Tenn. Code § 68-9-108
For the execution of the powers, duties and obligations vested in the department, the department has the right to acquire by purchase, gift, bequest, lease, devise or otherwise, all necessary or proper personalty, lands and tenements, or any interest in personalty, lands and tenements as the department may determine to acquire or accept, and the department has the right to sell, give, lease or otherwise dispose of the personalty, lands and tenements, or any interest in the personalty, land and tenements, as, to the best interests of the state and for the execution of the powers and duties vested, may to the department appear necessary or proper; provided, that all property acquired by the department shall be held by the department as trustees for the state of Tennessee, for only the purposes and uses necessary or proper to the execution of the powers and duties.
T.C.A. § 68-9-108