KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Students at the University of Tennessee may soon have another place to live.
Rise Development LLC and leaders from the University of Tennessee broke ground Wednesday afternoon to begin construction on two new residential communities. Building new residence halls is something Chancellor Donde Plowman said has been a topic of conversation for a while.
“It’s been almost the only conversation because it has restricted the number of freshmen that we can take,” she said.
The new buildings are being built through a "public-private partnership" with the construction company. This is the first phase of the partnership, and it's the first time UT has joined with a development company this way to build dorms.
The first residential community will be at Andy Holt Avenue and 20th Street. It will include 788 beds.
The second will be a two-building housing complex and will have 1,166 beds. That one will be between Caledonia Avenue and Terrace Avenue.
“There are ways we can do bigger projects, quicker, less expensively and actually build them better, in a lot of ways,” said Plowman.
The dorms will be fully furnished with en suite bathrooms and an open floor plan. One UT freshman said while he thinks the new residences will be nice and benefit more students looking for housing on campus, he’s worried about parking.
He said parking is already an ongoing issue on campus.
“It took out a lot of parking,” said Jackson Roseman. “So, parking has gotten 100 times worse with new construction everywhere.”
Plowman said UT is looking to alleviate parking issues for students as new developments continue.
“We need more space, but we also need to use the space we have better. So, we are working on a number of options," she said.
Both new residence halls are expected to open in the fall of 2025.