A luxurious driving range is planned for north Knoxville, and the owner is getting help from the city of Knoxville to turn the blighted property into an entertainment hub with more than 200 jobs.

ShotClub Social in Knoxville would be a 40,000-square-foot golf driving range on 10.5 acres located east of Interstate 275 and north of West Fifth Avenue, along Second Creek.

The Knoxville City Council on March 19 approved a nine-year payment in lieu of taxes program for owner Knox OnCore LLC. It was approved by a 7-1 vote, with councilmember Seema Singh voting in opposition. Councilmember Amelia Parker was absent from the vote.

It's estimated to cost $30.7 million to redevelop the former industrial site.

Spike McCamy, managing partner of ShotClub Social Knoxville, told Knox News the PILOT would pay for construction costs, and the development would mean a huge transformation for the area just north of downtown.

The property was formerly a metal scrap yard, and a dump before that. McCamy estimated the business would generate 200 to 250 full- and part-time jobs. ShotClub would give free playing time to youth groups, including First Tee Tennessee.

The PILOT includes a two-year construction period plus nine years after that. OnCore will pay:

• $7,612 annually for 11 years, including the two-year construction period and nine years after. The city would get $4,423 of that money, and Knox County would get $3,189. That's the current annual property tax bill on the land.

• After that time, the owner would pay full taxes based on the property's newly assessed value after the redevelopment. That's an estimated $319,589 annually. The city would get $185,705 of that, and Knox County would get $133,884.

The city doesn't have to pay for anything relating to the PILOT, and it would make more money off the property taxes of the redeveloped property than it would if the property remained a metal scrap yard.

The PILOT will need to be approved by the Knoxville Industrial Development Board, but not the Knox County Commission.

McCamy hopes to start construction this summer and open ShotClub in late 2025 or early 2026.

ShotClub Social will be a 'next-generation' Topgolf

ShotClub Social is more than just a real estate project for McCamy. It's a tribute to his late father, who died five years ago from cancer.

Country clubs and golf courses can be expensive, so the two wanted to create a gold club anyone could join for just a few bucks. McCamy's father came up with the name ShotClub.

Another ShotClub is being developed in Buffalo, New York.

ShotClub membership will cost about $10 a month with perks like score tracking, but memberships wouldn't be required.

The two-level entertainment venue would have about 60 bays for groups of up to six people to hang out and hit golf balls. The technology tracks swings, and guests can try to hit LED targets. McCamy described it as a "next-generation version of Topgolf."

Topgolf opened a Farragut location in 2022.

McCamy said renting a hitting bay would cost $30-50 an hour.

A bar with sports, but not a sports bar

ShotClub will be full of fun and games with a bar on each floor and a restaurant serving "upscale pub food" and walls covered in TVs, McCamy said.

"In the downtown area especially, I think we're lacking in good places to go watch sports. It won't be as necessarily a sports bar per se, but we'll have games and TVs and stuff like that on the walls where people can come hang out," he said. "It'll be a very relaxed, fun atmosphere inside."

The inside of ShotClub will have eight lanes of Duckpin bowling and a few dozen arcade machines.

Outside, McCamy said, will be a mini-golf course and a dog-friendly beer garden.

Silas Sloan is the growth and development reporter. Email silas.sloan@knoxnews.com. Twitter @silasloan. Instagram @knox.growth.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: ShotClub Social golf entertainment venue planned near Central Street