The big city co-living trend has arrived in Knoxville, Tennessee with the opening of Flagship Kerns in January 2021.

Flagship Kerns is described on its website as a new resort-style apartment community at the historic Kerns Bakery site south of downtown Knoxville. Atlanta-based developer Mallory & Evans purchased the property for $2 million in 2019.

According to Knox News, the co-living apartment complex is “the first of three phases of development at the Kern’s Bakery campus, which will eventually include a food hall with restaurants and retail, coworking spaces and a hotel.” The vision is a “work-live environment.”

The co-living space is near the University of Tennessee and downtown Knoxville. It will have 310 one- and two-bedroom furnished units. Rent starts from $949 for a private room inside a two-bedroom apartment to $1,300 for a one-bedroom.

For the two-bedroom units, Flagship Kerns will rent individual bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms. The living room and kitchen areas will be shared. Roommates would be paired through a matching process.

Mallory & Evans is targeting college and graduate students, faculty, and professionals. “We’re trying to create a sense of community, and we’re also trying to create affordability,” Mallory & Evans principal Brantley Basinger told Knox News. 

The community appeal includes communal clubhouse spaces for working and entertainment, a pool, fitness center, and event areas.

“A lot of these young people are coming from a rent-by-the-bed, student-type community,” Basinger said. “The convenience of a student housing complex is you don’t have to get your own utilities and your own cable and your own internet, your own power, it’s just there. You just move in.”

“We’ve always done a lot of work around university towns and cities, so we thought that this would be a really exciting concept to do in (Knoxville),” Basinger said. 


photo credit: flagship kerns

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