For the fifth time in less than seven years, one of Chattanooga's fastest-growing accounting firms is preparing to move again into larger downtown offices.
Market Street Partners, which was started in 2016 by CPA partners Kyle Bryant and Kevin Rose, has grown to include 35 employees and is planning to again double office space by moving into most of the top floor of the redeveloping 715 Market St. office building.
"We are committed to downtown Chattanooga, and this will give us not only room to grow but offer us meeting space to offer our clients and community groups," Bryant said during a tour of the third-floor offices now under construction. "We expect to move in by mid-May."
Market Street Partners is taking part of what was formerly the Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union headquarters building. The credit union vacated the building nearly two years ago when it moved its administrative offices to its current headquarters in the former IBM building at 535 Chestnut St. and opened another smaller downtown branch across Market Street.
The almost 45,500-square-foot building was acquired in March by a real estate firm controlled by Noon Development, which also recently bought and redeveloped the John Ross Building downtown at Market and Fourth streets as the new headquarters for Steam Logistics.
"This building is ideally located in the heart of the downtown business district, and I think Artech has done a great job of improving the appearance and appeal of these offices," Todd Phillips, Noon Management president, said by phone about the architectural designs. "By re-skinning the building ... and removing the previous alleyway between Market and Broad streets, I think we've created a great downtown site for business."
Noon Management is a private equity investment firm associated with Noon Development.
Noon Development recently moved into the second floor of the 715 Market St. building, even as remodeling work continues above and below them.
"I think by June 1, the building will be done and everybody will be moved in," Phillips said. "With what we have done at the Steam Logistics building and here — and with what is planned soon for the Chattanooga Bank Building — most of Market Street from the river to M.L. King Boulevard will be developed. With the improvements planned across Broad Street at the Tivoli Center, this entire area is getting a real boost."
The Chattanooga Bank Building is soon to become a $40 million Hilton hotel.
Noon Development has signed leases for all but 3,000 square feet of the 715 Market St. building, Phillips said. Other tenants in the renovated building will be announced later.
Bryant said after frequent moves around other downtown offices in the past six years, he was eager to land a big enough office to accommodate the expected further growth of Market Street Partners. The accounting firm, which specializes in serving a variety of private business clients, generated more than $6 million in revenues in 2022 and the new office will help the firm accommodate as many as 80 downtown workers.
"We've signed a 10-year lease, and we're hoping to stay here and grow the firm in this new location," he said. "For all the talk about remote or hybrid work, I think people want to be together and talk face to face. Our business is still a personal relationship business as we work to help our clients succeed."
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6340.