A sign warns of the high-altitude construction over Chestnut Street on Thursday morning. The Jim Berry Co. continues construction at the top of the 17-story Liberty Tower at the corner of Chestnut and Sixth streets on Thursday morning.• Name: Liberty Tower, formerly Chestnut Tower.
• Location: Chestnut and Sixth streets in downtown Chattanooga
• Owner: Jim Berry's JBC Inc. bought the structure in 2010 for $4 million from Tower Two Associates, a real estate partnership organized by developer Franklin L. Haney, who built the office tower in 1979 to house employees of the Tennessee Valley Authority.
• Size: The 17-story building, one of the tallest in Chattanooga, contains 192,000 square feet.
• Project: The building is undergoing a $20 million revamp, scheduled to be completed by the end of the year. "We're ahead of our leasing schedule and on time with our construction schedule," Berry said.
• Status: Construction crews are installing a $1.2 million steel facade on top of the Liberty Tower. "It's raising up the cap on the tower about 14 feet higher than the current building," Berry said. "It will hide all of the elevator, air conditioning and other equipment on the roof and allow us to display the Liberty Tower signs on both the east side and the west side of the building." Berry said the rooftop facade should be completed in the next 30 to 45 days.
• New tenants: The Chattanooga law firm of Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel will relocate from the Tallan Financial Center and lease the top four floors, or nearly one fourth of the building. The firm arrives in early 2013.
• Distinction: Berry said he hopes the remodeled building will gain certification by the U.S. Green Building Council as a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design [LEED] certified building. "We've completely redone everything in the building," Berry said. "We've put new chillers, air handlers, ductwork and windows; we gutted it from top to bottom and tried to recycle everything that we could."