Cochran flips another downtown property

The architectural firm hasn’t selected a new site yet.

If Rome architect Mark Cochran was a country music fan, he’d be singing Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again.” Cochran has closed on the sale of his building at 202 Broad St. to local entrepreneur Andrew Heaner.

Cochran and his Cevian Design Lab have operated out of five locations in downtown Rome since he opened in 2010 and is looking for number six.

The architectural firm, which also includes designer Audrey Burton, started out in the Dempsey Lord Smith building at the intersection of North Broad and Turner McCall Boulevard in 2010. Since then, the company has moved to 401 Broad St., a building in the original Makervillage on Second Street atop Clocktower Hill, then to the old Lee Furniture building at 208 Broad St., and most recently to 202 Broad St.

At this point, Cochran is not sure where he will move next, he’s has until August 17 to be out of the current building.

“I’ve got a couple of things I’m working on and I should know where I’m going by mid-June,” Cochran said. “Part of the frustration right now is that I’m seeking but not finding.”

Cochran has become a bit of a commercial real estate flipper. He’d like to stay in the downtown district but says he has enlarged the radius of the properties he’s looking at. He’s very interested in the River/Arts district on the west side of the Oostanaula River but said that right now, the prices on available properties are not matching reality.

“If the current trend sticks, I won’t stay (wherever) very long, I’ll flip,” Cochran said.

Frios ice cream will stay right where it is on the first floor at 202 Broad S. Both Cochran and Toles, Temple and Wright Real Estate agent Debra McDaniel said Heaner plans to use the upstairs architectural offices for his personal office space.