The owners of one of Chattanooga's biggest personal injury law firms are renovating and expanding a Cherokee Boulevard office building they bought last year as the commercial growth of North Chattanooga continues to expand.
Brent Burks and James Kennamer, partners in the Chattanooga-based McMahan law firm, are remodeling and adding nearly 2,000 square-foot to the 11,834-square-foot office building at 701 Cherokee Boulevard. Built in 1971, the structure once housed Bob Corker's real estate investment company, Bencor, before Corker began his 25-year political career as the state's finance director, Chattanooga's mayor and one of Tennessee's U.S. senators.
"It's quite an undertaking; we plan on redoing both the whole outside as well as the interior," Kennamer said Monday. "We hope the renovation will be done by the end of 2020. It's almost like tearing down the whole building and redoing it. But it's got a great location with so much parking and a great potential."
The building and the 1.3-acre site recently housed about a dozen tenants, but the structure is now empty while the renovation is ongoing to convert the facility for a single user.
"We have not decided as of now if we are moving the law firm over to that location," Kennamer said. "Currently, we're leasing where they are in two buildings, but we have a right to purchase where we are."
Modus Build will renovate and enlarge the 48-year-old office building on Cherokee Boulevard bought last year by the principals of the McMahan law firm.Burks and Kennamer bought the Cherokee Boulevard building in May 2018 for $2.2 million, according to the Hamilton County Assessor's Office.
"There is a lot of investment around this building so we think this is a great growth area," Kennamer said.
Modus Build LLC is doing the interior renovation at 701 Cherokee Boulevard. According to the city building permit, the $1.6 million project will renovate the structure with new metal studs, drywall, flooring, mechanical, electrical and plumbing upgrades.
Kennamer said the building will also be expanded to provide more room for future users.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 757-6340.