Nearly one year ago, the City of Alcoa broke ground on a new downtown.
That site, once occupied by the ALCOA Inc. West Plant, is a 265-acre parcel where Hall Road meets Alcoa Highway. Alcoa Commissioners and the Alcoa Municipal/Regional Planning Commission endorsed the plan unanimously last November, and property is now available for development.
The goal for the project is to create a strong sense of place by increasing the value, identity, health and happiness of the city by connecting it with its surroundings. To do this, the plan prioritizes providing attractive locations for socializing, attracting people and investment, and encouraging economic growth.
The master plan, which received funding from the TPO and was completed by Kiser + Vogrin Design and Volkert Inc., includes:
- 111 Single-family homes,
- 110 townhomes,
- 980 multifamily units,
- 200 senior living units,
- 530 hotel rooms,
- 200,000 square feet of office space, and
- 522,000 square feet of retail space.
Mixed-use development has been prioritized and will be seen throughout the new downtown. 135,000 square feet of the retail space mentioned above will have street level store fronts with multifamily units above.
In addition to the land use recommendations, the plan includes a multimodal connectivity plan for the site. There will be a sidewalk along Tesla Boulevard, the main road through the development, which will double as part of the city’s greenway system. The sidewalk will create a loop around the development that will connect to the existing greenway in Springbrook Park and along Pistol Creek.
The town center will also have 10-foot traffic lanes to allow for automobiles and bicycles. These lanes will be marked with sharrows to signal that bicycles will be sharing lanes with automobiles. These types of plans will be appropriate through the town center because of low speed limits and limited traffic. There are also plans for future bike share locations and trolley stops. While there are no current plans for mass transit, the proximity to McGhee Tyson Airport and to current and planned major corridors could allow the area to become a regional transportation hub in the future.
The Land Use Plan for this parcel is available and shows how the site will be used. You can also visit the City of Alcoa’s website to see the full plan, a road improvements map, and information on the Smart Growth America study that gave residents and planners tools and techniques to implement new development standards that helped bring this plan to life.