For motorists and pedestrians alike, ongoing construction has been nothing short of a nuisance in recent years.
However, there is light at the end of the tunnel, Dave Irvin, associate vice chancellor for Facilities Services, said.
“The amount of improvements underway is unprecedented,” Irvin said. “Almost $1 billion in projects are in planning, in design or under construction in a coordinated plan that will remake our university.”
Some of the construction will also see the University becoming more green.
The steam plant conversion, a three-year project beginning March 2014, which will see the replacement of all the plants’ coal boilers with natural gas, is estimated to reduce the University’s carbon emissions by 43 percent.
Brooke Stevenson, communications and public relations coordinator for Facilities Services, praised the University’s tremendous efforts toward environmental consciousness, redevelopment and beautification.
“It’s an exciting time to be on campus,” Stevenson said. “We’re always looking into the future, and this year’s improvements will ensure the University’s continued contribution to the Volunteer State.”
By December 2017, UT will boast two new residence halls, several new dining facilities, an additional parking garage and more visually appealing landscaped.
The new Student Union is one of the larger, high-profile projects. The first phase of the $167 million project that started March 2012 is approaching completion.
In addition to many of the shops and services currently in the University Center, the six-story facility will house the VolShop and VolTech stores, Career Services and an expanded dining area by late spring. Once the new building is open, the UC will be torn down to make way for an additional 248,000 square feet of modern dining, meeting and recreational spaces.
Blueberry Falls, the landscaped greenway adjacent to the Claxton Educational Building and Staff Lot 9, will be repurposed to provide visitor parking.
Slated to open in the fall is the renovated retail space at the corner of Cumberland and 17th Street, which will include three new food vendors, public restrooms and seating and another branch of the VolShop. The Fred D. Brown Residence Hall and a pedestrian bridge connecting Volunteer Boulevard to the Hill are both expected to open in August.
Demolition of the historic Sophronia Strong Hall is already complete. Crews have preserved the five stone archways dedicated to UT’s first female students for reuse in what will be the new home of the Departments of Anthropology and Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences in addition to new chemistry and biology labs.
The demolition of Stokely Athletics Center and the former Gibbs Residence Hall is also coming to a close. In its place will be a 1,000 space parking garage, a single-occupancy residence hall and an expansion of Haslam Field.
