The Hamilton County Commission is set to vote on a resolution that will lease the old county jail to Jailhouse Properties LLC, a subsidiary of Urban Story Ventures. The project is being brokered by Urban Story Ventures owner Jimmy White, listed on the lease as a guarantor.
(IN THE NEWS: Hamilton County officials draw up lease for Jailhouse Studios project)
The intended use is a state-of-the-art music and film production studio with a 10,000-square-foot data center incorporated through a partnership with tech billionaire Larry Ellison’s company Oracle. A presentation of the intended use was shared with the County Commission at a meeting Jan. 7, which claimed this would be a billion-dollar project that will put Chattanooga on the map.
The building, 142,000 square feet, is part of a larger parcel owned by the county, assessed in 2018 with a value of $29,607,300. The price per square foot of the larger parcel is $53.61, which, applied to the building, gives it a value of $7,612,620.
According to county documents, the building is set to be leased for $375,000 per year with a 3% annual increase for 35 years. This equates to $2.64 per square foot.