Lakeshore Park opens new facilities, recognizes donors and names overlook for Haslam family.

10/31/2020

Lakeshore Park opens new facilities, announces more park improvements, recognizes donors and names overlook for Haslam family.

The Lakeshore Park Board and Mayor Madeline Rogero opened several new park facilities at Lakeshore Park on Tuesday, Nov. 14 and hosted an appreciation event for park contributors. The announcement was made at 4 p.m. at a new scenic overlook near the Lyons View entrance to the Park at 6410 S. Northshore Drive. The reception was at Marble Hall (the former Lakeshore Mental Health Institute Chapel) which has been renovated as a pavilion for special events.

The Park Board named a new overlook in honor of Jimmy and Dee Haslam and the Haslam family for their leadership and contributions to the park. Jimmy and Dee Haslam have chaired the Lakeshore Park Board for over twenty years and have led the creation and development of the park. The ceremony included unveiling of an 8.5-ton block of cedar marble at the new overlook in honor of the Haslams. The stone is from the Tennessee Marble Company quarry near Friendsville, Tennessee — the same quarry that supplied the marble for Marble Hall in 1958 and for the Marble Pavilion in 2017. The Haslam family, Pilot Flying J and other contributors were honored afterwards at the reception at Marble Hall.

Lakeshore Park is operated as a public-private partnership between the City of Knoxville and the Lakeshore Park non-profit corporation. The City provided the land, demolished the buildings, restored the historic administration building and installed underground utilities. All park improvements have been constructed by the Lakeshore Park non-profit corporation, and the Park board manages the park. The corporation has raised more than $21 million in contributions from businesses, families, foundations and park supporters. The non-profit corporation also raises funds annually for enhanced maintenance of park facilities and landscaping and for day-to-day operations at the park.

“The City of Knoxville is fortunate to have civic leaders like Jimmy and Dee Haslam and generous public minded citizens like the Haslam family and Pilot Flying J,” said Mayor Madeline Rogero. “The City of Knoxville and Lakeshore Park board have worked long and hard to build this park. We are happy to join in the opening of these new facilities and the celebration of the people who made it possible.”

The first new project, the Hank Rappé Accessible Playground, opened in September 2015, and park-wide construction started on November 1, 2016. Among the completed improvements that were opened on November 14 are an additional mile of walking trail; Marble Hall, a semi-enclosed pavilion, and Marble Pavilion, an open pavilion, both of which are open for public use and available by reservation for special events; a picnic area with a picnic shelter between the upper baseball fields and the Tennessee River; new restroom facilities, two additional landscaped parking lots and the new overlook.

The Park Board said more park improvements are currently under construction that will open in March 2018, including an additional mile of trail, (bringing the park trail system to a total of four miles), a riverwalk through a natural marsh and woodlands on the banks of the Tennessee River, a fishing pier, picnic area and water access on Fourth Creek and a two acre Bermuda grass field which can hold special events of up to 1500 people, with adjacent restrooms and temporary parking areas.

Lakeshore Park is the most utilized public green space in Knoxville. The park’s 185 acres welcome hundreds of thousands of visitors each year who use its walking trails, athletic fields, playgrounds, farmers market, event spaces and open green areas and enjoy spectacular views of the Tennessee River and Great Smoky Mountains.

The Lakeshore Park non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation developed the park and raises 100% of the park’s annual budget pursuant to a management agreement with the City of Knoxville. Funds contributed to the Park’s annual fundraising program go toward enhanced maintenance of the park facilities and landscaping and operation of the park. Construction of the additional improvements shown in the park’s long term Master Plan is dependent upon private sector support and contributions from the Knoxville community. The Master Plan includes gardens, a green amphitheater, outdoor basketball courts, a sand volleyball court, and overlooks and terraces, as well as enhancement of the park’s trees, plants and landscaping. The Park Board welcomes contributions toward operating costs and maintenance and for construction of new improvements.

For the complete timeline and list of improvements to Lakeshore Park, see the attachments. For more information, go to lakeshorparkknoxville.org or call 865-801-1000.

Enclosures: Map of New Walking Trail

New Phase 1A Improvements - Opening November 2017

New Phase 1A Improvements - Opening March 2018

Lakeshore Park Timeline

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