In July 1977, following two years of planning in cooperation with the UT College of Engineering and the Energy Opportunities Consortium Inc. (an independent corporation comprised of UT, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and TVA), Walter Lambert, special assistant for federal relations to Vice President for Development Joe Johnson, directed the compilation of a 46-page report outlining proposed energy-related residual uses for the US Pavilion. The report recommended that the building be used after the fair as a center for several areas of research, including environment, transportation, water resources, mining and minerals resources, international energy resources, and local energy development.
In 1980 UT submitted a condensed version of the report as its proposal to reuse the structure. The longer report, which outlined specific uses for areas, was submitted to the pavilion’s architectural firm in Atlanta with the idea that the architects would design the structure in a way that would not do anything to harm its proposed reuse. When the General Services Administration (GSA) indicated they had no reuse plans, it seemed that UT would get the facility. Chancellor Jack Reese appointed a “Residual Reuse of the US Pavilion” committee, chaired by Vice Chancellor for Research L. Evans Roth. The final design of the building was essentially one for galleries and displays and was energy inefficient. The committee learned that conversion costs of the $12.4 million structure would be $6 million to $8 million and that the operating costs would be unusually high. In June 1982 the committee disbanded because of conversion and estimated operating costs.
The pavilion was offered for sale for $1 by the GSA following the fair. After much discussion, the City of Knoxville bought it. In 1988 the pavilion was one of three options considered for use as the UT Conference Center, but it was not selected. In 1991 then-Mayor Victor Ashe had the structure demolished.