A developer revamping a century-old tower into new condominiums has removed a metal skin that has hidden the front of the downtown Chattanooga building for decades.
“It has been covered up for 35 years,” Chattanooga developer Sean Compton said in an interview about the nine-story former Park Hotel at 117 E. Seventh St.
The original facade boasts yellow brick, which in 1915 was viewed as a cut above the more common red brick, he said at the site Wednesday. Compton said red brick was used on the other three sides of the structure.
“It showed you were spending money if you used the yellow brick,” the CEO of Southern Spear Properties said.
He said the Park Hotel, with a concrete build, was upscale lodging not just for Chattanooga but the South.