John Foy

The Chattanooga Lifestyle Center, located at 325 Market St. in downtown Chattanooga, is being sold to an investor group.

The downtown Chattanooga Lifestyle Center is set to become the newest scene of transformation near the Tennessee Aquarium.

A private investment firm hopes to soon turn the medical building, which has been owned by Erlanger Health Systems for 15 years, into retail, restaurant and office space.

The 44,738-square-foot building sits between Market and Broad Streets on a block that has already undergone major development within the last three years with the construction of the Carmike Cinemas Majestic movie theater, The Block climbing complex and the forthcoming Tennessee Stillhouse.

"The Lifestyle Center is in a prime location in city center," said Todd Phillips, CEO of investment firm Noon Management, LLC, which as of Tuesday is under contract to buy the property for $4.8 million.

The firm is comprised of Phillips, who is also president of Wealth Preservation Advisors, and chairman John Foy, who retired as a longtime executive with CBL & Associates Properties Inc. in 2012.

While Phillips and Foy are both founding partners of new venture capitalist group, SwiftWing Ventures, the development of the Chattanooga Lifestyle building will be a separate enterprise, the group said.

Phillips said the group intends to used the ground floor for restaurant and retail space and the second and third floors for office space.

"It's a new direction for the space, but we think it's in keeping with the location and neighborhood setting," Phillips said.

The building has been on the market for seven months. The hospital currently uses part of the building for its cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation programs and rents the remaining space out to doctors and other clients.

"We had lots of people looking at this building, but this was our best offer," said Erlanger chief financial officer Britt Tabor.

At a called board meeting Tuesday, Erlanger trustees voted unanimously to put the building under contract. The hospital is still deciding where it will move its Lifestyle Center programs.

At the meeting, Erlanger also agreed to sell a medical building it owns on Apison Pike in Collegedale to Noon Management for $625,000.

"We believe this is ideally located in a growing area of our community," said Phillips.

That building is currently occupied by primary care physician Dr. J. Scott Sherrer, who will soon be joining UT Erlanger Primary Care at Volkswagen Drive, Erlanger officials said.

The state is also purchasing part of the Collegedale property from Erlanger for $518,000 to put towards expanding the highway.

Both the Chattanooga Lifestyle and the Collegedale contracts will have due diligence periods of 90 and 120 days respectively before the deals close.

Contact staff writer Kate Harrison at kharrison@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6673.