The Davis, Kessler and Davis law firm on Cherokee Boulevard on Friday, April 14, 2017, in Chattanooga, Tenn. The firm is located in the old Pruett's grocery building, which has been renovated into offices and commercial space.At a glance
› Who: Robert Davis› Job: Attorney for Davis, Kessler & Davis› Background: Raised in Estill Springs, Tenn.› Age: 32› Education: Baylor School, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, California Western School of Law; master’s degree from Chapman University School of Law in Orange, Calif.› Personal: Married
Randy Bradley was sitting in a wooden rocking chair in the rustic-looking lobby of Chattanooga's newest law firm, Davis, Kessler & Davis.
"It's really different," the firm's client said about the refurbished former North Shore grocery store that now houses the law firm he visited last week. "It looks home-like. I could go to sleep."
After some starts and stops in the $2 million makeover of the landmark Cherokee Boulevard market, run by the Pruett family for many years, the law firm opened its new Scenic City office this month.
While the firm is headquartered in Winchester, Tenn., the Chattanooga location will be manned full time by attorneys Robert Davis and Roger Layne.
Davis, 32, is a former Baylor School boarding student who left Tennessee for law school in California. Upon his return to join the law firm started 13 years ago by his father, Floyd Don Davis, he was looking at Chattanooga.
It's growing, and it's a perfect-sized city, said Robert Davis. "It's a great place to live and raise a family."
When rehabbing the structure, the firm played off its Winchester office done in poplar wood, Davis said.
Outside, the building's two entrances hold rough-hewn wooden awnings. The top of the brick facade is lined with horizontal stretches of multi-colored barn wood.
Davis said the firm found old barns around Winchester and harvested and reused the wood. Inside, many of the walls are done in barn-wood siding.
Building contractor Robert Roberts said the warped barn wood had to be cut, straightened and double coated with a flame retardant substance to make it structurally usable, safe and to keep its character and beauty.
Inside, clients see walls of richly colored, restored wood in herringbone and geometrical patterns. Light fixtures were made from large transformed cut logs. Columns are composed of highly polished barn beans.
"Not an inch of drywall is visible," said Roberts. "Even the metal fire doors are disguised with an overlay of top-sliding barn doors."
He said they wanted to respect the character of the North Shore by reusing the building that has been around since the 1940s.
"And if the structure is sound, remodeling is typically less expensive than building new," Roberts said.
Some of the original rock walls were preserved in the building by architect Terry Barker, Davis said. He said they believe the building was always used as a grocery store.
The law firm, which bought the building in 2014, will focus on personal injury, bankruptcy and criminal law along with family and custody matters, Davis said.
The attorneys like the location of new office - close to the Hamilton County Courthouse, easy interstate access and the flourishing North Shore.
"It's a hot spot. We're very excited about the area," said Davis, adding that the firm spent about a year searching for the right site.
About $64 million in projects are either underway, just completed or slated to begin within months on Cherokee Boulevard.
The law firm takes up about 5,000 square feet of the 15,000-square-foot building. The rest of the structure is vacant and the attorneys are seeking tenants to fill that space such as a restaurant or retail users.
Davis said the location also has parking, which is a premium on the North Shore. That should make it easier for clients, Davis said.
About 10 spots are reserved for the law firm while some 50 are available for the remainder of the building.
One factor that slowed the work on the building was a requirement by the city to shore up a bank of land at the rear of the building, according to the firm.
The Pruett family once operated a string of grocery stores in the Chattanooga area by the same name. Chuck Pruett also opened Greenlife Grocery, a health and organic specialty store, on the North Shore more than a decade ago. That store was later sold to Whole Foods.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.