BUSINESS JOURNAL

Property Scope: 2017 real estate roundup

Josh Flory
USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee
Main Event entertainment center in West Knoxville takes up a 50,000-square-foot building.

Some holiday traditions resurrect bad memories, as anyone who celebrates an annual “airing of grievances” can attest.

But for those of us who prefer Christmas trees to Festivus poles, the ornaments on the tree usually bring back happy memories.

With that in mind, here are a handful of ornaments to hang on the 2017 Deal Tree: some shiny, some scruffy, but each a reminder about something significant that happened in the commercial real estate market.

Conley Building

Once home to a rooftop time-and-temperature sign, the Conley Building occupies one of Downtown Knoxville’s most strategic corners. In recent years, it has languished amid a messy and complicated ownership situation, but this fall the 13-story tower was sold to a group that is planning an Embassy Suites.

The pipeline for new downtown hotels is jammed. But if the Conley Building can be successfully redeveloped -- including a vibrant use in the ground-floor space -- it would provide a big boost for the center city.

Jennings Avenue and Tyson Street

With three small buildings on less than an acre, this property is a stylistic opposite from the soaring Conley Building.

This two-story brick building sits on the corner of Jennings Avenue and Tyson Street.

But when clients were looking for a promising redevelopment opportunity in the booming Downtown North neighborhood, this was always at the top of my list.

Anchored by a gorgeous, two-story brick structure on the corner of Jennings and Tyson, the site is around the corner from Maker’s Donuts and Remedy Coffee, and in June was sold to a group led by developer Joe Petre.

The new owners plan to redevelop the brick building and develop a 30-unit, two-building apartment complex overlooking Old Gray Cemetery.

Springbrook Farm

Efforts to redevelop the Alcoa West plant site have been ongoing for years, but Colorado-based Resight this summer inked the first official deal at the project, selling a batch of residential lots to a developer who plans to build Craftsman-style homes.

Springbrook Farm

With a location between McGhee Tyson Airport and the Springbrook neighborhood, and the promise of new road construction in the works, the broader project -- with uses slated to include retail, hospitality, apartments and restaurants -- has the potential to be a transformational one for the City of Alcoa.

(Full disclosure: I’m part of a team at NAI Koella | RM Moore that is marketing the remainder of the site and that brokered this deal.)

D.R. Horton

When it comes to home construction, Knoxville has traditionally been served by local and regional builders.

But in an earnings report this July, Texas-based D.R. Horton quietly added Knoxville to the list of markets where it operates. The company, which bills itself as the nation’s largest homebuilder, is now advertising six subdivisions in the Knoxville area, and their interest in East Tennessee bodes well for the region’s economic potential.

Main Event

This bowling-and-laser-tag-and-billiards extravaganza opened near Cedar Bluff and Kingston Pike this summer.

Main Event

Why does it matter? Because it’s the kind of entertainment-oriented destination that many observers think is the future of retail, in an era when Amazon and its ilk are battering the traditional shopping center model.

Users like Main Event, the Veloce go-kart track in the former Cedar Bluff Kroger and even the Maple Hall bowling venue on Gay Street will become increasingly important as online retailers take market share from strip centers and big box stores.

Foothills Mall

Speaking of traditional retail, Maryville’s Foothills Mall sold this summer for $16.5 million, or $34 per square foot, according to Real Capital Analytics. That’s a lower price tag than the far smaller Publix-anchored shopping center at Northshore Town Center, and a handy symbol of the struggles facing malls these days.

Add some tinsel, a string of lights and a star on top and the 2017 Deal Tree will look pretty good.

Season’s greetings to all, and here’s to a collection of bigger and better ornaments next year!

Josh Flory is a commercial real estate broker with NAI Koella | RM Moore.