City may spend $175K for best-use study of John Sevier Center

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — Johnson City Commissioners will consider Thursday whether to approve $175,000 so a consulting firm can help it determine how best to value and market one of the downtown area’s most notable buildings.

The Johnson City Development Authority (JCDA) and the city’s economic development team solicited bids for a proposed study for the best use of the John Sevier Center and Downtown Center.

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Both are owned by JCDA, and replacement housing for the John Sevier Center apartments is now under construction in south Johnson City. JCDA wants to begin marketing the iconic, 11-story former hotel that turns 100 this year before it empties around the end of 2025.

The city and the development authority began taking proposals from consulting firms to conduct a Highest & Best Uses, Market/Feasibility Study for the John Sevier Center/Downtown Centre, an agenda summary states.

Economic Development Director Alicia Summers wrote in a letter to the city’s purchasing director, Debbie Dillon, that the study will determine the best way to redevelop and reuse the John Sevier Center and the Downtown Centre parking garage.

JCDA and city leaders all have said the Downtown Centre, or at least the garage, need to be available for developers interested in renovating the John Sevier Center due to downtown parking limitations.

Two proposals were received on March 5, and a selection committee made up of city staff and JCDA members met on March 12 to go over the submissions. After reviewing both potential vendors for the consultation, the committee chose to recommend Hunden Partners to conduct the study of the buildings.

Each of the committee members scored Hunden Partners higher than the other firm that submitted a proposal to conduct the study.

The cost of the study is not to exceed $175,000.

Hunden Partners wrote in its proposal that members of the firm will plan to meet with city, tourism and economic development officials in the initial phases of the consultation. Firm representatives would also tour the sites and surrounding area to familiarize themselves with the city’s other projects and layout.

Hunden Partners wrote that it would consider multiple analyses in its study to determine the best use for the John Sevier Center and Downtown Centre.

The John Sevier Hotel opened in August 1924 and was a mainstay of downtown life for decades. It was converted to affordable housing in the 1980s. The JCDA paid $4.6 million for the building in 2019 with the intent of relocating its residents and marketing the structure for redevelopment.

On Feb. 8, 2024, ground was broken on the Tapestry at Roan Hill on South Roan Street, which will serve as the replacement housing for current John Sevier residents.

Later in February, the Washington County Commission approved more than $750,000 in tax increment financing for the JCDA’s projects at John Sevier and the Downtown Centre. Roughly $715,000 of that was allocated to capital projects at the former hotel.

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