The National Security Prototype Center, Neyland Entertainment District and Randy Boyd Hall were all on the agenda at the UT System Board of Trustees meeting May 4.
Randy Boyd Hall is now the official name of the newest and largest building coming to the University of Tennessee at Knoxville campus.
Boyd, the UT System president, put an undisclosed amount toward the building’s construction in February, according to a letter of recommendation from Chancellor Donde Plowman, who referred to the new name as “a fitting tribute to (Boyd’s) enduring dedication” to UT.
The building will join the Jenny Boyd Theatre − another on-campus facility honoring the Boyd family − when it opens for the fall 2027 semester. The theater, named for Randy Boyd’s wife, held its first performance earlier this year.
“The Boyd family’s efforts have expanded educational access and opportunities for countless Tennesseans,” Plowman said, “making this recognition not only well-deserved but also a testament to their lasting impact on the university community.”
A UT System Board of Trustees executive committee on May 4 approved the new Haslam College of Business building name. The $227.4 million project at the corner of Cumberland Avenue and Volunteer Boulevard will provide 18 classrooms and house two college centers when it opens.
“It’s not so much about having a name on a building,” Boyd told Knox News in April. “It’s more about demonstrating what stewardship needs to look like and hopefully encouraging others to do the same and more.”
National Security Prototype Center lease moving forward
The executive committee also approved a lease agreement for the new National Security Prototype Center, part of Plowman’s planned innovation districts.
UT is working with Y-12 National Security Complex and its operator, Consolidated Nuclear Security, to develop the center for the Oak Ridge Corridor district. The goal is to “enhance national security and solve complex manufacturing problems” when it opens in 2027, according to agenda documents.
UT plans to lease 21,000 square feet of the 63,000 square foot building, located in the Oak Ridge Enhanced Technology Training Center at 3607 Oak Ridge Turnpike.
Roane County NSPC, an entity created by the Roane County Industrial Development Board, will finance, own and lease the building. Lawler-Wood NSPC will design, build and operate the facility.
The budget to develop the building is $42 million, and UT will enter into a 20-year lease term that could be extended. UT will pay a base rent of $3.3 million a year, along with around $700,000 in operating rent.
Y-12 will give UT $20 million a year to cover its lease and on-site research, Plowman said in March. It’s a “game-changing moment” for the Knoxville campus, Plowman said during the meeting, with Tennessee in the midst of a nuclear renaissance. The chancellor hopes to invest an additional $20 million into research that will be conducted at the facility.
Neyland Entertainment District is a go on campus
The Neyland Entertainment District lease and development agreements also were approved at the meeting. Part of the G10 parking garage will be demolished, and plans call for building a new garage beneath the new district, which will sit alongside a new condo-hotel combination.
The “condotel” project is $215 million and will feature its own set of restaurants, event spaces and spaces for UT, along with a pool and 214 parking spaces.
The entertainment district, itself, has a $65 million budget to build a stage, plazas, restaurants and paths into Neyland Stadium.
The replacement garage will provide 1,316 spaces with a budget of $83 million, a small uptick from what the UT System Board of Trustees approved in February 2025. It will add about 215 parking spaces when it opens compared to the garage’s current capacity, UT System Chief Financial Officer David Miller said during the meeting.
The garage will be financed through bonds acquired through the Tennessee State School Bond Authority, and the debt will be paid back using parking revenue.
UT is constructing a surface lot that will replace the parking spaces going away before the fall semester. The Fleming Warehouse site near the soccer and softball stadiums has been razed to build a new parking structure that will add around 700 spaces when it opens this summer.
White said UT is on track to open the entertainment district in early 2028, five years removed from the project being announced. The entertainment and innovation districts are the latest steps in Plowman’s “Next Level” plans to grow the Knoxville campus.
Knox News sports reporter Adam Sparks contributed to this report.
Keenan Thomas is the higher education reporter for Knox News. Email: keenan.thomas@knoxnews.com.
This article originally appeared at knoxnews.com