Riverview Tower Sells to Apex Bank for $44.17 Million

Riverview Tower, the 23-story office building at 900 S. Gay Street we last reported on in December 2025, has been sold to Knoxville-based Apex Bank for $44.17 million.

The sale, which was announced yesterday, includes the roughly 334,000-square-foot Class A office tower and its adjacent 421-space parking garage. SVN | Wood Properties handled the listing on behalf of Hertz Investment Group, which had owned the property since 2013. 

Apex Bank said its employees would take up a portion of the building, and the rest of the building’s tenants would be keeping their spots.

Riverview Tower is the second-tallest building in Knoxville behind its neighboring Plaza Tower which rises to 27 stories. It was built by C.H. Butcher for City & County Bank, six years after the Plaza Building, and you’ll still hear locals refer to them as the “C.H. Butcher building” and the “Jake Butcher building.” It is one of the most recognizable silhouettes in Knoxville’s skyline, its glass façade frequently catching light and reflections in unexpected ways. 

The building is currently about 96% leased and houses 39 tenants including several prominent attorneys, Truist Bank and CGI, which operates a 37,000-square-foot delivery center in the building that opened in 2023. 

The sale price is significantly higher than the building’s most recent appraised value of $25.9 million last year. Hertz Investment Group purchased the property in 2013 for $24.25 million, according to Knox County records.

“We are proud to make this investment because we believe deeply in Knoxville’s future,” Apex Bank CEO Dave Miller said in a news release. “With 95 years of history and our headquarters in this city, we are honored to own this landmark, reaffirming our commitment to the people and places we serve.”

Apex Bank operates 22 retail locations and a Knoxville-based mortgage servicing center with over 220 team members. In 2023 Apex purchased the former headquarters of Scripps Networks (9721 Sherrill Boulevard in West Knoxville) to relocate its corporate headquarters and mortgage-servicing division.

“This acquisition is about more than real estate; it is a strategic investment in the city we call home,” said Apex Bank Chairman Matt Daniels. “Bringing Riverview Tower under local ownership for the first time in decades ensures that a cornerstone of Knoxville’s skyline remains tied to the growth and stability of a local institution.”

SVN | Wood Properties’ George Brown and Taylor Thompson led the sale and will continue as leasing agents.

“Riverview Tower is one of the best office buildings in Knoxville,” George said in a news release. “I started working in it in 2008, started handling the leasing in 2012, and got to sell it in 2026.”

The building was listed for sale in December of last year. Hertz Investment Group previously attempted to sell the property in 2018 without success, but this time was different, moving from listing to closing in just four months.

Taylor said, “This transaction generated strong interest from the market and ultimately delivered an exceptional outcome for our client. More broadly, this speaks to the continued growth and development happening across downtown. Knoxville’s office market continues to outperform expectations and, in many ways, is an anomaly compared to peer markets, with strong fundamentals and sustained demand for well-located, high-quality assets.”

The same SVN | Wood team also recently announced the sale of the Crystal Building/US Bank Building at 607 Market Street and 413 Clinch Avenue for $16.5M. I’ll work on getting more details about that to you soon.