Christian Scharf sits at the bar as he drinks coffee Wednesday, March 11, 2015, at newly opened Revelator Coffee Co. in Chattanooga, Tenn. The coffee shop opened on the ground floor of the Nautilus Building at the corner of Frazier Avenue and Market Street.One of North Chattanooga's anchor buildings has added apartments and a new coffee shop to the trendy North Shore.
The Nautilus Building, the 1940s structure located at the high-profile intersection of Frazier Avenue and North Market Street, has been revamped to include nine apartments and a Birmingham-based coffee company.
As part of the $1.6 million purchase and renovation of the three-story structure, Revelator Coffee opened a shop earlier this week in remodeled space on the ground floor facing Frazier.
Marcus Lyons of Bluestar Properties said the apartments leased up quickly with rents ranging from $1,275 to $1,700 a month for one- and two-bedroom units. He cited the building's location at one of the gateways to the city center as well as the apartments' amenities such as 14-foot ceilings, hardwood floors and granite counter tops.
"That's a fun little building," Lyons said.
Sam Bryant of Revelator said business has been strong since its debut. At midday Wednesday, about a dozen people were at the site, which also sells juice and baked goods.
About a half dozen people work at the new coffee offering, Bryant said. Revelator also has a location in Birmingham and one planned in New Orleans.
Andrea Moffett, Bluestar's operations director, said that wooing Revelator improves the retail appeal of the corner building, which for many years held the Nu Cheveax Salon.
While all the building's apartments are leased, there's still about 1,000-square-feet of commercial space along Market Street that's open, she said. Retail space on the Coolidge Park side of the structure is leased, Moffett said.
Downtown Chattanooga, including the North Shore, has seen an array of new apartment space to try to satisfy heightened demand.
Fast fact
A study last year crafted by real estate adviser Robert Charles Lesser & Co. for River City Co. said Chattanooga's downtown area could support up to 900 new housing units a year over the next decade or so.
Last week, Lamp Post Group revealed plans to refurbish the Yesterday's building at Patten Parkway and Georgia Avenue into new apartments. The former Ross Hotel will undergo a multi-million-dollar makeover and hold 43 so-called "micro-living" apartments each about 300 square feet in size and renting for $750 to $950 a month.
Lamp Post, a venture incubator that brings funding and support to entrepreneurs, said the new housing will be aimed a budding innovators and help with the city's efforts to become a technology hub.
At South Market and East Main streets, Wise Properties is raising a four-story, 75,000-square-foot mixed-use building that will house commercial storefronts and 63 apartments.
In addition, the first of 235 apartments, renting from about $800 to $2,000 a month, are rising at a 20-acre site off Riverfront Parkway between M.L. King Boulevard and the SpringHill Suites by Marriott.
Also, a Chattanooga private developer is building a seven-story student apartment building just off M.L. King aimed at helping to alleviate UTC's campus housing shortage.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.