Medical group to anchor new downtown Chattanooga office building

Construction on the 901 Building is underway at Riverfront Parkway and M.L. King Boulevard.
Construction on the 901 Building is underway at Riverfront Parkway and M.L. King Boulevard.

It's an opportunity to start from scratch and include the elements we want in a new office.

Chattanooga's largest plastic surgery practice will anchor about a third of what will be one of the biggest new downtown office buildings to go up in years.

Plastic Surgery Group & Hayes Hand Center is taking more than 10,000 square feet, or the entire first floor of the three-level 901 Building underway at Riverfront Parkway and the M.L. King Boulevard.

"It's an opportunity for us to design our space to what fits our practice," said Dr. Jason Rehm of the group that will relocate from its existing offices at the medical mall next to Erlanger on East Third Street where it has been for about 30 years.

Just fewer than 50 people will move to the new space by mid-2018, including the five physicians in the group, Rehm said.

He said that in addition to the group's plastic and cosmetic surgery practice, plans are to expand its spa service and offer newly designed space for hand therapy.

"It's an opportunity to start from scratch and include the elements we want in a new office," Rehm said, adding that it will offer access to updated technology and equipment. "We're more than excited about this next chapter in the group's history."

The project will open in the summer of 2018. The 33,000-square-foot building will provide quick access to U.S. 27 and Interstate 24 as well as to the rest of downtown, Rehm said.

He said the group will continue to work at local hospitals as usual.

Bob Elliott, president of Chattanooga-based Noon Development, said another medical practice, which he declined to immediately name, is expected to take 80 percent of the building's third floor.

"We've got one small spot on the third floor and the second floor is still available," he said.

Rehm said locating on the ground floor of the building will offer more convenience for its patients, noting the physicians group currently is on the ninth floor of the medical mall.

Also, the new office will provide surface parking "out our front door," he said.

Elliott said the building site is "a cornerstone location" for downtown, and the developer and tenants expect to benefit from the proposed extension of M.L. King from Riverfront Parkway to the Tennessee Riverwalk trailhead near the river.

"We're anxious to see the city ... get that worked out," he said.

The planned new road, parking lot and other physical improvements to the site are slated to go adjacent to the Riverwalk's Blue Goose Hollow trailhead.

The city's Industrial Development Board has approved an application for the M.L. King project that includes a $4 million tax-increment financing proposal for another developer, Evergreen Real Estate, to build the road extension and make the public improvements.

Nashville-based Evergreen plans to put up 180 new apartments nearby, and 20 percent of the units will be set aside as "affordable" as part of its Cameron Harbor development.

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

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