As further evidence of the Southside’s booming property values, a buyer paid $2.1 million for a three-story brick building on West Main Street.
The site at 27 W. Main St. that Chuck Cagle bought in 1992 for $66,000 was used as a first-floor gay bar, Chuck’s II, and his third-floor personal residence.
The buyer is listed as Sai Main LLC by the Hamilton County Register of Deeds Office, which recorded the sale on Nov. 1.
The sale price impressed Henry B. Glascock who runs a St. Elmo real estate, appraisal and auction business.
“It’s really indicative of what’s going on in the Southside, now,” Glascock said.
The property’s future is still unclear.
Real Estate Partners, which is headquartered in the Loveman’s building downtown, represented the buyer. Agent Ryan May declined Thursday to say what the buyer has planned.
Prior to the sale, Darlene Brown, Real Estate Partners’ founder, said the buyer was local and had done a number of feasibility studies on the building – but hadn’t decided whether to demolish it or renovate it for such use as condominiums.
According to Hamilton County Property Assessor records, the building dates back to around 1900, is about 2,880 square feet in size and sits on a 200-by-130-foot lot.
Cagle, who couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday, closed his bar on Oct. 22. He explained beforehand on the bar’s Facebook page that he got an offer for the property “that just cannot be turned down.”
Cagle said he was a “pioneer” when his gay bar opened in 1994 on New Year’s Eve because it was one of only a handful of businesses in the Southside then.
“I would call it a neighborhood bar,” he said before the bar closed. “It was a gay bar for a lot of years. Now, it’s a big mix.”
Another high price paid for a property in the area was $36.9 million for the Warehouse Row shopping and office center.
Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/MeetsForBusiness or twitter.com/meetforbusiness or 423-757-6651.