Southeast real estate development group Urban Story Ventures announced that its properties won three of five categories in the 2024 CoStar Impact Awardes: Redevelopment of the Year, Multifamily Development of the Year, and Lease of the Year for the Chattanooga market.
Winners - chosen for their growth, diversification, and ability to overcome unique challenges in their markets - were selected from a panel of more than 660 industry professionals drawn from each respective market.
Urban Story Ventures’ Redevelopment of the Year is the story of taking a former grocery store complex from tired and nearly forgotten to one of the busiest retail hubs in the area within less than three years. The developer acquired the 40,000 square foot building with just one tenant occupying 1,200 square feet. The development team focused on the building’s façade, subdividing the space, and improving the interior to attract a diverse mix of tenants. By the fall of 2023, Dollar Tree signed the final lease to make the building 100 percent occupied. Dollar Tree joined four other tenants: Papa John’s, Hemp House, Finders Keepers, and Workout Anytime. Urban Story Ventures has plans for an outparcel in the parking lot that can accommodate a 1,700 square foot building in an ideal location for a coffee or quick service tenant.
“We take properties that have seen better days and breathe new life into them. We’re proud to receive this recognition for our Hixson Pike redevelopment, which is now flourishing with local and national tenants that have added jobs and draw in hundreds of patrons a day,” said Jimmy White, president and managing partner for Urban Story Ventures. “We look forward to developing a similar success story in East Ridge, with one of our most recent acquisitions.”
The Multifamily Development of the Year went to Sofia’s Place, a community of 56 townhomes in the first residential complex in its area of Midtown Chattanooga. In 2017, Urban Story Ventures purchased Osborne Office Park, a 475,000 square foot office complex across the street from Sofia’s Place, which is nestled in a commercial and retail hub of Midtown Chattanooga. After revitalizing and fully leasing the office park and gathering input from local business, government, and nonprofit leaders, Urban Story Ventures and the owners of Sofia’s Place believed the natural next step was to add residential space to the area, which many believe is prime for a live-work-play community, given all the commercial and retail businesses and government and nonprofit organizations nearby. From underutilized surface parking and vacant land to charming townhomes that are “meeting the needs of people – not cars,” Sofia’s Place is adding vibrant living space to an up-and-coming area of greater Chattanooga.
Collier Construction and RoseRock developed the units ranging from 1,600 to 2,200 square feet, and Generation Property Management manages them. Overall, the project investment is $19 million.
“We are proud to have worked closely with Urban Story Ventures, Collier Construction, and Generation Property Management to create this stunning new community in the heart of the Chattanooga region and are grateful to CoStar for this recognition,” said John Jordan, CEO of RoseRock. “We have already begun welcoming families into this new neighborhood which is uniquely located adjacent to one of the community’s key business and commercial corridors. We are thrilled to see Sofia’s Place coming online and serving local residents.”
Urban Story Ventures won Lease of the Year in Chattanooga with a lease that brought 75 new jobs to The Bend. The owner and landlord leased over 88,600 square feet of industrial space to Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ: LECO), a publicly traded manufacturer of welding equipment and accessories.
“Aerisyn, at the Bend, was a great fit for Lincoln Electric’s additional needs. They saw our in-house facilities and maintenance services as a valuable benefit,” said Mary-Martha McDaniel, property manager for Urban Story Ventures and third-party management clients.
The CoStar Impact Awards recognize exemplary commercial real estate transactions and projects completed in 2023 that have significantly influenced neighborhoods or submarkets across 128 major international markets in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The awards honored over 380 winners for their CRE transactions across five categories: Lease of the Year, Sale/Acquisition of the Year, Commercial Development of the Year, Multifamily Development of the Year and Redevelopment of the Year.
“Now in its third year, the CoStar Impact Awards are an incredible opportunity to recognize the real estate projects fundamentally transforming the industry landscape,” said Andy Florance, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of CoStar Group. “Our diverse panel of judges worked diligently to identify the most impactful commercial real estate projects across a range of categories that are shaping the future of the industry and the communities in which they serve. It’s an honor to recognize the companies and projects propelling the real estate sector forward.”
To learn more about the CoStar Impact Awards and review the full list of winners, visit www.CoStarImpactAwards.com/.