by Jon Styf
The University of Tennessee is hiring a group called the 865 Neyland Project Team to build an entertainment complex on the waterfront next to Neyland Stadium.
The project includes a hotel, rooftop restaurant, conference center, parking and a 175,000 square foot entertainment district between Neyland Stadium and Food City Center.
The development group includes Dixon Greenwood, along with Jake Miller, Taylor Gray, the Hartland Hotel Group and Johnson Architecture.
The school did not say the cost or who would pay for the project, instead calling it a public-private partnership for the development along the Tennessee River.
Neyland Stadium is currently in the middle of renovations with $337 million worth of work approved in May by Tennessee’s State Building Commission.
The renovation project is being paid for with football revenue, which are public funds and different than state grants for Nashville’s Nissan Stadium and Memphis’ Liberty Bowl.
The Tennessee State Building Commission must approve the entertainment district development agreement before it can proceed with creating specific designs and construction schedules.
The hotel project is being called a condotel, which will include about 240 rooms and 60 luxury condos. Hartland Hotel Group will help with the hotel portion of the project.
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Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter of The Center Square who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies.
Photo “Neyland Stadium” by Ben Mooney.CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
And silly me thought that a university was for the education of its students. Be on the lookout for some serious sweetheart backroom deals.