Greene Valley almost ready for construction

GREENE COUNTY, Tenn. (WJHL) – The Greene Valley campus has sat vacant for many years. Now both the State of Tennessee and Greene County own the property.

The state plans to build a College of Applied Technology (TCAT) campus and offices for the Department of Disability and Aging.

“New buildings will be coming up to serve those sort of folks both with disabilities as well as create an educational facility,” said state Rep. David Hawk. “That can possibly help train folks to take care of those who have disabilities.”

Hawk said a groundbreaking ceremony will occur on June 28 and after that, they will start demolishing old buildings and building new facilities.

“There is going to be an investment of $60 million to a new building on the side of Greene Valley where the existing administration building is,” Hawk said. “It’s going to be coming down and there’s going to be new buildings built.”

The TCAT campus will have classes such as welding, HVAC, machine tools, and industrial electricity.

“My hope is over the next 18 months we will see considerable progress,” Hawk said.

County Mayor Kevin Morrison told News Channel 11 that as for the county side of the property, which is currently empty land, they still have a few more things to do before they can start construction.

“There has to be geology studies done to determine sinkholes and rock formations, and there has to be archeological studies done,” Morrison said. “There has to be environmental studies done to make sure that in the past no one has buried anything out there that’s noxious or hazardous, that we’re going to discover when we start to prepare the property.”

Greene County recently received a grant for $100,000 to do the due diligence needed on the property.

“Without this grant funding we would otherwise have to fund that on our own,” Morrison said. “This money doesn’t have to be fronted by us or the taxpayers of Greene County in order for us to realize the potential out there.”

Morrison said after that construction will start on the county side of the property.

“I’m thinking we’re probably in the neighborhood of another three to six months,” Morrison said. “What we’d like to see is a professional, educational, technology type park where the facilities that support higher wages there.”

Both Morrison and Hawk said they are still on track to have most if not all of the Greene Valley project complete by 2025 or 2026.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJHL | Tri-Cities News & Weather.