TVA is confirming plans to consolidate Knoxville area employees into one downtown office tower and lease out two other buildings.
The seven-state federal utility has posted a final "Environmental Assessment" on its website. On Aug. 14, it formally decided there'd be no major impact to the surroundings with its decision.
In June, TVA said it was scrapping potential plans to leave both towers downtown off Summit Hill Drive as well as the Summer Place complex and move to a new building. It decided going to new quarters didn't make financial sense.
It will keep the twin towers downtown and the Summer Place complex. About 850 employees will be housed in the west tower. The east tower can be leased as office space, also to hold some 850 employees.
Summer Place also can be leased.
The towers were built in the early 1970s.
According to the environment assessment, TVA's staffing numbers in downtown Knoxville peaked in the early to mid 1980s, then began to decline. As of 2015, there were about 800, and at present the utility has about 850 workers and contractors in the towers and Summer Place.
