Historic Park Hotel That Is Being Developed For Downtown Condos Sells For $4.5 Million

  • Thursday, November 3, 2022

The historic Park Hotel on E. 7th Street, that is being renovated for luxury condominiums, has been sold for $4.5 million to Chattanooga-based Southern Spear Properties.

The group, headed by Sean and Lizzette Compton, is also developing the Lucey Boiler property near Holtzclaw Avenue.

Hamilton County government used the former nine-story hotel for many years for offices and called it Newell Tower in honor of Sheriff Frank Newell.

The county put the building up for auction in 2020.

It was acquired in February 2021 for $1.5 million by Nashville developer Tyler Cauble. He recently bought the former Peerless Mill on 32 acres in Rossville.

Now called Park Tower, it is listed as "soon to be Chattanooga’s grandest condominium in downtown."

The Park Tower website says, "The Park Hotel was known as the ritziest hotel in the city when it opened in 1915; it also projected peace of mind, as it was constructed of solid concrete and was considered fireproof.

"Whether you desire to live in this luxury or secure a long-lasting highly lucrative investment, don’t miss this rare opportunity. All Park Tower condos can be short-term vacation rentals or long-term lease immediately upon completion.

"Whether you desire to live in this luxury or secure a long-lasting highly lucrative investment, don’t miss this rare opportunity. All Park Tower condos can be short-term vacation rentals or long-term lease immediately upon completion.

"The Park tower team will offer turnkey services on these VRBO units and long-term rentals to make your investment seamlessly simple including, but not limited to: booking, maid service, trash service, maintenance, and property management. Visitors to the Mountain City expect a view of the mountains; Park Tower will have these views in abundance in 360-degree fashion.

"This fabulous location allows you to walk to your favorite downtown restaurants, offices, and the courthouse. Also nearby are the University of Tennessee- Chattanooga, Warehouse Row, the Tivoli Theater, Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium, the Market St. Bridge, and the Chattanooga Aquarium.

"If you are looking to occupy your newly found treasure, have no worry. All entrances, elevators, stairwells and floors will be secured by multiple layers of access control and 24-hour surveillance and security. Park Tower will not only be Chattanooga’s premier tower of luxury living but also be the most secure and safest place to rest your head in Hamilton County.

"The Park Hotel opened in 1915. Frank Davis, who had previously been the manager of the Maxwell House in Nashville, was the Park Hotel’s first manager. The hotel’s owner was also one of its first tenants - the Realty Trust Company, with J.S. Rodriguez as its president, A.W. Chambliss as vice-president, and Emmett S. Newton as treasurer.

"The prominent and prolific local architect Reuben Harrison Hunt designed the Park Hotel. Much of the financing, material, and labor came from the Chattanooga area, a fact noted in an advertisement (“a testimonial to home industry”) taken out by those who built the hotel. The Renaissance-styled hostelry was nine stories, and had 105 rooms. A solarium was on the ninth floor. Through any one of the solarium’s three glass sides, a guest could view the surrounding mountains and ridges. Guests of the hotel admired the marble floors and walls in the lobby and oak flooring in the rooms. Each room had its own bath and telephone (novel furnishings in 1915), and the structure was said to be fire-proof.

"Guests of the Park Hotel likely included traveling vaudeville entertainers who performed at the shows at the nearby Bijou and Tivoli theaters. Other customers stayed overnight while in town to conduct business at the court house or at Chattanooga businesses. The Park may have occasionally welcomed the overflow of lodgers from the Read House and Hotel Patten when conventions were in town."

Officials said the new condo units "will boast a mixture of modern industrial design with exposed concrete and the fine craftsman-style finishes of a historical restoration of the early 1900s. We have named the design 'Gilded Industrial,' and the entire building will contain the high-end finishes one would expect in a state of the art condominium:

  • High ceilings, with exposed concrete

  • Burnished white concrete flooring, which will resemble marble

  • Original brick interior walls

  • Black stainless steel appliances, custom kitchen cabinets, granite and quartz options for countertops

  • Floor-to-ceiling windows, full tile showers, gold or oil rubbed bronze fixtures

  • In-unit washer/dryer hookups

  • Most units and common areas will boast panoramic views of the city and surrounding mountains."

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