If I had a Hammer . . .

What if you had one of these bad boys? This is a guy who got to grow up and fulfill every fantasy young children ever dreamed about while moving mud in the yard with their Tonka trucks. This picture is of the destruction of the sidewalk in front of the Daylight building. It was replaced the next day. Apparently, they are doing it a section at a time - just teasing us.

Here's another piece of the current state of construction. This is the building at 37 Market Square. They have bricks on the site and are finally not afraid to use them. They were originally planning to brick about a month ago.

Jack Neely wrote this week about the inscription on the facade at 37. Maybe you can make it out in this picture. Read the article to see his supposition regarding its genesis.

Meanwhile, across the square at 36 Market Square, they've done a bit of brick work, as well, but they are letting the 37 guys catch up. Josh Flory on his Property Scope blog posted a drawing of the projected look of that building. Just as I had mentioned in an earlier blog, he noted that this probably spells the end of the graffiti wall. Is there a new place it could be moved to? Any nominations?

Finally, around the corner on Gay Street there is an exciting development. I've mentioned Morelock Music opened this spring at 411 South Gay Street. Downtown Wine & Spirits is located in 407, leaving a gap in 409. The same contractor who did most of the work in 411 is now fast at work on 409. The space is owned by David Ewan who also owns Downtown Wine. Originally mentioned as a contestant in the I'm-going-to-build-a-grocery-store-first wars, the new business will include gourmet cheese - BUT - that isn't the biggest portion of the business, or the biggest news. The decision was made in the final days before the construction began to make the space primarily a book store!

It will be downtown Knoxville's first full-line bookstore in a number of years. There was one on Market Square for a while several years ago, but it seemed more of a niche market book store, with primarily gift books. There is also, as a reader pointed out when I wrote a previous piece ("You're the Missing Piece"), a used book store of sorts inside the public library.

I admire the guts of anyone who will open a book store at this point in the evolution of how people read. There was talk earlier of having tables on the sidewalk out front, meaning you could pick up a bottle of wine in the wine store, a cut of excellent cheese and a book next door and plant yourself out front to soak up that Urban Vibe. Not a bad way to spend an evening.