Big Deals: A snapshot of recent commercial real estate sales in Chattanooga

Olan Mills, Nikki's Drive-Inn buildings get new owners

Photo by Dave Flessner / The office building housing JHM Certified Public Accountants in Chattanooga was sold for $3.42 million.
Photo by Dave Flessner / The office building housing JHM Certified Public Accountants in Chattanooga was sold for $3.42 million.

2215 Olan Mills Drive

* Price: $3.42 million

* Buyer: Pete Delay of Lynnwood Ventures LLC in Nashville

A Nashville investor has purchased the home of one of Chattanooga's biggest accounting firms, but the sale will not change the location or growth of the company. JHM Certified Public Accountants, whose principals acquired their office on Olan Mills Drive off of Shallowford Road in 2016, sold the property but will maintain its 45-employee office in the facility.

"We'd been approached a few times in the past four years about doing a sale-leaseback, but I'd always refused to consider it, for fear we'd outgrow the building," says Dean Krech, a CPA and managing partner for JHM. "However, with the transitioning of today's workforce to remote environments and the more frequent hiring of remote team members, I now see the space accommodating us for a while longer."

Pete Delay of Lynnwood Ventures LLC in Nashville purchased the 12,880-square-foot building at 2215 Olan Mills Drive for $3.42 million. "I'm a Tennessee native and I think Chattanooga is a fabulous place where I own a number of properties," Delay says. "We hope JHM stays in this building for many years to come."

photo Staff file photo / Nikki's Drive-Inn on Chattanooga's North Shore at Cherokee Boulevard and Bell Avenue in this photo taken before the restaurant closed in March during the coronavirus outbreak.

899 Cherokee Blvd.

* Price: $1.58 million

* Buyer: Fletcher Bright Co.

A business entity related to the Fletcher Bright Co. has paid $1.58 million for the Nikki's Drive-Inn site in North Chattanooga. The Chattanooga real estate company has been looking for a restaurateur to put a new eatery on the 899 Cherokee Blvd. location since mid-summer.

"We're in talks with potential users for the restaurant side of the deal," says Cardon Smith, a vice president for the Fletcher Bright Co.

Nikki's owner James E. Jones shut down the 80-year-old iconic restaurant in March amid the coronavirus lockdown and never reopened. Fletcher Bright Co. has been looking for a new restaurant and put up a sign seeking a tenant.

Smith says Fletcher Bright Co. plans to start work on a 10-unit townhouse project on a tract on Cherokee Boulevard adjacent to the former Nikki's site.

Last year, Fletcher Bright unveiled plans for a four-story, 52-unit condominium complex on the Nikki's tract, saying it had a contract to purchase the property. But in May, the development group changed its plans and instead decided to put the 10-unit townhouse project on the parcel next to the Nikki's site.

Each of the townhomes will be three stories with two-car parking on a bottom level, Smith says. The units with three bedrooms and three-and-a-half baths would sell in the mid-$500,000 range, he says.

Upcoming Events