TCAT Building Sees Final Days as Move-In Begins Inside New Facility

McKENZIE — The clock is ticking on the Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT) Henry/Carroll’s administrative office building, scheduled for demolition in early January 2026.

The new, 20,000 square-foot administration and academic facility, which sits adjacent to the current building, opens to students and faculty in January — just in time for the school’s spring semester.

TCAT Henry/Carroll President John Penn Ridgeway and members of the TCAT maintenance team began moving miscellaneous office furniture into the new building in late November, preparing for the strenuous move-in process.

TCAT’s fall semester ends December 17, and all of the rooms in the front half of the current TCAT building need to be vacated by December 19 in preparation for the January demolition start date.

The 60-year-old building is scheduled to be completely demolished by May 2026, according to Ridgeway.

Included in the demolition are the current Administrative Office Technology (AOT) classroom, the Information Technology Systems Management (IT) lab and all administrative offices.

The IT lab has already been moved into another room in the original building’s instructional wing, where it will remain.

Also in the instructional wing are welding, automotive technology, heat and air conditioning, industrial maintenance/integrated automation technology and machine tool technology classes.

The new building will house TCAT Student Services, an AOT classroom, an AOT lab, several administrative and business office spaces, a bookstore and a community event room. It will also be the home of a new Allied Health Program, expanding TCAT Henry/Carroll’s academic offerings.

The Allied Health Program has a classroom and a separate lab room inside the new building and will be available for student registration by fall 2026. In the spring, a walkway will be constructed to connect the instructional wing to the new administrative/classroom building.

The new building has a deep blue and white interior, representing the blue and white in Tennessee’s state flag. Each classroom has large windows, bringing ample natural light into the classroom spaces.

The Allied Health Program rooms face Highland Drive, and the AOT rooms face the back of TCAT’s campus.

The community room also has large windows and a balcony facing Highland Drive.

As TCAT Henry/Carroll students and faculty prepare to leave the building, TCAT Henry/Carroll Vice President Jan Latimer encourages students, faculty and alumni to sign the building’s focal point wall, which she said will be preserved in some way despite the building’s demolition.

The new academic and administrative facility is part of a larger $1 billion investment in TCAT campuses across Tennessee and represents a major step forward for the McKenzie campus, according to a BELL Construction representative.

The new facility stands in front of McKenzie’s current TCAT campus at 16940 Highland Drive.

A History of
TCAT-McKenzie

The construction of the McKenzie school began in the spring of 1964 and was completed in 1965. It began operation under the local direction of Guy R. Kirk, who was appointed superintendent of the school by then Assistant Commissioner of Vocational Education in Tennessee, Charlie Dunn.

The School enrolled its first students in July of 1965 in Automotive Mechanics, Drafting and Office Occupations. The first students to graduate from the Center did so in 1966.

In 1999, the Center underwent a two-million-dollar renovation project. This project included building new shop classrooms, installing a new heat and air system and an electrical system in the industrial building, renovating the administrative building, and connecting the two shop buildings to the administrative building by adding two new classrooms.