Knoxville relied on Emerald Youth appraisal to set Chilhowee Park sale price

Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon wants to sell 12.7 acres of Chilhowee Park to the Emerald Youth Foundation.
Though city leaders secured protections in the final deal with the nonprofit, Emerald Youth drove the process.
The mayor’s office held no public input sessions on the proposed sale, unlike the process for most major public projects.

Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon’s office relied on an appraisal commissioned by the Emerald Youth Foundation during negotiations to sell a 12.7 acre parcel of city-owned park land to the nonprofit for nearly $1 million, Knox News has learned.

Emerald Youth commissioned a third-party firm to conduct the appraisal, according to documents obtained by Knox News. Emerald Youth plans to build a $20-$30 million wellness, education and recreation facility on the land, and would be contractually required to operate it for 20 years.

Knoxville Chief Financial Officer Boyce Evans told neighbors and the Knoxville City Council on Aug. 19 the city had a professional appraisal done to determine an asking price for the Chilhowee Park land. No one from the mayor’s office corrected him.

David Brace, Kincannon’s chief of staff, was unable to answer a question from Knox News about whether the city had ever relied on an appraisal from the buyer when selling property, saying he has worked for the city for decades and would have to review all past sales.

“Emerald proposed a sale,” Brace told Knox News in an email Aug. 22. “We asked for their appraisal and their proposed purchase price. They provided it.”

The unusual reliance on the buyer’s appraisal is another example of the mayor’s office ceding control of the process to Emerald Youth Foundation: The city held no public meetings to solicit input on the proposed $913,518 sale, sparking resistance from neighbors and opponents of the deal who say there was no meaningful outreach on a plan to turn over a parcel with deep connections to the city’s history.

Neighbors and city councilmembers have expressed frustration over the lack of information and engagement from city officials over the past three years even as the mayor’s office was working side-by-side with Emerald Youth to make its vision a reality.

The council itself learned a vote to approve the sale was scheduled Aug. 19 only from a Knox News exclusive report published Aug. 13.

The council uanimously voted to delay the vote at the Aug. 19 meeting after it was clear there was significant opposition to the sale, including from Tennessee Valley Fair leaders who said they were blindsided by the plan that would remove a significant parcel of land from the grounds used for the fair.

“There’s so much potential here,” East Knoxville resident Maggie Longmire told Knox News on Aug. 22. “If it’s East Knoxville’s time, just give us a New York minute to figure it out.”

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Councilmember Gwen McKenzie is hosting a last-ditch effort to solicit input from neighbors at 6 p.m. Aug. 25 at Los Portales Event Center, 4505 Asheville Highway.

City officials on multiple occasions have referred to the chunk of land the city is selling as a parking lot, though the majority of the land is greenspace dotted with mature trees.

Emerald Youth’s planned sports and recreation complex was first proposed in 2022. Leaders of the nonprofit approached the city with their plans, and the city worked closely to meet the Christian faith-based nonprofit’s needs.

Emerald Youth conducted its own public engagement without the city leading its own, a deviation from the city’s usual lengthy engagement process on major public projects.

Then, Knoxville crafted the request for proposal – an invitation to prospective partners – with Emerald Youth’s vision in mind. It mentions the committee created by the nonprofit to conduct public input by name.

And though the city preferred to lease the land, according to the request for proposal obtained by Knox News, leaders pivoted to selling it because Emerald Youth’s donors wanted to buy it.

“They came to us and said, ‘Our donors want to own the property,'” David Brace, Kincannon’s chief of staff, said Aug. 19. “They want to make sure they own it and they have really good control of it, except for what’s in the development agreement.”

Also, Knox News learned, the city allowed Emerald Youth to lead the appraisal process to determine how much the land is worth.

The city’s procurement manual does not include instructions about appraising land for a request for proposal. The only mention of an appraisal in the handbook is for surplus land sales, which is a different process altogether.

The policy for surplus sales directs the city to have the property appraised, not the bidder. The buyer must cover the cost, but that’s different from Emerald Youth enlisting its own appraiser. The city is empowered to choose and arrange the appraisal in a surplus sale deal.

Knoxville Law Director Charles Swanson told Knox News on Aug. 25 the city used the request for proposal process instead of the surplus process because the surplus process directs land to go to the highest bidder. The request for proposal process, Swanson said, allows the city to be more thoughtful.

“It is a process that says, ‘This property is very important to us, it’s very important to this city, it’s important this property be utilized to have the kind of city that we want to have,'” Swanson said.

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Kincannon urged city council to approve broader eastside redevelopment plan

The city council, at Kincannon’s suggestion, approved May 28 a redevelopment district designation for the Magnolia Avenue corridor and Burlington neighborhood. Redevelopment districts reserve tax dollars generated in the zone for infrastructure projects within its boundaries.

“First and foremost, this plan sets the opportunity to engage with private investors to collaborate with the city to bring layers into the project that wouldn’t be possible without financing opportunities,” Rebekah Jane Justice, Knoxville’s head of urban design and development, said May 28.

The city at that point was already looking at sites near Chilhowee Park, but was vague about what its plans meant for the Tennessee Valley Fair. Brace told Knox News in a statement at the time the city asked the fair to stay at Chilhowee Park “if the fair believes this is the best location.”

“The city believes new neighborhood-focused investments within Chilhowee Park are critical to this park’s transformation into a public space that serves families and visitors 365 days a year,” Brace said.

How Knoxville officials valued Chilhowee Park land

City officials didn’t have all the land Emerald Youth would need for the complex back when the request for proposal was issued in May 2024.

There was a parcel of 1.58 acres of land in the middle of the 12.7 acre chunk the city is selling now that belonged to the Tennessee Valley Fair until the city bought it for $115,000 in December 2024.

“At present, the City does not own the parcel,” a response to a question submitted to the request for proposal obtained by Knox News says. “The City anticipates owning the property in the future and all proposals should assume that parcel in question is part of the overall project site and propose accordingly.”

The city did an appraisal on the parcel it planned to buy from the fair in May 2024, and used that valuation to determine the value of the 12.7 acre plot.

The appraisal conducted by Mari Carlson, MAI for Emerald Youth determined the property was worth $850,000. Emerald Youth in their response to the city’s request for proposal suggested a price of $600,000, or 75% below fair market value.

Here’s how the city and Emerald Youth got to $913,518, according to records obtained by Knox News:

Knoxville assessed the 1.58 acres in the middle of the 12.7 acre plot at $71,874 per acre, totaling $113,560.92
Emerald Youth’s $850,000 evaluation only includes 11.3 acres of park land. It leaves out about an acre and a half of land to the northeast on Alice Street.
Knoxville real estate manager Christopher Ruberg applied the same $71,874 per acre valuation from the fair sale to the 11.3 acres of land Emerald Youth appraised and the 1.4 acres of land the city added into the deal.
$71,874 x 12.7 = $912,799.80, or within $1,000 of the final proposal.

The deal city officials struck with Emerald Youth, which includes the nonprofit’s $20-$30 million commitment to build the complex, also has protections for the city’s interest in the land:

Emerald Youth must operate the complex for 20 years
If Emerald Youth planned to sell the complex or went bankrupt, it must offer it to the city first (This was part of the city’s original request for proposals — Emerald Youth leaders knew the nonprofit would be subject to this when proposing a sale)
About $480,000 of the purchase price will be used to construct infill housing within 1.5 miles of the park.

Allie Feinberg is the politics reporter for Knox News. Email: [email protected]; Reddit: u/KnoxNewsAllie

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