The 1994 Master Plan for Space and Facilities for Units in Knoxville recommended closing Andy Holt Avenue between Volunteer Boulevard and Melrose Avenue and creating a pedestrian mall. The university worked with the City of Knoxville, and the city council issued an ordinance that closed the street on a temporary basis in December 1995 to allow a year’s evaluation of traffic patterns prior to closing the section of the road permanently. The street was closed during the 1995 winter break, with the parking meters that had previously been on Andy Holt Avenue being moved by the City of Knoxville to Pat Head Summitt Street.
In February 1998 the first phase of the project was begun—removing 40 feet of the asphalt and replacing it with concrete and adding flowerpots. The class of 1999 dedicated its class gift for the mall, and the class of 2000 designated its class gift to establish a time line of UT History on the mall, and prepared a list of items for inclusion that was further refined by a subcommittee of the campus planning committee, which was then further refined and expanded.
Construction on the mall began June 17, 2002, and was initially scheduled for completion in January 2003, but weather and the need to redesign some sections because of underground utility and water lines delayed completion. The last piece of construction equipment left and the mall was opened to students on May 26, 2004. The mall cost approximately $3 million and was paid for from student facilities fee collections, auxiliary reserves, and bonds to be retired by the student facilities fee.
The mall contains the time line, an amphitheater, a plaza, shady spots, and a replica of the modified UT Seal. In October 2004 the Student Senate requested that the large tree on the stage of the amphitheater, carefully preserved when the mall was designed, be removed because the stage could not be used with it there.
The 30-foot by 846-foot walkway is made of three thousand cubic yards of concrete. A pedestal was installed when the mall was constructed to allow for acquisition of a major piece of art, and Alice Aycock’s sculpture A Startling Whirlwind of Opportunity was installed in 2009.
The 1994 Master Plan consultants were Bullock Smith and Partners and Sasaki International. The mall was designed by Ross Fowler Architects, and the contractor was Walter Rice Construction Company of Franklin, Tennessee.