In with the new: University of Tennessee Knoxville begins construction on Student Success Center
Melrose Hall at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville (UTK) is typical of the aging student buildings that have outlived their usefulness and are being overhauled or replaced on campuses across the country.
Completed at a cost of $1 million and opened in 1948, Melrose Hall was designed to house 358 male students in 162 single and 98 double rooms. The building featured the relatively new design concept of grouping several rooms around central lounges. In the late 1980s, the dorm became the residence hall of choice for international and graduate students. But time and disrepair eventually caught up with the building, which the university took out of service in 2009.
UTK recently broke ground on a 116,000-sf Student Success Center that is replacing Melrose Hall. The new building, designed by Nashville-based Hastings Architecture, is being built by Hoar Construction, this project’s GC. It is scheduled to open in the Fall of 2027. Melrose Hall will be demolished to make way for the new facility. Construction will account for an estimated $88 million of the Student Success Center’s total $108 million cost.
The new Center could further burnish UTK’s national reputation for its personalized approaches to student success. Last October, it hosted the Student Success US 2024 conference, which brought together higher educational professionals from more than 200 institutions.
A centralized hub
The university’s Student Success Center will serve as a hub, with classrooms, staff offices, testing rooms, and student lounges. The building will include two 300-seat auditoriums and two 150-seat tiered classrooms, according UTK.
The five-story Student Success Center (with one floor below ground) will be located between Hess Hall and John C. Hodges Library. It will be adjacent to a new pavilion constructed from mass timber, a first for UTK.
This is Hoar Construction’s first project at UTK. In a prepared statement, Hoar said that it was committed to limiting campus disruption and prioritizing pedestrian safety during construction, through planning and logistical coordination with subcontractors.
