The Tennessee Valley Authority should decide by this summer whether it will demolish, sell or revamp its biggest office complex as the federal utility looks to downsize its office facilities in Chattanooga.
But TVA officials said Friday that finding and moving into any new downtown power headquarters is likely to take several more years and could be shaped by how plans for a new federal courthouse and an expanded convention center proceed in Chattanooga.
“Our facility in Chattanooga is significantly underutilized, and as we look to the future, we see a lot of revitalization in our region and in downtown Chattanooga that really creates a once-in-a-generation opportunity for TVA to rightsize our space and also transform downtown Chattanooga,” Tricia Lynn Roelofs, senior director of facilities transformation at TVA, said in an interview Friday.
With less than half as many employees and contractors as when the Chattanooga Office Complex was built in 1985 and most office workers having hybrid or remote jobs, a new study suggests TVA needs less than half of the space it now has in its downtown complex.
TVA is soliciting public comments on whether it should renovate, demolish or sell the office complex that spans more than 9 acres on the south side of downtown bordered by Market Street to the east, Chestnut Street to the west, 11th Street to the north and 12th Street to the south.