© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

This week Neighborhood of the Week revisits the western edge of downtown to take another look at a small community with a big history: historic Mechanicsville.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

Not only does old Mechanicsville have a colorful history, it also contains perhaps the largest collection of 19th century architecture in Knoxville. From the Knox Heritage website:

The area of present day Mechanicsville which contains the most intact number of historic structures was developed initially as Deaderick’s Addition, J.W. Swann’s Addition, and Moses Fairview Addition. This area contains the larger Queen Anne and Italianate houses built for factory owners and area businessmen, and the smaller cottages of factory workmen…

Mechanicsville derives its name from the large number of factories that developed just outside its boundaries during the late 18th and early 20th centuries. It was settled around 1880. By 1883, Mechanicsville had a population of over 2,000. Most residents of the Mechanicsville worked in the factories and mills that surrounded the neighborhood. Mechanicsville, with its railroad and water source (Second Creek), quickly became the center for industrial activity in Knoxville…

One of the first industries to locate in Mechanicsville was the Knoxville Iron Company, incorporated in 1868 … The Knoxville Iron Company manufactured bar iron, nails, and railroad spikes, as well as ornamental iron. Ornamental iron fences and trim on houses in Mechanicsville are probably products of the Knoxville Iron Company.

Other industries in Mechanicsville included Knoxville Brewing Company, Knox Standard Handle, W.H. Evans & Son (suppliers of Italian marble), The Pottery and Pipe Works, Knoxville Box & Keg Factory, a railroad turntable factory, a broom factory, a soap factory, Cudley Planning Mill and Knoxville Car & Wheel…

In addition, the Mechanicsville area is home to Knoxville College, founded in 1875.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

Knox Heritage has even more on the history of the area, as well as an online tour. If you’re more
interested in architecture, Restore Knoxville has a great write up on the neighborhood’s many architectural styles.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

The Mechanicsvile area is still very much in transition, and while some of the homes have been restored to their former glory, others are still waiting for urban renewal to come their way.  Since homes are priced according to the level of restoration they’ve undergone,  expect prices to be somewhat disparate.

So, if you’re looking for an emerging area close to downtown and rich in history and architecture, and don’t mind the possibility of some sweat equity, definitely check out historic Mechanicsville.

Note: While there is newer construction near the older part of Mechanicsville, for the purposes of this NOTW I’m only going to be looking at the small area that most people consider to be the “historic” section of Mechanicsville.

Here’s historic Mechanicsville by the numbers -

Mechanicsville*

Current On-Market Listings - 1
Asking Price: $34,500
Details: 1 BR, 1 BA, 700+ sq ft updated Victorian cottage

Current Pending Sales - 1
Asking Price: $259,900
Details: 3 BR, 2 BA, 2500+ sq ft completely restored from 1889)

Closed Sales - 3rd Quarter 2008 - 2
Average Asking Price - $53,200
Average Sales Price - $39,500
Average Square Ft- 1822
Average Days on Market -40

Closed Sales - 3rd Quarter 2007- 0
Average Asking Price - NA
Average Sales Price - NA
Median Sales Price - NA
Average Days on Market - NA

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 12/15/08 does not include condos, PUDS, adjacent neighborhoods or multi-family units.

As always, if you want any more information about any of these properties, or if you’d like to check one of them out in person, just give me a shout.

If you would like to receive a full list of properties for sale in this neighborhood, or if you would like to be notified of new listings, send me an email with either “Current Mechanicsville Listings” or “New Mechanicsville Listings” in the subject line and I’ll take care of the rest. Nobody wants Spam for Christmas.

I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting places to feature on NOTW. If you have a suggestion, I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

This week Neighborhood of the Week heads to the center of the city to explore an area it’s shied away from until now - Downtown Knoxville.

The main reason I’ve not covered downtown condos and lofts until now is that it’s a fairly daunting task. Not only is there a good bit of history and intrigue surrounding all of those building and developments, but there are also just an awful lot of them: roughly 80 active listings on the north side of the river in over 14 different developments. I’ve simply been torn about whether to try and feature them each separately or to just lump them together somehow. That is until tonight.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

Tonight I was in the Sunsphere - for the first time since ‘82 no less - talking to some folks about the general state of the Knoxville real estate market when the conversation turned to downtown and how it’s faring through all of this. Was it doing better than the rest of town? Worse? And how much are all those places selling for anyway? Can anyone actually afford to live there?

And that’s when I thought to myself, “Self, why not just give your friendly AAKT readers a general overview of how the downtown condo scene is doing and then worry about breaking each development down individually later?”

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

So that’s what this week’s NOTW is all about - giving you guys a rough idea of  what’s selling - and what’s not selling - in downtown K-Town. My plan is to go back and cover individual developments in the very near future, so if any of you live somewhere in the downtown area you think is worth featuring here, please give me a shout. I’d love to have some juicy insider info to pass along.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

So without further ado, here’s downtown Knoxville by the numbers -

Downtown Knoxville Condos/Lofts*

Current On-Market Listings -82
Average Asking Price: $347,285
Median Asking Price: $319,950
Average Sq Footage: 1459
Average Asking Price Per Sq Ft: $238

Most Expensive: $1,250,000 (3 BR, 3 BA, 3400+ sq ft Penthouse in The Holston building)
Least Expensive: $163,460 (1 BR, 1 BA, 700+ sq ft in The Commerce Lofts)
Middle of the Road: $320,000 (2 BR, 1 1/2 BA, 1800+ sq ft in The Lerner Lofts)

Current Pending Sales -13*
Average Asking Price: $254,355
Median Asking Price:$308,925
*10 of the currently 13 pending sales are in The Commerce Lofts and many were put into pending over 5 months ago, so I’m not sure what the real status of these is.

