Two government agencies are now hashing out one of the last major questions concerning the old Veterans Administration campus in Knoxville; and the city hopes it will eventually lead to the demolition of the remaining buildings, because any other option could be a deal-breaker for the city.

The federal General Services Administration controls the property, and is now working with the State Historic Preservation Office on potential demolition.

Knoxville City Manager Aaron Adams tells KNIA/KRLS News the best case scenario for the city is to tear them all down, because it’s the most affordable option for the city…and anything else could simply cost too much.

“We’re estimating an $8 (million) to maybe $10 or so million dollar cost to demolish those buildings; versus if we chose one of the larger buildings — just one of 39 buildings — but if we chose one of those larger buildings, and we felt like we had to rehab that, preserve it, rebuild infrastructure sufficient to keep it, and utilize that building…we feel like that could be $10 million just by itself to handle one building, not counting the other 38 that would be left on the campus,” Adams says.

While city officials realize there are people who would like to see the architecture preserved, Adams says he and the city have to be pragmatic, and only proceed with a development plan which Knoxville can afford.

He remains hopeful the two agencies will reach an agreement which would eventually lead to Knoxville taking over and developing the site as planned.