As John “Thunder” Thornton readies the next phase of his 9,000-acre residential development atop Jasper Mountain, the Chattanooga developer is preparing to relocate and expand the sales, marketing and home building office for Jasper Highlands in the valley below.
Last Friday, Thornton’s Thunder Enterprises purchased a vacant storefront in Kimball once used as an Eye Ear Optical store — nicknamed by local critics as “Eyesore Optical” — and has begun renovating the 8,000-square-foot structure for a new office and showroom.
“We’ve outgrown where we are now and, with what we are expecting next year, we simply need more room and people to accommodate the growth we anticipate,” Thornton said Thursday. “This new location can serve as the front door of our community for many years to come.”
Thornton said 2015 “will be the best year in lot sales and building that my company has experienced since 2006.”
Thunder Enterprises has developed high-end residential properties in Wyoming, Utah, Hawaii and across East Tennessee in the past. But in the wake of the housing slump six years ago, Thornton has concentrated his development efforts on Jasper Highlands in Marion County, just a 25-mile drive from downtown Chattanooga.