NASHVILLE, Tenn. – State officials have given the all-clear for state employees to return to work Thursday inside the James K. Polk State Office Building in downtown Nashville.
The 33-year-old building was evacuated Wednesday afternoon after workers there felt unusual vibrations and movements over the last two days, according to several state employees. The state Department of General Services brought in structural engineers to review the situation.
"Structural engineers have examined the Polk Building, including the Southeast quadrant, and have determined there are no structural concerns," assistant commissioner Kelly Smith said in a statement.
"In heavily loaded structural steel facilities like the Polk Building, movement and vibrations occasionally occur. We are putting monitoring devices in place; however, there are no structural concerns at this time and it is safe for employees to return to work."
Located in the heart of downtown Nashville, the Polk Building is best known as the home of the Tennessee Performing Arts Center and the Tennessee State Museum.
More than a thousand state government employees also work there in an 18-story office tower suspended high above the street.
That tower actually hangs from massive steel anchors, which are attached to a concrete core.
In the late 1990s, then-state architect Mike Fitts brought in engineers who discovered corrosion on one of the cables that hold the whole structure together.
That led to a project to repair the cables and protect them from future corrosion.
"The first question I asked was are we in any kind of serious scenario where I needed to evacuate the building or something of that order," Fitts said in a 2001 interview.
That was not deemed necessary at the time.
Still, the unusual movements felt over the last two days inside the suspended tower are exactly why state officials took the unusual step today of evacuating the entire building.
The building houses the Tennessee Department of Transportation, the Department of Human Resources and the state Comptroller's Office.
At the time of the evacuation, state officials refused to say why the building was evacuated, except to call it a "precautionary" measure.
"We are taking precautionary steps to ensure the safety of our tenants," Smith said. "We have evacuated the facility and have professional engineers examining the area of concern."
