Hot Chocolatier and Chattanooga Whiskey
An investor has paid over $5 million for two icon buildings on the Southside that at one time were in danger of crumbling to the ground.
Chaudhari Family Limited Partnership paid $3.2 million for the Terminal Brewhouse. The sale was from Vigilance Properties Llc.
The same group paid historic preservation architect Thomas L. Johnson $1,920,000 for the aged brick building across the street occupied by The Hot Chocolatier and Chattanooga Whiskey.
The Terminal Brewhouse is in the exceedingly narrow former Terminal Hotel next to the Chattanooga Choo Choo. The building sat vacant for decades and the roof finally collapsed.
Joe Sliger was able to install a new roof and convert the old hotel for restaurant use.
The roof was also fallen in at the building once occupied by J.M. Sanders, the "Diamond King of the South."
When The Hot Chocolatier moved in seven years ago it was the first occupant for the building in over three decades.
Mr. Johnson, an ingenious hands-on restorer, was able to fashion a new roof and keep the walls from tumbling in.
He has rented the building since then, but he said the loss of a sunrise caused him to eventually sell. He and his wife have long lived in an apartment at the top of the St. John's Restaurant building. Mr. Johnson also restored that old hotel that was earlier condemned. He said when the Moxy Hotel went up across the street, the couple's view toward Missionary Ridge and the sunrise was lost.
He said, "My wife then said she wanted to buy a house across the river. I had to sell this building to pay for it."
Mr. Johnson said he has kept an apartment in the St. John's building, and he rides his new electric bicycle to his longtime Southside haunts.
Terminal Brewhouse