Chattanooga State to sell Sequatchie Valley Campus

For $1 million, you can buy Chattanooga State Community College’s Sequatchie Valley Campus, which consists of a 36,650-square-foot building 20 acres on U.S. Highway 127 halfway between Dunlap and Pikeville.

“It’s the most gorgeous property. Somebody needs to buy it and do something there,” said Debbie Adams, vice president of student affairs.

Chattanooga State decided to sell the campus — which closed in the fall of 2016 and hasn’t held classes since then — due to low numbers of students, Adams said.

“It just didn’t have the enrollment,” she said. “And it just declined over the years. We didn’t see really the opportunity for enrollment to increase.”

The campus originally was a vocational school built in 1976 as a joint venture between Bledsoe and Sequatchie counties.

But now, those two counties’ high schools have vocational programs on-site, Adams said.

So lately, the Sequatchie Valley Campus has only offered such classes as English, history and psychology for first-year community college students.

Instead of using the Sequatchie Valley Campus, Chattanooga State now has instructors who go into the high schools in Bledsoe and Sequatchie counties to teach dual-enrollment classes, which give students credit toward both high school and community college.

“The one thing we want to stress is we’re still serving the students in the area,” Adams said.

Last year, the college served 51 students from Bledsoe and Sequatchie counties for the entire year, but the college has already served 59 students from the area this year.

“Programs for high schoolers have recently seen an increase in Sequatchie and Bledsoe, which is encouraging news,” said Nancy Patterson, Chattanooga State’s vice president for college advancement and public relations.

George Hamilton Land and Auction in Pikeville, Tenn., listed the Sequatchie Valley Campus for sale in August.

“There have been two — and possibly three — legitimate lookers,” George Hamilton said. “One of the interested parties has somewhat of a manufacturing setup.”

Chattanooga State set the $1 million sale price, Hamilton said.

The community college spent about $250,000 in 2013 to give the Sequatchie Valley Campus its first major renovation, with new paint, flooring and other updates.

Also on the market is Chattanooga State’s East Campus at 7158 Lee Highway. The asking price is $1.25 million for the former church, which includes some 14,8000 square feet of classroom, meeting and office space on 2.6 acres with parking.

STAFF FILE PHOTO BY BEN BENTON In this 2013 file photo, visitor Bryan Minton of Dunlap, Tenn., walks through the updated lobby at Chattanooga State Community College campus in Bledsoe County. Minton was at the facility to learn about services available at the Southeast Tennessee...

PHOTO SUBMITTED BY GEORGE HAMILTON Chattanooga State Community College seeks $1 million for its Sequatchie Valley Campus, which consists of a 36,650-square-foot building on 20 acres at 26297 U.S. Highway 127, roughly 10 miles from both Dunlap and Pikeville.