State panel gives OK for UTC’s $40 million McCallie Avenue building project to proceed

Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / This building at 540 McCalle Avenue began as the Interstate Life Insurance Building. Gov. Bill Lee's budget proposal calls for providing $40 million to renovate a massive 47,269-square foot, seven-story former state office building on McCallie Avenue now owned by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / This building at 540 McCalle Avenue began as the Interstate Life Insurance Building. Gov. Bill Lee's budget proposal calls for providing $40 million to renovate a massive 47,269-square foot, seven-story former state office building on McCallie Avenue now owned by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

By Andy Sher November 20, 2022 4 min read

NASHVILLE — The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has the official go-ahead to proceed with planning a $40 million maintenance-and-renovation project for the state’s seven-story former Chattanooga State Office Building on 540 McCallie Ave.

State Building Commission members unanimously approved the project this month, allowing it to proceed and authorizing UTC to select a designer to develop specific plans for the 47,269-square-foot building. The project was included by Gov. Bill Lee this year in his recommended budget later approved by state legislators.

Work on the Arte Moderne-style building, built in 1954 for the Interstate Life & Accident Insurance Co., is expected to take several years. The building was purchased by the state in the early 1980s. The state ceded the building to UTC in 2013.