Closed Sales - Q3 2007 - 9
Average Asking Price - $273,744
Average Sales Price - $267,656
Average Closed Price Per Sq Ft - $183
Median Sales Price - $208,000
Average Days on Market - 137

Closed Sales - Q3 2008 - 7
Average Asking Price - $315,243
Average Sales Price - $299,436
Average Closed Price Per Sq Ft - $225
Median Sales Price - $234,000
Average Days on Market - 213

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 12/08/08 does not include adjacent neighborhoods or single family residences.

As always, if you want any more information about any of these properties just give me a shout.

If you would like to receive a full list of properties for sale in this neighborhood, or if you would like to be notified of new listings, send me an email with either “Current Downtown Condo Listings” or “New Downtown Condo Listings” in the subject line and I’ll take care of the rest. Save the spammy for your mammy.

Know of a great community that would make an equally great NOTW? Let your voice be heard in the comments.

Special thanks to AAKT’s in-house photographer, Robert Stockdale. Without him, NOTW would be just a bunch of boring text. Find out more about Robert’s work here.

photo credit: pattie74_99

The Weekly Poll is up and ready and rarin’ to go. Go ahead and give it a good left clickin’.

This week’s topic is downtown condos. There are lots of new condos for sale in downtown KTown and lots more being built, but with an average cost of almost $250 per square foot and an average size of just under 1400 sq ft, they may not be affordable or practical for every buyer. So what about you? Would you live in downtown or is it too expensive? Or maybe it’s just not practical? Would it be your dream or your worst nightmare? Cast your vote and let me know.

And while a downtown loft might be a little out of your reach, you can always have the latest news on the Knoxville real estate market right at your fingertips - subscribe to All Around KTown in a feed reader or by email today!

This week Neighborhood of the Week heads just to the western edge of downtown to a small community with a big history: historic Mechanicsville.

Not only does old Mechanicsville have a colorful history, it also contains perhaps the largest collection of 19th century architecture in Knoxville. From the Knox Heritage website:

The area of present day Mechanicsville which contains the most intact number of historic structures was developed initially as Deaderick’s Addition, J.W. Swann’s Addition, and Moses Fairview Addition. This area contains the larger Queen Anne and Italianate houses built for factory owners and area businessmen, and the smaller cottages of factory workmen…

Mechanicsville derives its name from the large number of factories that developed just outside its boundaries during the late 18th and early 20th centuries. It was settled around 1880. By 1883, Mechanicsville had a population of over 2,000. Most residents of the Mechanicsville worked in the factories and mills that surrounded the neighborhood. Mechanicsville, with its railroad and water source (Second Creek), quickly became the center for industrial activity in Knoxville…

One of the first industries to locate in Mechanicsville was the Knoxville Iron Company, incorporated in 1868 … The Knoxville Iron Company manufactured bar iron, nails, and railroad spikes, as well as ornamental iron. Ornamental iron fences and trim on houses in Mechanicsville are probably products of the Knoxville Iron Company.

Other industries in Mechanicsville included Knoxville Brewing Company, Knox Standard Handle, W.H. Evans & Son (suppliers of Italian marble), The Pottery and Pipe Works, Knoxville Box & Keg Factory, a railroad turntable factory, a broom factory, a soap factory, Cudley Planning Mill and Knoxville Car & Wheel…

In addition, the Mechanicsville area is home to Knoxville College, founded in 1875.

Knox Heritage has even more on the history of the area, as well as an online tour. If you’re more
interested in architecture, Restore Knoxville has a great write up on the neighborhood’s many architectural styles.

So, if you’re looking for an area close to downtown and rich in history and architecture, definitely check out historic Mechanicsville.

Note: While there is newer construction near the older part of Mechanicsville, for the purposes of this NOTW I’m only going to be looking at the small area that most people consider to be the “historic” section of Mechanicsville.

Here’s historic Mechanicsville by the numbers -

Mechanicsville*

Current On-Market Listings - 5
Average Asking Price: $99,780
Median Asking Price: $71,600
Most Expensive: $259,900 (3 BR, 2 BA, 2500+ sq ft restored 1889 Victorian)
Least Expensive: $34,500 (1 BR, 1 BA, 700+ sq ft updated Victorian cottage)
Middle of the Road: $79,900 (1 BR, 1 BA, 800+ sq ft 1899 cottage)

Current Pending Sales - 0
Average Asking Price: NA
Median Asking Price: NA

Closed Sales - Jan 2008 - June 30 2008- 1
Average Asking Price - $27,900
Average Sales Price - $24,000
Median Sales Price - NA
Average Days on Market - 36

Closed Sales - Jan 2007 - June 30 2007- 0
Average Asking Price - NA
Average Sales Price - NA
Median Sales Price - NA
Average Days on Market - NA

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 7/21/08 does not include condos, PUDS, adjacent neighborhoods or multi-family units.

As always, if you want any more information about any of these properties, or if you’d like to check one of them out in person, just give me a shout.

If you would like to receive a full list of properties for sale in this neighborhood, or if you would like to be notified of new listings, send me an email with either “Current Mechanicsville Listings” or “New Mechanicsville Listings” in the subject line and I’ll take care of the rest. Spam is not a part of the deal.

I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting places to feature on NOTW. If you have a suggestion, I’d love to hear about it in the comments.