RISE joined Choate Construction, along with other project partners, for a Foundation Celebration at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville on May 15, 2024. This event, which included lunch for over 200 subcontractors, development partners, and University officials, marked the completion of deep foundation work on the Andy Holt and Caledonia sites.

These two sites, which are part of RISE’s public private partnership (P3) with the University of Tennessee, will house 1,954 students on campus starting in the Fall 2025 semester. A third residence hall is being developed on an additional site for the Fall 2026 opening that will include an additional 1,028 student beds.

The reason for celebrating this unique milestone was due to overcoming the uncertainty underneath the ground at these sites. Construction on, and near, the campus requires extensive deep foundation work to navigate unpredictable and difficult conditions. The depths at which stable earth for a foundation can be utilized vary wildly within the same area.

Altogether, 17 miles of underground piles have been installed since the January 24, 2024 project closing. The Andy Holt site required 437 piles averaging 81.3’ in length. The Caledonia site needed 1,047 piles installed averaging 51.9’ per pile.

“They don’t call it Rocky Top for nothing,” Jeremy Doss, RISE Senior VP of Development, said during his brief presentation to the Foundation Celebration attendees.

Jeremy continued, “I want to take this opportunity to again thank UTK, and the UT System for championing this tremendous and record setting P3 housing initiative. The RISE Team, Niles Bolton Associates, Cope Architecture, CEC Civil Engineering, and Choate are making the magic happen as we see this project come to life.”

“These 440,000 SF concrete and metal frame facilities with 1,954 student beds will house and launch over 75,000 different freshman students’ college careers over just the next 40 years of service. Folks, that is impact and that is an important legacy we are each currently working on,” he concluded.

Construction workers and subcontractors were treated to a lunch on-site along with a raffle that included a Yeti Hopper Cooler, flat screen TVs, gift cards, and more. Recognizing and celebrating the efforts of these workers is an important touchpoint for RISE and its partners and another way the company lives out its mission to “Improve lives and impact people positively – one person at a time.”