Robinson Apartments at 622 Georgia Ave.
NUMBER OF UNITS
* Hardwick Hogshead: 33* Fitzgerald: 26* Total: 59 apartmentsSource: Berkadia Real Estate Advisors
Part of a historic downtown city block holding some of Chattanooga's oldest apartment buildings has been sold.
Enclave Holdings, which already owns a couple of apartment buildings in Chattanooga, bought the Hardwick Hogshead Apartments, built in 1912, and the Fitzgerald Apartments, raised in 1910, officials said.
Both are located on Georgia Avenue across from the Hamilton County Courthouse in the Fountain Square historic district. The buildings sandwich Jefferson's restaurant along with some small office and retail space.
Chattanooga commercial real estate broker Marcus Lyons of Berkadia Real Estate Advisors LLC, who negotiated and facilitated the sale of the property, termed the block "a trophy asset and will be for years to come."
He said the sale price was $11 million.
"I'm happy for both the buyer and the seller," Lyons said.
The seller is CBB Real Estate. That limited partnership was formed by Robert T. Johnston of the Johnston Southern Co., which bought the property in 2015 for $8.5 million. Johnston is the son of Coca-Cola Bottling magnate Summerfield Johnston Jr., who once headed Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc., the world's larger Coke bottler.
Greg Adams, managing partner for Enclave Holdings, said plans are to upgrade apartments and common areas.
He said officials like the location of the properties and their architecture.
"The location is supreme. There's not a better location in town," Adams said. "And the architecture, you can't find that anymore. It's forgotten. There's a lot of history in those buildings. They're iconic to Chattanooga."
He said Enclave wants to continue the legacy of the buildings and preserve their history.
"We'll make them nice and better and a nice place for people to live," said Adams, calling the properties "pretty much full."
In Chattanooga, Enclave also owns the Fortwood Apartments and another property on McCallie Avenue, he said.
Adams, who lives in Chattanooga, said the company has joint home offices here and in Raleigh, N.C.
Downtown is seeing a surge of interest in apartments.
More than 3,000 apartment units, nearly 2,000 student beds, and 250 condominiums and townhomes have either recently opened or are coming online within the next year or so.
In Cameron Harbor off Riverfront Parkway, a Nashville developer said he plans to build 200 more apartment units in that revived part of downtown.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.