Tech Acquisition Of TAP Building Winding Down

Tennessee Tech should take control of the former TAP building in Crossville by the end of August.

Foundation Executive Director Kevin Braswell aid the transfer has been in progress for about a year. He said it is only a matter of finishing the paperwork at this point.

“There are any number of checks and balances that a state entity like Tennessee Tech has to go through, appropriately so, any time there’s the acquisition or disposition of property,” Braswell said. “And that involves some state agencies that have to make sure all the i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed.”

Braswell said that although that transition is not complete, Tech is already using the building as a business incubator. He said it should better help Tech serve that area of the Upper Cumberland.

“We’ve been excited for some time about expanding our reach to better serve citizens in that part of Tennessee,” Braswell said. “And so those projects are well underway. It’s very exciting.”

Braswell said the purchase was done through the foundation because it was able to organize its resources quicker than the university and has less restrictions when making purchases like these.

“This building came on the market and the state, Tennessee Tech was not in a position to move quickly to acquire it,” Braswell said. “The university saw the vision of acquiring it, of what it could become in that part of the state.”