Warning: Attempting to keep up with downtown transactions, plans, and players can induce severe mental whiplash. The Emporium Building on the 100 block of Gay Street, built in 1898, started life as a furniture store, spent a stint as a manufacturing center, and was purchased in 2002 for 800,000 by Dewhirst Properties. One of downtown’s early conversion projects, it became home to the Arts and Culture Alliance and forty apartments in one of downtown Knoxville’s first large redevelopment projects.
Nothing changed for twenty years. Easy to follow that, right?
In late 2022, however, the changes started. Boghani Properties went on a spending spree that year, buying 9 Market Square ($3.9 million) and 408-414 South Gay ($6.3 million). In December, the group purchased the Emporium and an adjacent parking garage for $24.75 million.
Will Sims of Oliver Smith Realty brokered those deals and now he’s brokered the sale of the Emporium to Austin Williams and Jay Benson with Compass Ventures, just two years later. The sale was finalized this past Friday but had been in discussion for nearly six months. Included in the $19 million sale are all the residential units, but not the Emporium space, which will remain under the ownership of Boghani Properties, with a long-term lease to the Arts and Culture Alliance. The adjacent parking lot (formerly a garage) is also not included in the sale.
The units have been quietly offered to residents and to the larger market. Of the forty, twenty-one are under contract and nineteen remain available, though some are currently occupied or are under renovation, so they may not be immediately available. Chandler Sims of Realty Executives handles sales for the new units. Included are homes above the Emporium but also homes on the side of the building facing the courtyard to the north.
Chandler said that the purchases so far have been mixed in terms of local buyers and out-of-state buyers who have children who attend UT. Some are buying for an investment. The Gay Street location and the short walk to the new stadium are appealing to buyers, she said.
The homes range in size from 730 square feet to about 1800 square feet. Included are studios up to three bedrooms (two of these remain), with twelve of the remaining homes including two bedrooms. She said the studio homes have a separated bedroom space, making them not feel like a cramped studio space with the bed in the living area. The larger homes are being offered at just under $500 per square foot, while the smaller homes are closer to $600 per square foot.
The units feature ample amounts of exposed brick and hardwood floors. Both Sims and Williams agreed that many buyers will want to update and/or renovate the spaces and most of the buyers so far have come in and updated and renovated. Sims said that kind of process will likely keep downtown prices heading higher.
The Compass Group has largely focused on projects in downtown Sevierville but has been interested in pursuing projects in downtown Knoxville. Williams said they had expressed interest in the Emporium before it was sold to the Boghani Group. He said they have come close on other projects in downtown and they anticipate doing more work in the area.
He said the Compass Group really enjoys being part of revitalization and they are excited to enter the downtown Knoxville redevelopment scene. He said the company has always been “mindful of how our developments impact the community . . . We try to think about how we can make a bigger impact.” He said that while the Emporium may not be the project that best illustrates what their company wants to do longer term, he said to expect to hear from them in the future as they try to “have a greater impact beyond just making another dollar.”
In Sevier County we have a three-prong approach to our projects. It’s about solving the work-force housing crisis, it’s about revitalizing downtown Sevierville, and turning Sevierville into a premier destination . . . People like to have a safe, clean, affordable place to live. A downtown is a community gathering place that tells the history history of the community . . . It helps create high paying jobs. Is that three prong approach the same in Knoxville? I look forward to figuring that out.
The company is hiring staff in Knoxville and looking for office space.
If you are interested in learning more about the possibility of living in one of these homes, contact Chandler Sims at 865-898-8450.