KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — A new event center is in the works in East Knoxville. Grandiflora is expected to be open next year.

“We actually had a community meeting last night,” 6th District City Councilwoman Gwen McKenzie said. “The private owner of this facility and the architecture team that is working with him did a presentation to the community to talk about the level of investment for this property.”

This event center will have the ability to host things like concerts, weddings, community gatherings and much more. It has indoor and outdoor gathering areas, a performance space along with two guest houses on the property. All of this is leading to a bigger plan for investing in Magnolia Avenue.

“Down the road, I can envision not just event center space but maybe some of the existing business owners and some of the people who have vacant properties,” Councilwoman McKenzie said. “Hopefully they would be willing to open that up to more development and investment from other people if they aren’t willing to do it themselves.”

The venue will be utilizing the Knoxville Baptist Tabernacle’s land, beautifying that area for many people in the community to enjoy.

“There will be an event manager here managing the properties,” Councilwoman McKenzie said. “All you would have to do is call that person and go ahead and get that scheduled.”

Grandiflora is being compared to current event centers like the ‘Mill and Mine’ downtown and ‘The Press Room’ on North Broadway. It is expected to be a more affordable option to host gatherings of any kind, bringing a lot to the community as a whole.

“It will be a revenue generator in the community,” Councilwoman McKenzie said. “It will be a venue where people in the community if they don’t have the budget to be able to afford weddings and events as the owner stated yesterday, they would work with them or be free to community members.”

Venue owner Phil Lawson says that he wants people to be able to have a place to get married and not have to pay extremely high prices for the location. Last night’s meeting with the community about the development was met with positive feedback.