The University of Tennessee at Knoxville is renovating two major student spaces on campus.
The Presidential Court building will be updated with new offices, an esports complex and a Center for Basic Needs.
The Student Union will get a new outdoor plaza, amphitheater and food truck park facing Cumberland Avenue.
These projects are part of a larger campus transformation to accommodate growing student enrollment and enhance student life.
The University of Tennessee at Knoxville has multi-million-dollar plans to modernize two prominent student spaces, including the addition of an amphitheater and food truck park at one of Cumberland Avenue’s most recognizable campus buildings.
The Presidential Court Building, which is surrounded by residence halls, is one of the buildings that will be renovated, though the outside will remain the same, Vice Chancellor for Student Life Frank Cuevas said during a Knoxville Chamber presentation Oct. 14. The inside will be gutted and renovated later this year to add an esports complex, multimedia lounge and multipurpose rooms, along with new office spaces for Greek Life, dining and off-campus student life services.
The Presidential Court Building renovations also would create a new home for the Center for Basic Needs, which provides resources to help ensure the basic needs of students are being met, from food and housing to transportation and healthcare. This project would move the Center for Basic Needs out of the Student Union and into a more accessible location for students, who used the center and its resources more than 46,000 times last school year, according to UT.
The Presidential Court Building is a part of the Presidential Court Complex for housing and dining on campus, which opened in 1966. The building had a cafeteria, but it hasn’t been in use since the Rocky Top Dining Hall was completed in 2021.
The idea for the $40.5 million upgrade (pending State Building Commission approval) is about
University of Tennessee plans campus food truck park, esports complex
