KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A company that owned a Shell gas station on Cumberland Avenue sold the property for more than four times what they paid for it, records show.
Boghani Properties LLC, a Knoxville-based business, bought the station in 2015 for $2.25 million. This year, it sold the station for $10.5 million — a gain of $8.25 million on the property.
Shortly after that sale, the owner used the money to buy two properties in downtown Knoxville. The first is the building in the 200 block of Gay Street. It houses Babalu's, Kilwin's and Maple Hall.
Hatcher-Hill Properties, a commercial real estate company, developed that property in the early 2000s. It sat mostly empty for decades, until a development project by Knoxville's Community Development Corporation.
This year, Boghani Properties bought it for $6.3 million, according to Tim Hill of Hatcher Hill. The company also bought 9 Market Square, the building home to the downtown Soccer Taco.
The previous owner bought it for $665,000. This year, Boghani Properties bought it for $3.9 million, according to Hill, who also owned that property. The company said it does not plan to change the properties it purchased, and will honor the leases, according to Will Sims, the broker involved in these deals.
Downtown Knoxville Director Michele Hummel said this change is on trend with what she's seen since the 1990s.
"From 10 years ago to now, it's been some incredible changes," Hummel said. "It's really been a nice, organic growth that's occurred."
Hummel said she expects steady change and a steady increase in prices in Downtown Knoxville.
"We'll see more growth continuing in the downtown area, and north and other areas," Hummel said.
She said empty nesters, young professionals and students all want to be a part of the Knoxville downtown.
The Shell station is part of a group of land acquisitions that a Chicago apartment developer is acquiring for a major project on the north and south sides of Cumberland near 19th and 20th streets.