Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale, Knox County Commissioners and the Beck Cultural Exchange Center Board of Directors broke ground on the Center’s expansion this morning. Community leaders and neighbors gathered to witness the beginning of the long-awaited project. Witnesses smiled on as the first plats of dirt were turned.
Though the Center underwent a renovation and expansion in 2005 to add a meeting room and a 5,000-book-capacity library, this $1 million-plus expansion of the Dandridge Avenue facility will provide more space for the exhibition of the cultural artifacts and art for which the Center is known. The new space and renovations will allow Center staff to control the museum environment, lighting and air in order to better protect the Center’s exhibits and multimillion-dollar archives collection containing roughly 30,000 items related to black history.
The expansion was made possible by $859,120 in county money and $200,000 in state money appropriated over the last two years.
According to Mayor Ragsdale, “This is something we have been waiting to do for a long time. I am excited to get this expansion under way today and know that it will exponentially improve this already impressive facility.”
The project has been designed by McCarty Holsaple McCarty, Inc. and will be constructed by J.A. Fielden Co. Inc. The project is expected to be completed by early Spring 2010.
The Beck Cultural Exchange Center is located at 1927 Dandridge Avenue in East Knoxville.
