Southside Chattanooga's Industrial Y Building is on the market

Contributed photo / The old Industrial Y Building on Mitchell Street was built in 1929. The 36,000-square-foot building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The so-called Industrial Y Building, a longtime fixture in downtown Chattanooga's Southside, is up for sale for $6.85 million.

Chattanooga businessman Jack Kruesi, who has owned the Spanish renaissance building since 1999, said he extensively rehabilitated the four-story structure over the years, but someone else is needed to redevelop it.

"It has been such a labor of love," he said about the 36,000-square-foot building. "I've got other businesses. I got distracted. It brings me to where I am now."

The building is located just off the key Main and Market streets intersection. It sits behind the Mission on Main apartment and commercial complex that developer John Wise is completing.

While Southside parking is often a rare commodity, the parcel includes an 18,000-square-foot parking lot with 62 spaces. The 1517 Mitchell St. building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Kruesi said.

"I swam in the building in high school and have always had this great passion for the building," he said. "Back in the day, it was the only swimming pool in town."

The structure still includes the indoor pool as well as a gymnasium.

Julie Beach, a Kruesi associate, said that they're ready to see the building brought back to life.

"When you walk in and witness the old beams, the fireplaces and all this historic treasure it holds, it is extremely moving," she said.

Kruesi said he put a lot of his time and money into the building's restoration, spending about $2 million. Among the steps he took was trucking over Spanish-style roof tiles from a 1929-era demolished hotel in San Antonio, Texas, to match those on the Chattanooga building.

Also, he substantially reworked the electrical and plumbing. A roof garden was totally re-poured with sub-slab water proof rubber bladder, the owner said, and the building's exterior was hand scraped, primed, painted and sealed with elastomeric paint.

About five years ago, Kruesi had intended to put a hostel in the building, but he couldn't see where that concept would make money.

He said he's talking with five or six "very serious candidates" to purchase the building, each of whom are in different businesses.

"We're very hopeful and we're trying to guide it to the best repurposing for the building and the Chattanooga community at large," Kruesi said.

He said the structure was raised in a post-World War I time when people could get an inexpensive room at the Y along with access to the pool and gym. A person could work, save money and try to better themselves, Kruesi said.

However, the building ceased functioning in the mid-1980s and it fell into disrepair. Kruesi said the building was located near a homeless mission and it would be broken into frequently.

"It became rundown and a flop house," he said.

Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.