The Hyatt Place is an excellent choice for a visit to Knoxville’s “Theatre District” – it’s next door to the Tennessee Theatre, in the same block as the Regal Riviera movie theaters and three blocks north of the Bijou Theatre. Plus lots of options for places to eat on Gay Street and a block away on Market Square.
From Hotel to Office Space to Hotel
The Hyatt Place Knoxville Downtown is at the corner of Gay Street and Clinch Avenue, near the center of the action in downtown Knoxville. This historic building began life as the Farragut Hotel in 1919. By the 1970’s someone decide it would be more useful as office space so it received some modifications that, unfortunately, included the loss of the classic 1919 facade of the building.
With the increase in downtown activity in the 21st century, it was time to re-convert the building into a Hyatt Place. This required a thorough gutting of the place to bring it all up to modern Hyatt standards. It also included recreating the look of the historic entrance on Gay Street. The result is a modern downtown hotel with 165 guest rooms, a fitness center, two boardrooms and two larger meeting rooms that can accommodate up to 40 or 115 attendees.
The lobby bar known as The Placery serves what we’d classify as “small fare”: salads, burgers, sandwiches and the like. While the lobby bar is nice enough, the views are significantly more memorable up on the roof at the 530 Lounge. The rooftop lounge has both indoor and outdoor seating space, separated by 15-foot tall glass walls. From 10 floors above the city streets you can see a long way into the Smoky Mountains when the weather cooperates.
Hyatt Place Nearby Places
In addition to the Tennessee Theatre, the Bijou and the Regal Riviera, you’ll find the neighborhood around the Hyatt Place is a great starting point for exploring downtown on foot. Make a right turn coming out of the hotel’s Gay Street entrance and you’re faced with a half-mile stretch of downtown that contains at least eight restaurants, two ice cream parlors, a bowling alley/bar, a couple of art galleries, several condominiums, a general store, a visitor center and the Cradle of Country Music Park. (We can’t guarantee you won’t also find a partridge in a pear tree.)
The entrance to Krutch Park is across the street from the hotel, its tree-lined paths and outdoor sculptures make it the civilized way to get to the restaurants and shops of Market Square.
Within Walking Distance
Beyond the attractions of Gay Street and Market Square, there’s lots more of Knoxville within reasonable walking distance from the hotel:
- Knoxville Civic Auditorium and Coliseum (0.4 miles, approximately 10 minutes)
- Covenant Health Park (home of minor league baseball and soccer, 0.7 miles, 17 minutes)
- Knoxville Convention Center and the Sunsphere (0.5 miles, 12 minutes)
- University of Tennessee (0.6 miles, more or less)
- Neyland Stadium (home of the Tennessee football team, 1.2 miles)
