At one point, sometime around the mid 1900s, someone was likely getting his or her car radio repaired at 923 N. Central Street.
At this location on a Wednesday afternoon in 2015, seated Indian-style on the floor in the space that will soon be occupied by the Center for Rural Strategies, Shawn Poynter shared his vision for the mixed-use space planned to open on Central Avenue — appropriately named The Central Collective.
Just below the second story floor we were sitting on is the space that will accommodate Poynter’s photography studio and Knoxville’s divine Dale’s Fried Pies, but even more is planned for the space.
“My wife and I had been looking for space for a long time,” Poynter said. “A space to have people do creative things, so people in the community could put on a show, do stand-up, show their artwork, teach cooking or whatever their passion and skills are.”
The couple found the place they were looking for, and as it would turn out, they didn’t have to look too far. Located about a mile away from their home, they fell in love with the potential of what was, at the time, a blighted North Knoxville property.
“We always complained about cool stuff not being here,” Poynter said.
But now, the couple is excited to come onto the scene of what is becoming a noteworthy revitalization of the area. Existing businesses in the area include Magpies Bakery, Holly’s Corner, Hops and Hollers and the Striped Light to name a few.
Poynter and his wife want to play a part in helping to foster community in what is “kind of like [their] neighborhood anyway.”
“Our overarching goal is to bring folks together who wouldn’t necessarily come together organically,” Poynter explained.
They want the space to be a social hub where people can come together, most likely around sociable activities pertaining to food and beverages, but they also want it to be a space where people can learn and just have fun.
For instance, Poynter mentioned potentially having a local herb farmer coming in and talking about cooking with herbs and creating an herb garden.
Another idea being tossed around is to have pop-up dinners or brunches.
“I think North Knoxville is really hurting for brunch,” Poynter said. “It’s definitely a missing ingredient.”
And The Central Collective will lend itself to these types of culinary events, as it will have rentable commercial kitchen space that will also serve as the commissary kitchen for Dale’s Fried Pies.
Dale Mackey, Poynter’s wife and owner of Dale’s Fried Pies, is excited about the opportunities the kitchen will offer her and others. Mackey explained that there are not really any community kitchens in the area. This is a challenge she had to face and one she hopes to help others overcome.
“That was really the absolute number one barrier to entry I had when I started finding kitchen space,” Mackey said.
The kitchen at The Central Collective will be unique in that it will be a community kitchen, not to mention its certifications.
“Most kitchens are certified by the Knox County Health Department … Ours will not only be certified by the health department, but it will also be certified by the Department of Agriculture,” Mackey said.
This certification will allow Mackey and other kitchen users to prepare products to package and sell in stores.
The entire space will also allow Mackey to experiment with her business in other ways. She explained that people seem to naturally assume she will have a storefront, and while this is not the case she does plan to set up her trailer near the edge of Central Avenue and sell her pies.
“Bringing the trailer out front to the edge of the parking lot kind of gives me a chance to experiment with that idea of having a storefront,” Mackey said.
Aside from Mackey’s and Poynter’s ideas, the couple is excited to see what thoughts the community has for the space.
“We’re just kind of weirdoes who want a place to do weird, fun things,” Poynter said. “I’m really excited to see what folks come up with and what sticks to the wall.”
“We hope people will have ideas and come to us and say, ‘Oh, I want to do this with so-and-so, or I’m interested in this,’” Poynter added.
And so far, the feedback the couple has received has been positive. Poynter said people have been really supportive and excited to see what’s to come. And he, for one, is “excited to see this once blighted property become something not blighted, something actually decent looking, something that’s not an eyesore anymore.”
While the couple is optimistic for the future of the space, their optimism is paired with a tinge of uncertainty about what the future will hold.
“Our model is sort of interesting, and we hope that it works,” Mackey said. “We have offices upstairs; that helps a lot. There’s sort of this really magical added part of it, which is that because we have these three businesses supporting space, when we’re not working at those various jobs, we have this really cool space that’s centrally located and it’s just very mixed-use.”
The space will likely open around October, and the couple is eager to come together and share their space with the community.
“It’s kind of like an artistic home for us,” Mackey said. “We are always coming up with wild ideas about things we want to do like pop-up dinners and arts shows and performance events, and to have a space that’s ours where we get to kind of play and have fun.”
Located at 923 N. Central Street, The Central Collective underwent extensive renovations before its opening.
