Tennessee Tech will begin negotiations for the possible purchase of a 15th Street property to house its operations and facilities management.
The Board of Trustees agreed Thursday to a change in the University’s Master Plan, to begin the process. Operations and facilities currently reside on Willow Avenue. President Phil Oldham said the change would free up that land for sorority houses, a long-time University goal.
“The current location of facilities has become really prime real estate in the heart of the campus now,” Oldham said. “And this ties back actually to discussions we’ve had earlier this morning about enrollment and retention and all that thing. So one of the primary purposes for the real estate where facilities is currently located in the master plan is to build sorority houses.”
The master plan already included relocating facilities and operations to an area off Washington Avenue, across from Collegeside Church of Christ. Senior Vice President Claire Stinson said the facility off 15th Street would be close enough to warehouses, garages and storage that could be built on that property.
“So we are interested in this because we need to phase this project in,” Stinson said. “And so we need to move pieces of that operation at a time because we’re not going to get state dollars to make that relocation. So we’re going to have to figure it out for ourselves. And that’s what we’ve been doing.”
The board approval Thursday does not mean Tech will purchase the property, but rather can begin the negotiation process. Stinson said the University has already done some appraisal work on the building and land.
“Should we then reach an agreement with the property owners, we would bring that purchase back to this board for approval,” Stinson said.
Oldham said the move from the west side frees up more space, which is becoming precious on the main campus. He said the sorority house construction would be a significant addition to increasing Tech’s student life, a goal of current leadership.
