UCHRA will move its regional headquarters from Cookeville’s Jefferson Avenue to CC Camp Road.
Executive Director Mark Farley said the agency has entered into a lease agreement for a newly renovated facility. The agency has signed a 10-year lease for the new location, which Farley said positions UCHRA in an area of the city seeing significant growth.
“If you look at the growth of Cookville, everything is starting to grow now to the west,” Farley said. “And we think in time, as Cookville continues to grow, that that will put us in a more centralized location than where we’re currently at today.”
Farley said the facility is a former manufacturing facility now renovated into office space. It will house UCHRA alongside other tenants. He said the agency expects to occupy roughly a third of the building, reducing its footprint from about 39,000 square feet to an estimated 18,000 square feet.
“You know, we’ve had some positions that we realize can work from home, so that’s allowed us to shrink the footprint,” Farley said. ” And we’ve also become more efficient in the office space that we need. But services-wide, we’ll still be the same agency looking to serve the Upper Cumberland and whatever those needs may be. And the thing about our region is it changes from year to year, and we always have to do our best to meet the needs that the mayors and the community have.”
Farley said UCHRA opted not to renew the lease for the current facility located on Jefferson Avenue, which is set to expire in December. Farley said the agency will begin moving later this year.
“Our goal is to start moving somewhere at the end of November, first of December,” Farley said.
Beyond the move itself, Farley said he’s also interested to see how UCHRA’s current location evolves as Cookeville continues to grow.
“Cookville is booming right now with so much coming in and being added services and retail operations, farley said. “I think the current location where we’re at now, it’s going to be fun to see what that turns into. That whole Jefferson Street, all the way from the courthouse down to Interstate 40, is continuing to grow. And I think our move will allow more retail locations to locate there.”