Hamilton County Schools asks to renovate Cigna property in East Brainerd into new school

HAMILTON COUNTY, Tenn. — UPDATE (June 29th):

A new elementary school in East Brainerd is one step closer to becoming a reality.

Hamilton County Schools asked for 8 million dollars Wednesday to purchase the former Cigna property near Goodwin Road to turn it into a new school.

The district says it will take 15 million dollars to renovate the call center into classrooms.

"Our big challenge in that area of the county is capacity. With additional growth in the area, additional housing, we're looking at using this as an elementary resource," says HCDE Director of Operations Justin Witt.

Some commissioners expressed concern about how quickly this new school would reach capacity based on the amount of zoning requests to build new homes and apartments in that area.

EARLIER (March 17th):

Hamilton County schools wants Hamilton County to buy the Cigna facility in East Brainerd and renovate it into a new school.

The school board unanimously voted Thursday to pull funding from their fund balance to renovate the old Cigna building into an elementary school.

"We're looking at, hopefully if everything goes well, building the elementary school for 15-20 million versus 35-40 million which is just an efficient way we tackle our facilities crisis," says Chairman Tucker McClendon.

First, the county government will have to purchase the building and surrounding property for things to move forward.

EARLIER:

Hamilton County schools wants Hamilton County to buy the Cigna facility in East Brainerd and renovate it into a new school, new documents show.

Superintendent Dr. Justin Robertson plans to raise the issue at the Hamilton County School Board's next meeting on March 17th.

The item on the upcoming school board agenda says "Funding would come from the fund balance on future capital improvement funds over the next two fiscal years."

Renovations would cost between $7 and $10 million.

The Cigna building is located at 7555 Goodwin Road, right across the street from the current East Brainerd Elementary School.

The plan would be to buy the building along with the surrounding 20-25 acres.

Online real estate sites say the building was built in 1990, and has a current market value of $16,617,800.

In reaction to the news, Hamilton County School Board Chair Tucker McClendon tweeted, "This is the kind of thinking we need if we are ever going to tackle of facilities crisis in a fiscally responsible way."

Last summer, Cigna announced all of its employees who worked inside the building would now be working from home, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Depend on us to keep you posted on this developing story.