Our team knows Knoxville a few different ways: as locals, as University of Tennessee alumni, and as property owners right in the middle of downtown. I want to introduce you to the city through that lens, starting with a piece of its history we've recently taken on.
Knoxville sits at about 204,000 people as of this year, with a median age of 33.5 — a young city by most measures. Knox County has posted a net migration gain every single year since 2010, growing at more than twice the national rate. It's not a boomtown story — it's a steady, compounding one, and those tend to hold up better over time.
There's a common assumption that everyone relocating to Tennessee is a retiree chasing the tax break. The data on Knoxville says otherwise. According to the Tennessee State Data Center, only about 10% of people moving to Knox County from out of state are retirement-age. The largest group, by a wide margin, is 18 to 34, including college students, young professionals, and families relocating for work. Gen Z and Millennials together account for roughly two-thirds of the county's net migration gains over the past several years.
Part of that is the University of Tennessee, which anchors a huge share of that younger population. But it's not just students; it’s early-career professionals are showing up at a rate that would have surprised people a decade ago, drawn by a mid-sized city, a real university, and a Southern cost of living, all in one place.
Downtown Knoxville has spent two decades turning old warehouses and department stores into a genuine loft market; Gay Street, Market Square, and the Old City are walkable to restaurants, the riverfront, and Neyland Stadium on a fall Saturday. 2025 added something new to that mix: Covenant Health Park, the ballpark that brought the Knoxville Smokies back downtown after more than two decades playing in Sevier County. It's a nice bit of symmetry for us. Knoxville is also home to the Urban Wilderness, a 1,000-acre network of trails and greenways just a couple of miles south of downtown, drawing hikers and mountain bikers who'd never expect that kind of terrain inside city limits.
Roughly four out of five downtown units are currently rented rather than owned, which tells you two things: demand for downtown living is real, and there's still room for buyers willing to own rather than rent. Metro-wide, the Knoxville condo market sits at a median of roughly $410,000, with condos moving in about five weeks on average.
Not every downtown buyer wants the same thing, and downtown Knoxville's inventory is varied enough to fit several different people:
● The first-time downtown buyer or young professional tends to do best in a smaller loft or one-bedroom near Market Square or Gay Street, walkable to work, restaurants, and everything else, without the maintenance of a larger unit.
● A relocating couple or small family usually wants more square footage, a two-bedroom, two-bath unit with a real kitchen and a place to work from home, still walking distance to downtown life.
● An investor or part-time resident is someone who wants a game-day condo, a downtown getaway, or a rental property, does well with a furnished, short-term-rental-capable unit, particularly in a building near the Old City, Market Square, or the university.
● Buyers who want character over new construction gravitate toward the historic loft stock specifically: exposed brick, original hardwood, high ceilings (the kind of details you can't build new no matter the budget).
This is where it gets personal for us. The Emporium sits on the 100 block of Gay Street, built in 1898 as the home of the Sterchi Brothers Furniture Company, a business that, according to the building's own history, claimed to sell everything a home needed "from a teaspoon to a piano." It later became a wholesale goods distributor, and then a textile facility that sewed for military contracts. After that, it sat empty for roughly two decades.
In 2002, Dewhirst Properties bought the building for $800,000 and turned it into one of downtown Knoxville's first major redevelopment projects — forty residential units and commercial space that became home to the Arts & Culture Alliance. It filled up almost immediately and helped kick-start the broader revival of Gay Street. Twenty years later, in December 2022, the building sold again for $24.75 million. In early 2025, we bought the residential units.
Even the basement has a story worth telling. Back when Gay Street was raised a full level in 1919 to escape the old rail crossing below, the Emporium's sub-basement became the literal coal furnace room that heated the building above. It sat mostly forgotten for decades — storage space, then a rehearsal room for local dance and theater groups — until flooding in 2020 forced a rethink. Today it's being transformed into The Furnace, a $4 million, 200-to-250-seat immersive theater and performance venue backed by the City of Knoxville, Knox County, the State of Tennessee, and the Downtown Knoxville Alliance. When it opens, anyone who owns a unit upstairs will have a working arts venue in their own basement.
We didn't come to Knoxville looking for just any building. We came because we wanted to be part of the same kind of revitalization we've spent years building in downtown Sevierville. The Emporium's history is exactly the kind of project we wanted to be part of.
Units at the Emporium are for sale now for the first time in this building's history with exposed brick, high ceilings, large windows with views over Gay Street, and the ability to short-term rent, which makes a unit here work equally well as a full-time residence, a part-time downtown getaway, or an income property.
For specific unit availability, floorplans, and pricing, reach out to the team for current inventory and tour scheduling.
— Austin Williams, CEO, Compass Ventures
1. Knoxville 2026 population and growth rate: World Population Review, "Knoxville, Tennessee Population 2026" — worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/tennessee/knoxville
2. Knox County migration demographics (largest group ages 18–34; only ~10% retirees; Gen Z/Millennials ~two-thirds of net migration): WIVK-FM, "New Data Shows Knoxville Growth Slowing, Younger Workers Driving Migration Trends," citing the Tennessee State Data Center — wivk.com/2026/07/30/new-data-shows-knoxville-growth-slowing-younger-workers-driving-migration-trends
3. Knox County's net migration gains every year since 2010 and above-average growth rate: Hancen Sale, "Knoxville Is Growing Richer, Less Affordable at the Same Time" — hancensale.com/p/knoxville-is-growing-richer-and-less
4. Knoxville's Urban Wilderness (1,000+ acres, hiking and mountain biking trails minutes from downtown): Appalachian Mountain Bike Club, "Knoxville's Urban Wilderness" — ambcknox.org/trail/urban-wilderness
5. Downtown Knoxville occupancy, rent, and condo market data: "Old City Knoxville Condo Market: Buy Now or Wait?" — bestofknoxville.net/blog/reading-the-old-city-condo-market-against-the-depot-avenue-pipeline
6. Emporium Building history (1898 construction, Sterchi Brothers Furniture Company, later uses) and 2002 Dewhirst Properties redevelopment: Jackson Central Group, "Emporium Lofts" — jacksoncentralgroup.com/emporium
7. Emporium Building's 2022 sale for $24.75 million: Inside of Knoxville, "Emporium Building and Nearby Parking Structure Sold" — insideofknoxville.com/2022/12/emporium-building-and-nearby-parking-structure-sold
8. The Emporium's sub-basement history as the building's original coal furnace room, and The Furnace theater/performance venue project: Inside of Knoxville, "Underground Knoxville Emerges with The Furnace" — insideofknoxville.com/2024/12/underground-knoxville-emerges-with-the-furnace; Downtown Knoxville, "The Furnace" — downtownknoxville.org/guide/220/the-furnace
9. Compass Ventures' 2025 acquisition of the Emporium Building (Austin Williams and Jay Benson): Inside of Knoxville, "Emporium (Mostly) Sold (Again)" — insideofknoxville.com/2025/03/emporium-mostly-sold-again
10. Emporium units for sale and short-term rental capability: Compass Ventures, "The Emporium Condominiums" — compassventures.net/project/the-emporium
11. Covenant Health Park and the Knoxville Smokies' return to downtown Knoxville after more than two decades in Sevier County: MLB.com, "This brand-new Minor League stadium is billed as 'America's Friendliest Ballpark'" — mlb.com/news/baseball-traveler-knoxville-smokies-2025
