The partially finalized plans for the future of Legislative Plaza and the War Memorial Building were presented to the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday. Since legislative and staff offices have moved to the newly renovated Cordell Hull Building, new plans for shuffling offices and renovations are in this year's capital budget.
The plans also call for the state to sell the Citizens Plaza building, citing a projected 459,288 square feet of real estate downtown that will be vacant by the end of the year. With Citizens sold, that number falls to 214,331 square feet. The state hopes to sell the building by October, but no estimated price was given. One appraisal has listed the site at $43 million.
The underground offices at Legislative Plaza will be turned into parking for state employees, providing an additional 150 spaces above the two levels already there. A few large general purpose meeting rooms could be constructed out of some of the remaining office space. Meanwhile, employees from the Attorney General's office will move into WMB, leaving the John Sevier Building to undergo significant renovation. That latter project will start this summer and is expected to be complete in the summer of 2019.
After 2019, officials said, War Memorial would be entirely renovated and the staff of the AG's office that is currently leasing space in the UBS building would move in.
In the James K. Polk Building, the Tennessee Performing Arts Center has said it would like to move into the Tennessee State Museum's space, once that agency moves into their new building this fall. TPAC will split the preliminary design cost with the state to develop an estimated cost of renovations before any actual work is done on the site. However, no final approval has been given to allow TPAC to have that space.