News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Tennessee Tech will request funds in its next capital budget for demolition of Foster Hall and and renovations of Johnson Hall.
Vice President for Facilities and Business Services Chuck Roberts said the university wants $20 million for the project included in the state’s 2022-2023 fiscal year budget.
“The subsequent demolition of Foster Hall, that is an aging facility,” Roberts said. “We actually moved most people out of there over into our new lab science building with our chemistry department. So, we’ll keep that as possible a swing space while we’re doing construction.”
Roberts said the land would be used for extra green space and possible future expansions of the university center. As for Johnson Hall, Roberts said improvements mean new classrooms and reworking electrical components.
“Over the last couple of years, we’ve been going around and renovating some of our older facilities,” Roberts said. “Right now, we have Bruner Hall, which is coming open, and it would be the same thing. It’s basically tearing down a lot of the interior and nonstructural components of the building and also electrical and mechanical components. Redoing all of that, so you will have new finishes, new classroom space inside that facility.”
This would be the first major renovation of the home of the College of Business since its construction in 1970. Roberts said Tech should hear back about the funding sometime next spring.
“They have a good scoring model that all the schools will put their projects up against,” Roberts said. “Once they score it, we will find out where we lie. We’ve been doing pretty good the last couple of years getting one major project out there.”
