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Emily Eiselstein
When Bob and Beth Pritchard moved to Chattanooga four years ago, they knew they wanted to live downtown by the river. Their timing was great. Condominium developments were popping up along the riverbanks.
The Pritchards chose one that they felt offered the most picturesque view of the river and its North Shore: River Pier Landing. Located on Chestnut Street next to the Tennessee Aquarium and across the street from Chattanooga Pier, the 2,000-squarefoot condo offered the couple and their young son, Mac, spacious living in a convenient downtown location.
All 18 units in River Pier Landing sold quickly, with more than a fourth of the buyers from out of town, according to a Times Free Press report.
Nearly three years later, though, the Pritchards have not yet lived in their riverside downtown home.
“The contractor went bankrupt, and we were left hanging for about a year and a half,” Mr. Pritchard said. “Everything came to a grinding halt. We were told not to hire a new contractor until things were settled in court, so we bought a house in Soddy.”
According to Emily Eiselstein, a Realtor with ReMax Properties, the Pritchards bought the condominium as a “shell” so they could design their own floor plan. The construction was well under way when the contractor went bankrupt.
Owners paid anywhere from about $350,000 to more than $1 million for the condos, which range from 1,200 square feet to more than 3,000 for the penthouse.
When the construction was finally completed nearly eight months ago, the tough realestate market made it hard for the Pritchards to sell the condo, so they, instead, rented it to Mike and Nancy Chen.
The Chens’ home had been flooded and the contents were a loss, according to Mrs. Chen, an anesthesiologist.
“Bob took pity on us and completely furnished his condominium in two days so that we could move in,” she said.
The Chens will be moving out in about two weeks, and the Pritchards are planning to use the condominium as their weekend and summer dwelling.
“This place is wonderful,” said Mr. Pritchard, a pilot for American Airlines, as he pointed out the panoramic view from his great-room windows. “We’ll get the best of both worlds having a home on the lake in Soddy and a home on the river in downtown Chattanooga.”
One enters the fourth-floor condo from the parking garage, where security is tight.
An open foyer, with ceramic tile floors, leads into a great room where 32 feet of glass doors open to a 32-foot-long, 8-foot-wide balcony that overlooks the Chattanooga Green, the Chattanooga Pier and the Tennessee River. A brick wall lines a hallway leading off the foyer into a bedroom and laundry room.
“The brick gives the home an urban feel,” Mr. Pritchard said.
The great room — a combined kitchen and dining room — includes a Siberian larch floor and cabinets made of curly maple.
The cabinets were made by Paul Cologne in Nashville, Mr. Pritchard said.
“As he was finishing the cabinets, one of his clients, Vince Gill, saw them and ordered some for his office,” he said, noting that Mr. Cologne’s work can be seen in the homes of many country-music stars.
“I heard about him through Kathy Anderson, who designed the interior of the condo. I grew up with Kathy,” Mr. Pritchard said.
To the left of the great room is a master bedroom suite that features a walk-in closet, a huge bathroom with marble countertops and a spacious walk-in shower with a bathtub.
“I wanted to sit in the bathtub and turn on the shower and not worry about water getting on the floor,” Mr. Pritchard said. “I wanted it to feel like you were sitting in rain.”
The master bedroom, as well as the living room, has corner ceiling-to-floor windows that give the illusion of sitting in a cockpit.
“It’s one of my favorite perches in the house,” Dr. Chen said.
Mr. Pritchard said he and his family look forward to finally making the condo their part-time home.
“There’s so many activities going on outside our window,” he said.
“The aquarium is next door, and everything else is just a hop, skip and jump from here. I know we’re going to love it.”
Feature writer Karen Nazor Hill covers fashion, design, home and gardening, pets, entertainment, human interest features and more. She also is an occasional news reporter and the Town Talk columnist. She previously worked for the Catholic newspaper Tennessee Register and was a reporter at the Chattanooga Free Press from 1985 to 1999, when the newspaper merged with the Chattanooga Times. She won a Society of Professional Journalists Golden Press third-place award in feature writing for ...
