A First Look at the Soon-to-Open 612 Building’s Gorgeous Renovations  

The Tennessee Theatre has always been a container for memorable sensory experiences. You sink into the crimson velvet seats and stare up at the ceiling as the music begins, like the ballerina inside some gilded jewelry box, far removed from the pragmatic drudgeries of the outside world. 

Now, the 612 Building expansion adds its own stamp to the spell. It doesn’t try to replicate the opulence of the “grand entertainment palace” next door exactly; there’s a sort of soft recalibration when you move between the two. If the Theatre is the grandmother, the majestic matriarch of the family, the 612 Building is the chic, cultured aunt who summers in Paris and always has a gin martini in hand.

Walking in from Gay Street, beneath the new Cameo blade sign—like a pendant said aunt might wear, picked up in an antique shop in Milan—you’re greeted by a big, bright open space. The intricacies of restored plasterwork are balanced by heavy velvet curtains and the glamorous heft of a late-1800s bank vault. It’s easy to imagine an ensemble performance by the symphony or the opera, music swelling up past the elegant chandeliers into the mezzanine above.

Two new lounges connect directly to the Theatre. The Everly Lounge (main level) and Osborne Lounge (upper level) are designed for intermission flow, providing additional restrooms, expanded concessions, and places to gather.

Where the Theatre pulls from gold-crusted crayon box hues, the lounges’ palette is softer and moodier. The style leans more Art Deco. The walls themselves almost read like brushed fabric—or a painting; even after studying them from every angle, it was hard to tell how the effect was achieved. The fixtures and patterns give a nod to the geometric shapes that define the Theatre without slipping into imitation.

Above this, a dedicated education and outreach floor, referred to as the Annex, will host workshops, rehearsals, lectures and programming designed to connect young people and the broader community more deeply to the arts.

The Administrative Level, still being finished, will host office and staff workspace. It will be a spacious, sun-drenched change from their current cramped quarters downstairs. 

It’s a new chapter for the 612 Building, a place with a long and layered history. Over the past century-plus, it has been many things: the site of a dramatic gunfight, offices for the Southern Railway and TVA, home to the local chapter of the National Committee of Music Appreciation and wartime efforts, and, in the 1950s, a radio studio where artists like the Everly Brothers, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, and the Osborne Brothers performed live broadcasts.

Which brings us to the very top floor, still in progress. A professional recording studio is in the works, designed to serve both working artists and educational programming. It will even be able to connect directly to the Theatre for live recording, something that wasn’t previously possible. 

In whole, it’s the culmination of an eight-year journey that included early planning, a pandemic pause, and a complex $24 million historic renovation led by Jenkins & Stiles, Partners Development and McCarty Holsaple McCarty. Construction began in April 2024, and now, on the cusp of opening, the nearly 20,000-square-foot expansion is ready to change how the Theatre functions without changing what it is.

While the 612 Building hosted a couple preview events this week, it will officially open to the public for the sold-out Marquee Awards on May 17.  

Inside of Knoxville has been checking in on the 612 Building periodically, walking through at every opportunity to check in on its progress. The last time I saw it was in December, when it was still very much under construction. My own imagination—functional, but not exactly visionary—was unable to wrap itself around what was to come. 

For my whole life, the Tennessee Theatre has been the seat of sensory experiences intertwined with the memories that mark different phases of my life. Holding hands with a boy for the first time during an elementary school symphony field trip. In college, at Ween, watching bubbles float past the balcony in a psychedelic haze. First dates to Bob Dylan and La bohème with my now-husband of 14 years. Nine months pregnant, a baby kicking inside me during a Pixies show. And now, bringing our young son along to it all.

Many are to thank for guiding the 612 Building to its next iteration, a truly generational investment in Knoxville’s cultural life and in the Theatre’s future. There are too many names and entities to list here, but I’ll say one: Becky Hancock, who has now overseen two transformative projects, first as general manager during the Theatre’s restoration in 2005 and now as executive director leading this expansion. Well-done, Becky. 

Support is still welcome as the 612 Building moves toward the finish line. You can learn more about the expansion and how to contribute here.