Allen Casey land deal could fetch $5.2 million
A proposal to sell a high-profile parcel of land on Chattanooga’s riverfront could fetch one of the highest prices for a downtown tract in years.
The trustee in Chattanooga businessman Allen Casey’s bankruptcy case wants to sell the 6.6-acre vacant piece of property located on the North Shore for $5.2 million, court papers show.
Trustee Jerrold Farinash said in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court filing that the price for the Manufacturers Road tract, at more than $787,000 per acre, is “in the range of the fair market value of the property.”
The buyer for the land, located across the Tennessee River from Ross’s Landing, is identified as American River Development LLC.
Chattanooga attorney Gary Patrick, who represents former Casey investors who had sued the businessman, said the proposed sale is “a very good deal” for his clients.
The litigation has been ongoing for years and the proposed sale will settle most of the issues outstanding in the bankruptcy case, he said.
Benjamin Pitts, a real estate broker for Herman Walldorf Commercial, said the price for the property is “very strong” and one of the biggest he has seen in the past few years.
“It speaks to how hot things are on the North Shore,” he said.
The proposed sale price is off the $5.9 million mark that had been negotiated last year by Farinash with a North Carolina company.
However, that company backed out of the deal, officials said.
Patrick said he wasn’t sure about the identity of the proposed new buyers, but he believed they have local ties. He said he didn’t think the buyers have concrete plans for the property yet.
Patrick added that others can still make a bid for the site, though they’ll have to offer more than $5.2 million. Interested parties would have to attend a planned Nov. 16 bankruptcy court hearing in Chattanooga, he said.
If no other prospective buyers emerge, Patrick expected the deal will receive court approval.
Pitts said the new buyers are probably looking at putting a mixed use development on the site such as residential, retail and perhaps office space.
Despite the property’s location near an industrial site containing large propane storage tanks and a steel processing center, Pitts said development of the land could move ahead. He cited other nearby residential and commercial projects such as One North Shore and Two North Shore.
“The demand is strong enough … it hasn’t squelched demand by any means,” Pitts said.
As part of the proposed land deal, the buyer is purchasing the position of Emma and Lynn Casey, the wife and daughter of Allen Casey, for $3.57 million, Patrick said. He said they had made claims in the bankruptcy court case.
The Casey property is part of an 11-acre tract that sits in a key spot across from the Tennessee Aquarium and Ross’s Landing, the city’s so-called “front porch.” The other part is owned by Chattanooga businessman Jackson Wingfield.
In 2009, Casey brought a barge to the city to put in a floating restaurant and bar, but that project fizzled and the vessel deteriorated over the years. In the summer of 2015, the removal of the rundown barge, long a point of criticism for its derelict state, was seen as making the land easier to sell.
Casey, who developed the Chattanooga Choo Choo into one of Tennessee’s top attractions decades ago, and one of his companies filed for bankruptcy in 2014 as he faced a civil trial related to the lawsuit brought by the former investors.