KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Demolition work is well into a second month at part of the old Tennova hospital site in North Knoxville as the city makes way for a new public safety center.
It's a project with a total estimated cost of $46.5 million.
The city acquired last year the shuttered hospital complex near Fulton High School.
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The city offers regular progress reports on its website. Crews this month have taken down interior walls on the seventh floor of the former hospital office building. Elsewhere, concrete and rebar from the East Wing are being processed, the city says.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic hasn't stopped work at the site and shouldn't impact plans for a police and fire center there.
The project in the Oak Hill neighborhood should offer benefits for the neighborhood, said David Brace, COO and deputy to the mayor.
"We believe the economic impact of initially Police and Fire and others being here is significant and then when that north campus is developed there will be some additional economic impact," he said.
The north tower will be used by Lincoln Memorial University for its nursing school.
Messer Construction is the main contractor. It and its subcontractors are following social distancing guidelines as they go about their work.
Plans call for the Police Department to leave its headquarters on Howard Baker Jr. Avenue and move into revamped space at the hospital site. Fire administrators also will move there, as will city court operations.