Urban Story Ventures has opened up an informal survey for feedback on the future of the "Leisure Lady'" on the web.
Two decades after Chattanooga businessman Henry Luken brought a 157-foot yacht up the Tennessee River to dock at his riverfront home on Battery Place, the former casino ship has been sold and relocated less than a half mile downstream to where developers are planning a new marina and restaurant complex.
The Chattanooga development firm Urban Story Ventures announced Thursday it has acquired the former "Leisure Lady" casino ship with plans to try to renovate the aging boat as part of the firm's plans to redevelop the industrial waterfront site known as The Bend.
The Chattanooga shipping company Serodino Inc. hauled the yacht to a former riverfront grain silo near the Novonix battery plant on Riverside Drive over the weekend.
"If you've been on the Riverwalk or have driven across Veterans Memorial Bridge in downtown Chattanooga, you have likely seen the giant ship, which has seen better days," Brad Shumpert, executive vice president of Urban Story Ventures, said in an announcement of the relocation of the yacht. "The core of our business focuses on next chapters in commercial real estate, and we see great potential and exciting possibilities ahead for 'Leisure Lady.'"
The yacht was built by the Christensen Shipyards Ltd. of Vancouver, Washington. Luken was once the principal owner of the ship-building business along with widespread office, golf course and commercial properties in Chattanooga.
Luken had proposed in 2005 to convert the boat into a restaurant on the river, but those plans never came to fruition, and over time, the yacht deteriorated. During the past decade, Luken has sold most of his Chattanooga properties and businesses, including his former Battery Place home and the yacht he once docked at his house.
(READ MORE: Luken sells Chattanooga properties)
Led by developer Jimmy White, Urban Story Ventures is developing commercial real estate across the South and has targeted the 120 acres once owned by Alstom Power along Riverfront Parkway for a projected $1 billion worth of industrial, office, housing, retail and recreational development.
(READ MORE: Special tax zone aids development of The Bend)
The Bend is a 120-acre adaptive reuse project on one of Chattanooga's last developable pieces of downtown riverfront, spanning more than 3,000 linear feet.
Aided by both federal and local tax incentive programs, The Bend area has already attracted the Australian-based Novonix to make battery materials and relocated the headquarters of Micronics Engineered Filtration Group from the company's previous office headquarters in New Hampshire.
Through its West End Property LLC, Urban Ventures is seeking regulatory approval to build a commercial marina on the Tennessee River at The Bend just downstream from the Tennessee River Park at the end of M.L. King Boulevard. In its request to the Tennessee Valley Authority for a permit, the developers propose building a commercial marina with a full-service floating marina and two restaurants, a ship store, fuel and utilities.
Although the Leisure Lady was once used for casino gambling in international waters, such riverfront gambling is not allowed within Tennessee under current law.
The proposed marina at The Bend is one of three riverfront boat dock requests in Chattanooga being considered by TVA along a 4-mile stretch from the Chickamauga Dam to Moccasin Bend. Upstream of The Bend project, Thunder Enterprises is proposing to build docks for its 210-acre Riverton development off Lupton Drive, and Fletcher Bright Co. is seeking a permit to add 71 boat docks as part of its 70-acre riverfront development near the South Chickamauga Creek.
What would you like to see happen with the "Leisure Lady?"
Urban Story Ventures has opened up an informal survey for feedback on the future of the "Leisure Lady'" on the web. Visit bit.ly/BendSurvey.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6340.