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Another huge student apartment tower joins the construction scene near Cumberland Avenue

Keenan Thomas, Knoxville News Sentinel
Updated
2 min read

A new student apartment project is under construction near the ever-changing Cumberland Avenue as the University of Tennessee at Knoxville community evolves to accommodate a rising student population.

VERVE Knoxville by Subtext is expected to wrap up by summer 2026 at 1919 Lake Ave., just south of 20th Street and Cumberland Avenue. It is separate from the massive Core Spaces project under construction along the Strip.

VERVE Knoxville will have 136 apartment units ranging from one to four bedrooms. That's enough to house nearly 500 students.

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The fully furnished apartments would have a variety of amenities, including high-speed internet, washers and dryers. Shared amenities would include a sauna, fitness center, yoga studio, pool terrace and sky lounge.

The building will be 14 stories tall with nine residential floors and 318 parking spaces across five-and-a-half levels of parking. The building is just more than 329,000 square feet.

"We build our projects from the resident up and we think about what their needs are, what their wants are and how do we help them live their best lives," said Brandt Stiles, founding partner of Subtext.

The developer of VERVE Knoxville is already on Cumberland Avenue

Subtext is working with Brinkmann Constructors to build the VERVE tower. Both companies are based in St. Louis.

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VERVE Knoxville is the second Subtext project in Knoxville. In 2018, the company finished TENN, a student housing building at 1830 Cumberland Ave.

A rendering of VERVE Knoxville, a new student apartment building under construction at 1919 Lake Ave. The project is expected to be completed by summer 2026.
A rendering of VERVE Knoxville, a new student apartment building under construction at 1919 Lake Ave. The project is expected to be completed by summer 2026.

"We love the market, and we're actively pursuing other sites," Stiles told Knox News. "We currently don't have anything that is moving forward, but we are actively out there trying to identify other opportunities we feel like the market can support. We'll be able to continue to support more student housing over there in a few years."

FNBO is financing construction of the VERVE tower, and Dynamik Design handled the architecture design.

VERVE Knoxville joins the student housing overhaul

Along Cumberland Avenue, Union Knoxville is the newest student apartment complex accepting leases for this fall. Global real estate firm Greystar developed the 2136 Cumberland Ave. project, which is offering move-ins starting Aug. 15.

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Core Spaces continues to build its own student housing, with plans to finish the first phase of Hub Knoxville by fall 2025. Located along the 1900 block of Cumberland Avenue, Hub Knoxville will feature roughly 600 units across two 10-story buildings and one seven-story building.

In April, Villas Student Housing and Rhode Partners broke ground on two new student housing apartment buildings adjacent to where the proposed pedestrian bridge would land on the South Waterfront. Developers plan to have it finished by summer 2026, with room to house 605 students.

On campus, a historic public-private partnership to build three new dormitories broke ground in March. This UT project could house nearly 3,000 students on campus.

Keenan Thomas is a higher education reporter. Email [email protected]. X, formerly known as Twitter @specialk2real.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: A new University of Tennessee student apartment tower is underway

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