KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE)– Knoxville is growing at a rapid rate.

It seems like new developments are popping up all over the city, including in North Knoxville. We’ve seen several businesses plant roots in the area helping to revitalize the community.

Knoxville added about 2,000 new residents last year. With more people comes more job opportunities and new developments.

Yee-Haw Brewing Company is currently building a new brewery and taproom at 745 North Broadway, the former site of Elkmont Exchange. The brewery was founded in 2015 in Johnson City but the company has also moved their corporate headquarters to Knoxville.

“While we started in Johnson City, it’s really Knoxville that put Yee-Haw Brewing on the map,” said Yee-Haw Brewing CEO Jennifer Podhajsky.

The new location feature a large beer garden, concert stage and private event space. Podhajsky said Knoxville site will be able to accommodate over 1,000 people.

“We’re anticipating hiring about 75 to 100 people once we are in our full hiring mode and open,” she said.

Yee-Haw Brewing Company is set to open its new location by the end of the year.

“We like to enter communities that have the bones for great development and reuse and revitalize, whether their old buildings or properties,” Podhajsky said. “This is just a perfect fit for that combined with just a great community.”

Podhajsky added that they picked the North Knoxville area because of the potential growth here in the community.

“Yee-Haw has been a part of revitalizing communities since we were founded in Johnson City and Yee-Haw has been a critical part of helping to energize Johnson City and we’ve seen that play out in each of our locations. We anticipate that’s going to be the same here in Knoxville.”

Just across the street from Yee-Haw is Axle Logistics whose owners are from Knoxville and chose their location for the same reasons.

Ali Fraley, who’s Axle Logistics VP of Learning and Development said, “they specifically selected this area here on central so we could be closer to our community partners and allow our team to have the time and facility to be impactful in our local community.”

Their company has grown tremendously over the past ten years, and they plan to facilitate that growth with a new development right across the street.

“We’re very excited to kick off phase two of the axle campus here,” Fraley said. “We’re expanding right next door bringing about 900 more jobs to the campus bringing it to 1250 total.”

The five-story building will be on the corner of Pruitt and Central, which is an area that has seen huge changes in just the past couple of years.

Axle logistics plans to open its new building by 2024.

They are currently hiring. Right now, they have two additional off-site locations downtown that some of their team members are working out of since they have already outgrown their current space. 

Axle Logistics says their new building will have a half-basketball gym, a walking track, and outdoor space along with office space.

We’ll be sure to follow along with both of these new developments.