A building that held one of the pioneer businesses in the renaissance of downtown Chattanooga's Southside, and later a nightclub that was called a public nuisance by the city, is for sale.
"It's a unique piece of property of course," said Rudy Walldorf of Herman Walldorf Commercial about the 1400 Cowart St. building that most recently held the Coyote Jack's club, which is now closed.
The asking price is $2.1 million for the building, which Walldorf said has 19,600 gross square feet.
He said he has had three "pretty good showings" to prospective buyers, one of which made an offer for the property. The site was bought in 2012 by a company, Cow Art LLC, for $1.01 million, according to the Hamilton County Assessor of Property.
Walldorf said one interested potential buyer saw a restaurant going into the building while the others see it used for offices.
A neighbor said on Monday he doesn't care a lot about the future use as long as it's safe.
"As long as no one is getting murdered there, I warmly embrace it," said Richard Adams of the Southern Star restaurant nearby at 1300 Broad St. "I parked out there and would walk into work and they'd say 'Somebody got killed there.'"
Adams said the location could be remodeled into housing or event venue space.
"There could be low renovation costs," he said.
Late last year, the city asked a judge to declare Coyote Jack's a public nuisance to close the club following a fatal shooting, which was the third in three years.
The city took legal action the same day that the state moved to revoke the business's liquor license and property owners terminated the lease agreement, citing the club's lapsed business license and beer permit.
Police were called to the address 470 times since the club opened its doors in January 2015, according to Chattanooga Police Department data. Ten people were shot there since 2016, three of whom died. Prior to 2015, there had been zero calls for shootings.
The city's petition to declare the club a public nuisance named Bankable Holdings LLC, the listed owner of the now-closed nightclub; and Tammie Taylor and Ronald "Ronnie" Berke, members and principal operators of Bankable Holdings, as defendants. Berke is the uncle of Mayor Andy Berke.
The building originally was constructed as the Armour meat-packing plant.
It was converted into a restaurant in 1985, the Southside Grill, which was a pioneer business in the revitalization of downtown's Southside.
The building was upgraded again in 2007 and became Niko's Southside Grill. The building also housed another former restaurant, Bella Vita, and later the nightclub.
Walldorf said the nearby Main Street area has "really gotten hot."
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.