Knoxville
Downtown & Old City
Knoxville’s urban core — Market Square, Gay Street, and the Old City — offering condos, lofts and a walkable mix of dining, theaters and events.
What it’s like
A walkable, event-rich urban lifestyle with the greatest concentration of restaurants, venues and festivals in the region.
Highlights
- Market Square & Gay Street
- Condo/loft living
- Walkable arts, dining & events
Getting to know Downtown & Old City
Downtown Knoxville has spent two decades turning historic building stock into one of the Southeast’s most livable small urban cores. Market Square — a public market space since the 1850s — anchors daily life with restaurants, the seasonal farmers’ market and a year-round events calendar, while Gay Street carries the historic Tennessee Theatre and Bijou Theatre marquees.
The Old City, the brick warehouse district at downtown’s north end, adds music venues, coffee roasters and loft conversions; World’s Fair Park and the Sunsphere mark the 1982 World’s Fair grounds on the west edge, next to the University of Tennessee. Living options are condos, lofts and townhomes — many in converted historic buildings — with festivals, First Friday art walks and riverfront events outside the door.
Getting around
Highly walkable core with I-40/I-275 at the edges; UT is a short hop west.
Nearby commercial corridors: Gay Street · Jackson Avenue
Official local sources — Downtown & Old City
Public, official links so you can research the facts yourself — we point at the sources rather than editorializing the data.
- Visit Knoxville — events calendar, attractions and visitor info
- City of Knoxville — Parks & Recreation — city parks, community centers and programs
- Knox County Public Library — branch locations and hours
- KGIS Maps (Knoxville–Knox County GIS) — parcels, zoning, flood layers and aerial maps for any property
Community resources — Downtown & Old City
We publish official, primary sources you can check yourself rather than our opinion of a place. Where we do not have a verified source for Downtown & Old City yet, these cards say so instead of guessing — nothing here is fabricated, and none of it is used to steer anyone anywhere.
Schools
Assigned schools and the state report card, linked to the district and TN sources so you can check any address yourself.
Nothing published yetPublic safety
Official police-department and city open-data crime maps, where the local agency publishes them.
Nothing published yetParks & recreation
City and county parks, greenways and community centers near here.
Nothing published yetLocal calendar
Neighborhood and watch meetings, civic and government meetings, church activities, yard sales and area business events.
Nothing published yetFaith communities
Churches and places of worship here and nearby, and what they run for the community.
Nothing published yetKnow this area? Tell us what belongs here — local knowledge is the point, and we would rather publish yours than our guess. Or ask about Downtown & Old City and a person will answer.
Homes for sale — Downtown & Old City
Live MLS listings are not wired into this page yet. When they are, each one will carry its listing-office attribution, as the MLS rules require.