoda, and lots of landscape beds with an herb garden and ornamental shrubs.

So why sell? Well, like a lot of pioneers, the enjoyment is in the effort. With the work here done, the owner now has his eye on a big bungalow just off Magnolia in the Chilhowee neighborhood. The tide, it seems, just keeps rising.

May 20, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 21 © 2004 Metro Pulse