Buildings on E. 7th include, from left, the IT Building, the Newell Tower (Park Hotel) and the Mayfield Building (Elks Building)
Hamilton County government is vacating more offices near the County Courthouse downtown, while acquiring property at Bonny Oaks.
Todd Leamon, county public works administrator, said the county plans to buy a building with 21,000 square feet of office space and 13,000 square feet of warehouse space at 6125 Preservation Dr. The property, which includes eight acres, is in the county's Bonny Oaks Industrial Park.
At the same time, Mr. Leamon said the county will vacate the Newell Tower and the adjacent IT Building on E. 7th St. He said those buildings will either be sold or placed for Requests for Proposals for redevelopment.
Mr. Leamon said the downtown buildings were facing high maintenance costs and were no longer suitable for the county's needs. The Newell Tower was built as the Park Hotel around 1915, and the IT Building was constructed in the early 1980s during the computer mainframe era.
He said the building at Bonny Oaks includes two generators that can serve as backup for county data.
Mr. Leamon noted that the county had already vacated floors 1, 3 and 9 of the Newell Tower.
The Bonny Oaks property was first used by Chattanooga Gas, then by US Xpress. The Mueller Company is now in the space, but is in the process of moving out.
It is owned by a real estate investment group that includes Greg Vital and Franklin Farrow.
Mr. Leamon said the county auditor's office, which is on the 7th and 8th floors of the Newell Tower, will move to the McDaniel Building off E. Third Street.
The first wave of county offices to leave County Courthouse Hill came in 2010 when a former nursing facility was acquired and renamed the McDaniel Building for former County Commissioner Paul McDaniel.
The Newell Tower was named for former Sheriff Frank Newell.
The county earlier sold the Mayfield Building, which is next to the Newell Tower. It is the old Elks Building.
That historic building at the corner of E. 7th and Walnut is being redeveloped.
It was named for former County Councilman Jack Mayfield.
In other county business, Trail Dynamics had the low bid of $196,320 to build horse trails at the Enterprise South Nature Park.
Also, officials plan to enter into a vehicle leasing program with Enterprise Fleet Management, while doing away with a number of high-mileage county vehicles.County Mayor Jim Coppinger said that will lead to fewer vehicle maintenance employees. He said that would be handled through attrition.