Knoxville-Knox County Commission approves rezoning plan for St. Mary’s Hospital site [Video]

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — St. Mary’s Hospital closed its doors in 2018, and since then it has been mostly unused. It’s also been vandalized.

Knoxville’s Community Development Corporation proposed a plan to redevelop the area in 2019, opening it up for residential development. On Thursday’s planning commission meeting, commissioners voted to approve rezoning the land from institutional use to multi-family residential.

Over the past 5 years, the area has been used to create the new Public Safety Complex, an educational tower for Lincoln Memorial University and a facility operated by the McNabb Center. KCDC has hosted several public comment meetings for residents to voice their concerns and ask questions about the proposed rezoning.

Ben Bently, the head of KCDC said the surrounding community and the nonprofit want to find a way to preserve the historic site while redeveloping it. He said that while KCDC is not in …