Construction Projects Continue At UT-Knoxville

Monday, June 6, 2016
John Shearer

Ken and Blaire Mossman Building still in early stages.

photo by John Shearer

The front side of the mammoth Stokely Family Residence Hall.

photo by John Shearer

The north side of the Stokely dorm alongside Volunteer Boulevard

photo by John Shearer

Stokely dorm connects to parking garage, which will have arches fronting it

photo by John Shearer

End of parking garage where Stokely Athletics Center once sat

photo by John Shearer

One of two residence halls under construction on west end of campus

photo by John Shearer

Northwest corner of new dorm where Shelbourne Towers once sat

photo by John Shearer

Second phase of UT Student Union just starting to take shape on University Center site

photo by John Shearer

Northwest corner of large Strong Hall by Cumberland Avenue

photo by John Shearer

Old part of Strong Hall being incorporated into mammoth new building

photo by John Shearer

The eastern side of Strong Hall

photo by John Shearer

Much of the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville continues to look like a trendy area of Manhattan or Atlanta during good economic times, as several large buildings are under construction.

Among them are the Stokely Family Residence Hall and adjacent parking garage on the site of old Gibbs Hall and Stokely Athletics Center.

The dorm, which is being built on the end where Gibbs Hall was, has been topped out and is being finished with brick and interior work.

It is scheduled to open in 2017, while the parking garage where the Stokely gym sat is set to open this August.

Another building taking shape is Sophronia Strong Hall, a historic former girls dorm that is being almost completely rebuilt into a much bigger structure. It will be used for biology and chemistry labs and will also house the Anthropology and Earth and Planetary Sciences departments. It will open in the spring of 2017.

Two residence halls are also being constructed on the former site of Shelbourne Towers on the west end of campus, where the old Presidential Court from the 1960s is slowly being rebuilt. Those dorms are scheduled to open by this fall semester.

A couple of major construction projects are just getting under way, with basically only footers visible. They include the second phase of the Student Union on the site of the old University Center and where some older buildings sat, and the Ken and Blaire Mossman Building In Fort Sanders.

Featuring six floors and located on the east side of the historic Hoskins Library off Cumberland Avenue, the Mossman Building will house the microbiology, biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology, and nutrition departments. Three historic homes at the site had to be razed or moved in what was considered a controversial construction project.

jcshearer2@comcast.net