For 14 years, passers-by were likely unaware that the unassuming beige-gray building on Oak Ridge Turnpike has been home to one of the premier law enforcement training academies in the country. However, the former A&P grocery store is soon to have more of a presence on the block.
The facility that houses the Law Enforcement Innovation Center (LEIC), an agency of the University of Tennessee Institute for Public Service, will soon be a canvas for the 24th Everywhere You Look, UT mural. The mural campaign, an initiative of the UT System, launched in 2018, and the goal is to have one mural painted in each of Tennessee’s 95 counties by 2030. The campaign demonstrates UT’s impact across the Volunteer State.
The Oak Ridge building was donated to the university by the late Guilford Glazer, an early East Tennessee developer. The Knoxville native studied engineering at George Washington University before joining the Navy in World War II. After the war, he returned home and opened his late father’s welding business before expanding into building and real estate development. After building Knoxville’s first high-rise apartment building, Shelbourne Towers, he was recruited by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission to build the Oak Ridge Shopping Center and other facilities, including the A&P grocery store.
In addition to the hundreds of law enforcement personnel who enter LEIC each year, the building is visible to more than 26,000 travelers each day.
Information provided by UT System Office of Communications and Marketing.