Work Begins On Converting Long Vacant Chattanooga Bank Building Into Hilton Tapestry Collection Hotel

With several dozen attendees – including former Mayor and U.S. Senator Bob Corker - on hand, the beginning of the restoration work of the historic former Chattanooga Bank Building into a hotel officially started Wednesday afternoon.

Joe Klein of the Milwaukee-based HKS Holdings, which is developing the building into a Hilton Tapestry Collection Hotel called The Waymark, told those gathered that what has been a vacant blighted eyesore will soon become a landmark for Chattanooga again.

“Our team will be spending the next 17 months converting this along with Grace Construction, our contractor, and their team as they demo what was a complete mess inside into what’s going to become one of the best hotels in this city,” he said during a 2 p.m. ceremony in front of the building on Eighth Street between Market and Broad streets.

The 10-story structure is scheduled to feature 148 hotel rooms, over, 2,000 square feet of meeting and event space, and various dining and socializing amenities.

Mr. Klein said that as his firm became involved and he walked through the historic building, he realized it had many good attributes that would allow it to be converted into a nice hotel and offer many of these planned features. “The location, the ability to put a rooftop bar, a speakeasy bar planned for the basement along with the ability to put another 148 rooms in the center of the city,” he said. “It’s very exciting for us.”

He added that Wednesday’s event that was described as a banner-dropping ceremony was especially rewarding due to a variety of issues that had brought some tough moments regarding if the project could come to fruition. He said those were related to the building itself as well as interest rates, construction costs and financing.

The architect for the project is HK Architects of Chattanooga along with Dutch East Design out of New York.

The building opened on Oct. 26, 1927, as the Chattanooga Savings Bank. It had been designed by Chattanoogan R.H. Hunt. A 1926 article said he was selected as the architect because bank building official Z.W. Wheland had also been involved with the construction of the Hamilton County Courthouse and Memorial Auditorium. And both of them had been designed by Mr. Hunt.

Wednesday’s event emcee, Emily Mack of River City Company, praised Mr. Hunt and his contributions to Chattanooga, including his old Chattanooga Bank Building.

“This structure is one of the most architecturally and culturally significant buildings in downtown Chattanooga,” she said. “And no single architect has had a greater influence on Chattanooga than R.H. Hunt. He is truly our city’s master architect, and he forever changed our built environment.”

Ms. Mack, who said that architect Hunt had his office on the top floor of the structure for a number of years, went on to further highlight the building’s history and its bright future, saying, “Over the decades this building bore witness to the Great Depression, the protests and activism during the civil rights movement, the deprivation of downtown during the 1970s and 1980s, and the resurgence of the 2000s.

“This building has been here longer than any of us, and thanks to the HKS team, it will continue to stand long after we are all gone,” she said.

Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly, who said he had first been frustrated as a member of River City’s board with the long-stalled plans to develop the vacant building, called Wednesday an exciting day as well.

“It’s a little surreal to be here today,” he said. “If it had not been for the dedication and grit of the community to stick with it and make sure it would happen, I don’t think it would have happened.”

He even called the planned renovation and redevelopment of the building a watershed moment.

County Mayor Weston Wamp said he had also been long interested in the building due to having his former office in the old Lovemans building nearby and that he appreciated it because he comes from an extended family of architects.

He pointed out that both he and Mayor Kelly work in R.H. Hunt-designed buildings – the Hamilton County Courthouse and City Hall, respectively – and he thinks this project to bring back the historic former bank building is giving love back into the community.

Barry White of the Chattanooga Tourism Co. said that he had read up on the type of hotel The Waymark will be, and he thinks it will be a good fit for Chattanooga. “This brand aligns with who our visitor is and who we are as a community,” he said.

Old newspaper articles when the building first opened said that it featured Golden Vein marble and bronze, an elaborate vault in the basement, light fixtures in the lobby done by the Bailey-Reynolds Co. of Kansas City and offices featuring walnut paneling. The banking room also was about the second commercial building in Chattanooga behind the Tivoli to have a form of air conditioning.

The building was opened in 1927 with a 7 p.m. ceremony with building official Mr. Wheland’s daughter, Dorothy, turning the golden key. An orchestra show on WDOD also was broadcast from some early-style outdoor speakers atop the building.

The structure also featured a Riviera soda fountain and restaurant at the Eighth and Market end.

In 1929, Chattanooga Savings Bank merged with First National Bank, and the enlarged banking office and service area was renovated with Mr. Hunt’s additional drawings. As a result of the expansion, the Riviera had to vacate the building.

In the early 1930s, the Depression forced the merged First National Bank – which had as its president Charles P. Hoskins and former Chattanooga Savings Bank president W.A. Sadd as vice president – to close.

It continued as a popular office building, with successful Coca-Cola bottler Cartter Lupton among its tenants for a few years.

* * *

Jcshearer2@comcast.net