Downtown Greeneville multi-use development framework complete

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL)—The framework for a new downtown building was completed Friday. The Depot Street development will soon include nine condominiums and four retail spaces.

Local leaders and steel workers gathered to conduct the topping-out ceremony, signing the last steel beam before it was attached to the structure.

“100 years from now, when people are looking at that one, they’ll see the date and the comments that the mayors and everybody made about this development, redevelopment of downtown Greeneville,” said entrepreneur Scott Niswonger.

The new building is across the street from the Morgan Lofts , another Niswonger development with apartments above a barber shop.

“A downtown can’t thrive without people living in it,” said Niswonger.

Five condominiums are over 1,000 square feet, and four are over 2,000 square feet. The retail spaces will be about 8,500 square feet.

“So they’ll really be triple-A properties for people that want to be downtown,” said Niswonger.

A unique feature of the building is that the Morgan Inn will cater meals to any of the condo residents and clean the space.

It’s been decades since the last building was built on Depot Street, “about 100 years,” according to Niswonger. The building currently stands out from the surrounding architecture, but not for long, as the designs have been completed.

“Our architect…has arranged to have an 1890s type of brick,” said Niswonger. “[The] 1930s building will be coming back with facades that actually look like you’re stepping back into Main Street of the late 1800s, very early 1900s.”

Developments like this, with its location and type of living, are what people are interested in as the town continues to grow.

“Living downtown appeals to a lot of people,” said Greeneville mayor Cal Doty. “And again, with the businesses that are coming here. I think there’s going to be some additional restaurants that come down. And being able to walk to eat or to have a beer, it’s just exciting about what’s going on down here.”

Niswonger said three to four interests have already been submitted to move into the building. He also said parking shouldn’t be an issue. There’s a lot behind the structure on Summer Street, and there are two reserved spaces per condominium.

The building still needs work before it’s move-in ready, but construction is on schedule. Niswonger said it should be finished in April 2025.

He said more businesses, like a sports bar and a microbrewery, would be coming to the block.

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