Highlands of the Smokies completes rebuild years after devastating Gatlinburg wildfires

GATLINBURG, Tenn. (WATE) — A Gatlinburg getaway celebrated its grand opening Thursday nearly eight years after their building burnt down in the 2016 wildfires.

“You can not be in a more beautiful place and we wanted to give people a reason to fall back in love with the Smokies,” said Highlands of the Smokies managing partner Joy Maples.

Before it burnt down, Highlands of the Smokies served as a vacation getaway for decades.

“We can tell that the original Highlands was just a well-loved establishment and we hope we honor it going forward in the operation we’re going to do here,” said Maples.

According to the City of Gatlinburg, nearly 400 rebuild permits for all types of structures were issued across the city immediately after the fires.

“The city had almost 1,600 overnight rentals permitted in November of 2016. There are approximately 3 to 400 lost during the fires and we’re up about 600 post-fires,” said Gatlinburg Director of Communications Seth Butler.

He said while the bulk of reconstruction was done in the two to three years following the fires, they have seen many establishments remade since then.

Now, the city has more overnight rentals than it did before 2016. With Gatlinburg being a large tourist attraction, Butler said they have welcomed the increase of units.

“I know that that’s a big emphasis, a big effort here in the Gatlinburg area to see that the number of those overnight rentals have also increased,” he said.

Butler said they are grateful for those who chose to reinvest in the city after the fires. Under new ownership, Highlands of the Smokies hopes to expand on their original building. With plans for that already in the works.

”Hopefully, phase two will start next year, next spring. Hopefully, it’ll be across the street from us. And after that phase is done, phase three, which is back behind us here, will start after that,” Maples said. “So, we hope to end up with anywhere from 80 to 90 units after that. We have two, three, five-bedroom condos currently here.”

She said they want to provide the same quality experience vacationers had in the past, with the same emphasis on the Smoky Mountains and Gatlinburg as the main attractions.

“It’s nice to bring something back that everyone loves so much, and we hope we can just add to the city and help bring more business in as well,” said Maples.

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