History - TVA Power Business Center

For our 50 year anniversary, we are going to highlight a few projects we have completed over the years here at Schaerer Contracting that are historical and unique to the community. Starting off with what I consider a "bang" is the TVA Power Business Center located in the middle of downtown Chattanooga, TN.

For the average citizen or tourist that visits this area - located right in the middle of the Innovation District, stretching between Broad and Market street on 11th - this beautifully landscaped area looks like a park and a perfect place for TVA employees to enjoy lunch or coffee outside on a nice day. Not many know that the true purpose of this place lies stories beneath the concrete and brick hardscapes we see on level ground

The Power Business Center is actually the main line that buys and sells power for TVA in the surrounding 7 state region. As you can imagine, this is a pretty important place. For security reasons the engineers designed the business center to be below ground. They used the ballistic calculations from the then recent bombings in Oklahoma City to make this complex virtually bombproof in order to prevent a power disaster in the event of some sort of terrorist attack similar to the one in the Cinderella City.

For scale, on one day of work over 500 cubic yards of concrete was poured to build the substructure and precast concrete and brick pavers were used to give the finishing touches that give the outside appearance its appeal we all enjoy today. It is a truly interesting piece of Chattanooga history and architecture and we are so honored to have been given the opportunity to complete this project in 1995 and have since completed a few other projects for TVA around the area due to the care and precision put into this project.

Next time you are downtown on a beautiful day in Chattanooga (and we have plenty!), go over to the TVA building and have your lunch on top of the Power Business Center, its a great talking point and even better space to relax and take in the hustle and bustle of the Scenic City on a weekday or weekend afternoon.