downtown knoxville

Virtually every historic building along Knoxville's downtown Gay Street now is occupied, under renovation or has a plan to be soon.

And good luck finding a quick table at a restaurant on a weekend.

Most of the projects that market observers would base the area's growing sense of resurgence on actually are plans still in the making - a new, multiplex theater, renovated retail spaces and more than a half-dozen sites for condominium developments.

Still, downtown's progress in 2005 made the strongest case yet for what it could become.

Downtown Knoxville City ParkDowntown Knoxville is moving closer to becoming a vibrant 24-hour neighborhood as investors pump millions of dollars into new projects in the central business district.

City government and business leaders have talked for years about turning downtown into a place "where people live, work and play."

Residential developments - both new construction and conversions of former office space into luxury condos - have lead the way in transforming downtown, but significant new retail and entertainment establishments have opened or soon will.

Mast General Store, a North Carolina based retailer, opened a store on Gay Street in August. The $2.5 million investment represented the first major retail development downtown since Watson's department store left Market Square in 1998.