A groundbreaking ceremony was conducted on Aug. 12 to mark the official start of construction on Phase I of the apartment-style housing at the University of Tennessee at Martin.

Phase I of the apartment-style buildings has been delayed since July 1, the date the construction was originally planned to begin.

Located on the site of Austin Peay Residence Hall, the fully-furnished apartments will be home to 396 students, and are projected to be ready for occupancy by fall 2005. The complex will include 134 two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments.

The complex was designed by TLM Associates, Inc., of Jackson, Tenn., and Evans Taylor Foster Childress Architects of Memphis in a joint venture. Total cost for Phase I is $16.7 million.

Students on campus have been able to select furniture arrangements for the new dorms. More on Selection: Students choose new dorm styles

Helping to “break ground” are, from left, Dennis Henderson, TLM president; Dusty Dean, Student Government Association president; Tim Nipp, director of physical plant operations; Al Hooten, vice chancellor for finance and administration; State Rep. Mark Maddox, Dr. Katie High, vice chancellor for student affairs; Dr. Susan Vickerstaff, assistant professor and chair of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, Social Work and Criminal Justice and a member of the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees; Barbara Castleman, member of the UT Board of Trustees, UT Martin Chancellor Nick Dunagan, State Sen. Roy Herron, Martin Mayor Randy Brundige, Earl Wright, director of housing; Dan Pigg, faculty senate president; David Searcy, representing the project contractor, Allen Searcy Builder/Contractor, Inc., Union City; and George Criss, UT director of facilities planning.

State fire marshall denies plans for new apartment-style dorms

Students wishing to live in the new residence halls for the Fall 2005 semester may be disappointed. The state fire marshal recently denied the building plans for the new dorm facilities, an action that could delay the construction completion.

As part of the university’s master plan, all Y-style dorm buildings were to be demolished and replaced by apartment-style dorms with single rooms built around a common living area. This process was to occur in phases until 2008.

Currently, Austin Peay Residence Hall has been demolished and replaced by a barren field where construction was supposed to have begun July 1 on the new dorm. However, construction of the new residence facility will not continue until the state fire marshal approves the building plans.

“The fire marshal would not approve the plans because the plans did not include elevators,” Chancellor Nick Dunagan says.

Dunagan says that the cost of one elevator is $90,000. The new dorms would require nine elevators total, meaning the buildings would cost an additional $810,000 minimum. Construction plans would also have to be redrawn, incurring even more expenses.

The first floor of the three-story dorm is designed to be handicapped accessible. The university went ahead with the design plans believing that first-floor accessibility would comply with all ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) requirements.

The timeline factor seems to be the biggest area of concern to Dunagan. The dorm that is supposed to replace Austin Peay was originally scheduled to be completed and house students by Fall 2005. Without the fire marshal’s approval, these plans could only be dreams.

UTM has approached the state attorney general’s office about the situation. Dunagan says he hopes the decision that the fire marshal has made can be reversed and says that Sen. Roy Herron has been helpful in expressing the university’s concerns.

“I think they are close to a final decision, one that I think will be in our favor,” Dunagan says.

If the fire marshal changes his decision about the building plans, the university says construction could begin as early as two days after they are given the go-ahead. But until then, the company who won the contract, Searcy Allen Builders of Union City, will not begin construction.

UTM has a Web site set up where visitors can view a live Web cam of the construction progress, or the lack thereof. The Web site, is viewable at http://utmcam2.utm.edu/.

A lifesize model of the apartments can be found upstairs in the UC.

Messages left with the state fire marshal’s office and the attorney general’s office had not been returned at the time of this update.