Yesterday, the UT Board of Trustees voted to move forward with “buying an option to buy” Maplehurst, an eclectic 5.6-acre neighborhood on the eastern fringe of campus. The university is not buying the property, which includes a dozen buildings and 199 apartments, outright (for now). Instead, it’s entering into a holding and option agreement with a nonprofit third-party developer, The University Financing Foundation (TUFF), which will purchase the site for $45 million and hold it for up to 10 years while UT decides what to do with it.
The proposal described a “Maplehurst Innovation District,” a new tech hub that would connect the campus to downtown. The “live-work-play neighborhood” will include space for retail, residential, academic, and industry use. Think AI research, dry labs, incubator programs and the university’s growing College of Emerging and Collaborative Studies.
Maplehurst is a special place. I lived in the big Spanish-style building at 830 Maplehurst Ct. for several years in the 2000s. Rent for an efficiency was $250. Its antique eccentricities included lots of mysterious holes in the wall (dumbwaiter, trash chute, slit above the bathroom sink for razor blades), built-ins, clawfoot tub, paneglass windows, a foldown table, and, like any self-respecting 1920s-era building, a couple ghosts. Who were … generally harmless.
For over a century, Maplehurst has been a sort of hidden oasis—out of sight and, until very recently, out of mind. Local painter Cynthia Markert has lived there probably longer than anyone. Since World War I, it’s been a haven for relatively cheap housing for students, including one nuclear engineering grad student who had some strong words for the Board. He, like many, was caught off guard by the announcement that UT was seeking control of the neighborhood.
“I am ashamed to call myself a student at UTK when talking to other [Maplehurst] residents,” Will Ennis told the Finance and Administration Committee at yesterday’s meeting. Ennis said he was “appalled” by the lack of outreach and perceived “intentional effort to obfuscate the discussion of Maplehurst from Maplehurst.”
He’s worried that he and other residents will lose their homes. “In my opinion, the decision treats us current residents like spoiled leftovers to be dumped out and disposed of as garbage,” he said. “You never talked to us. You never talked with us. Our existence seems meaningless to the university’s plans for growth with wanton disregard to those who will be displaced.”
Ennis wasn’t the only one with reservations. John Cadotte, a UT alum, pointed to other neighborhoods and historic structures that have been usurped and directly or indirectly demolished through university expansion. “We want to preserve whatever historical structure is left,” Cadotte said at the meeting.
He also expressed broader concern over UT’s growing footprint: “We have to be very careful that we’re not muscling out our community. I think that the community Knoxville has is a great value to the university. I strongly believe that it attracts and maintains talent. I mean, if we had a boring city, we probably wouldn’t get as many interesting people showing up to study and stay there … I think being a good community partner would be to grow up and not out.”
UT System President Randy Boyd responded first, dropping a critical bombshell of context: “First, this property was going to be sold whether we took an option or not. The seller was going to sell. So whether it was us or something else, something was going to happen.”
Better the devil you know?
It’s worth acknowledging that while Maplehurst’s historic buildings have charm, upkeep and maintenance of old structures is expensive. Current residents have raised concerns about aging infrastructure, maintenance issues, and rising rents. On Reddit, one former tenant described mold, lead paint, parking issues, water main breaks, foundation issues and cracks forming along major walls.
There’s a difference between shabby-chic and just plain shabby.
With any management company that’s doing the bare minimum, things could go downhill quickly. Exhibit A: The two Dutch-style buildings that were torn down in 2012 or so after falling into such disrepair that they were no longer salvageable. Perhaps a university-sized pocketbook is better insurance against demolition by neglect.
It’s also worth noting that not all the buildings in Maplehurst are historic or have architectural value. Some, particularly along the periphery, would evoke no emotion in my heart at all if a wrecking ball crashed through them tomorrow. They’re just concrete block rectangles that are only passable by the grace of a new coat of paint—that generic slate-gray shade that aims for “modern” to mask how forgettable the actual apartments are.
Chancellor Donde Plowman continued addressing the speakers after Boyd: “One of the things about this developer is that we as a campus will be very involved in the decisions about how this gets developed, and we will preserve the history.”
She noted that Edward Sanford, the original owner of Maplehurst, is often credited for his importance in UT becoming a land grant university. “The history is so important,” she said.
OK! It at least makes me feel better to have that on the record. A historic overlay for the most significant structures would help me sleep even sounder at night. (*sends out bat-signal to preservationist friends*)
More promises, on the record …
From Boyd: “As we’re going forward, we will be engaged. We will take the time to listen to the community.”
From Plowman: “We want the community to be part of helping us as we plan this. We’re not just going to throw up dormitories there.”
She reiterated Boyd’s comment: “I think it has a much greater chance of keeping a thriving community like you’ve described with this arrangement than if someone else had bought it.”
They emphasized that nothing will change in the immediate future. The apartments will remain in use, leased by the current management. The structure, they say, gives UT time and flexibility without requiring it to manage existing leases or put forward capital up front.
“This is a unique agreement,” said Austin Oakes, associate vice president for capital projects. “The agreement ultimately is designed to provide UTK with the ability to control the future development of this 5.6 acres of land adjacent to the campus, instead of having a private player on the market decide how this would be developed on their own—and likely with less impact and connectedness.”
Oakes explained that the university typically doesn’t step into roles that involve managing existing tenant relationships, which made TUFF’s involvement a practical solution. During the 5–10 year holding period, UT will pay up to $1.5 million per year in holding costs. If the university eventually walks away from the deal, it would be liable for up to $10 million in resale losses.
Board member Bill Rhodes praised the arrangement as a strategic workaround that allows UT to hold its position without an immediate capital outlay. “My first question was, ‘Why don’t we just buy it?'” he said. “But the answer is: Then we own it, and we have to operate it, and it isn’t ready for development yet.”
I reached out to John Cadotte, who spoke at the meeting, yesterday evening to see if he felt any better or more confident with the new information. Also, Plowman had indicated she wanted to speak with him and Ennis afterward, and I was curious about what was said.
“Yeah, a little bit,” he said. “It does seem like there are some community involvement measures that they’re going to be taking, and these are just beginning stage discussions. And they’ve invited us to be part of some initial discussion.”
This isn’t Cadotte’s first rodeo. He’s on the South Waterfront Advisory Board and has been involved with the pedestrian bridge project; he actually lives off Scottish Pike where the bridge will land.
“So one of the good things about the pedestrian bridge is that you have, effectively, four stakeholders in the project,” he said, referring to UT, the City, the Aslan Foundation and the local community. “Whatever you think of the pedestrian bridge, it’s coming, so you’ve got to just create the best scenario you can. And the nice thing about that is, everybody has some skin in the game, and there’s shared investment.”
“It’d be nice to see that same sort of dynamic played out in Maplehurst, so it doesn’t have to be just the university who is investing in this. So maybe we get something that both the community and the university can benefit from greatly.”
Also, just as a closing reminder…
You never want to upset ghosts. 👻
