Chattanooga Airport plans to buy the land holding the SkyZoo nightclub, a move that could shut the Lee Highway business the city tried to close last year amid a flurry of police calls and a fatal shooting.
The property owner has agreed to sell the land for $950,000 at 5709 Lee Highway, adjacent to a much larger parcel already owned by Lovell Field, said Terry Hart, the airport's chief executive, on Monday.
Hart told the Airport Authority at a meeting that finalizing the purchase is dependent on the seller completing an acceptable environmental review and ensuring that the building is tenant-free.
"There's no desire to keep the building on site," he said.
Hart said plans are to use the SkyZoo tract and the adjoining parcel for future airport-related activities, though those haven't been determined yet.
"For future development, we think it's the right thing to do," he said.
In 2019, a Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency study said the Lee Highway and Jubilee Drive corner could hold a hotel along with up to 50,000 square feet of retail, office or flexible industrial space.
The SkyZoo landowner is identified by the Hamilton County Assessor of Property as Chenyu Inc. of Dalton, Georgia. The property was last sold in 1998 for $550,000, records show.
In 2020, the airport bought a similar piece of land near SkyZoo for $710,000, according to the assessor's office.
Much of the airport's tract formerly held a Target store before that parcel was sold and the building demolished years ago.
In 2021, after a rash of police calls and a fatal shooting outside the club last May, the city council moved to revoke a decade-old special permit for SkyZoo.
The shooting had prompted Chattanooga's then-new mayoral administration to look into revoking the club's permit.
"Addressing gun violence in the city is a top priority for Mayor Tim Kelly's administration," said then-Chief of Staff Brent Goldberg at a 2021 hearing. "And, as our attorney mentioned, the incident that happened in May basically shed some light on a situation that we thought needed to be addressed and investigated, and that's what brought us here today."
Police said at the time they responded to more than 100 serious calls at SkyZoo in the past year.
Still, the club remained open by filing an appeal in Hamilton County Chancery Court. It claimed that by revoking the permit, the city reduced both the hours the nightclub could remain open and the number of patrons permitted on the premises and that the decision caused "irreparable harm."
Chattanooga attorney Douglas M. Cox, representing SkyZoo in the case, said in a telephone interview Tuesday that SkyZoo is still operating. But he said the owner took out the dance floor and put in pool tables. He said the owner indicated he wanted to turn the site into a sports bar.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.