Historic warehouse on Southside to be auctioned this week

It was not a good area, at all. It's totally changed now. You've got homes selling for more than $2.25 million, each.

Henry Glascock

No one knows what will happen Thursday night at the auction of a historic downtown Chattanooga loft warehouse at 1401 Williams St. that's been home to Southside Antiques for 21 years.

But it's a good bet that if the building sells, it won't get torn down to make way for new construction, two knowledgeable Chattanoogans say.

"No, no, no, no, no, no," said Henry Glascock, who will auction off the property at 6 p.m. Thursday. "The building's got too much personality. It's built like a rock. There's not a bit of settling in the building. It's definitely not a teardown."

Former Chattanooga Mayor Jon Kinsey agrees.

"Somebody could do something special with that building, there's no doubt," Kinsey said. "It looks to be in good shape. I would think it would be redeveloped. I could not imagine somebody tearing it down."

Along with the antique store, the building has other tenants - who may or may not be able to stay, depending on the new owner's plans.

"They probably have 15 different tenants," Glascock said. "It's got artists... things like that."

The building's owners are selling, Glascock said, because of health reasons and dissolution of their partnership.

"They've owned it for quite a while," he said.

The owner is listed as C F S Properties by the Hamilton County Property Assessor's Office. The "C" stands for husband-and-wife Jim and Ty Cooper, Glascock said, and the "S" is for Socrates Sabater, a Cuban expatriate who migrated to America in 1960 at the onset of the Cuban Revolution and died in 2014 at age 85, and his widow, Olga Sabater. The "F" is for another partner who was bought out a while ago.

The building was at the forefront of the renaissance of Chattanooga's Southside neighborhood. When the antique store opened 21 years ago, the neighborhood was so bad that people were afraid to walk down the sidewalk, said an antique dealer who declined to be identified.

"It was not a good area, at all," Kinsey agreed. "It's totally changed now. You've got homes selling for more than $2.25 million, each."

"I think it's the best street in Chattanooga," said the former mayor, who has lived for 14 years on Williams Street.

The sellers are motivated, Glascock said, but there is a reserve price that has to be met before they will sell. He declined to say what the reserve price is.

"We have no idea whether there's going to be two people there [at the auction] or 200," said Glascock, a Chattanooga-area native who does commercial appraisals, auctions, property tax appeals and real estate brokerage out of his office at 3908 Tennessee Ave. in the heart of St. Elmo's business district.

Prospective bidders can learn more online at glascockauction.com/1401williams/.

Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/MeetsForBusiness or twitter.com/meetfor business or 423-757-6651.