Chattanooga apartment, retail developer to buy Eureka Foundry site on Southside

A Chattanooga development firm that has bought and built apartments, offices and other commercial projects near the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga campus over the past decade is shifting south with plans to buy a foundry site near downtown for its newest revitalization project.

Riverside Development announced Monday it has entered into an agreement to purchase the site of the Eureka Foundry, which is in the process of shutting down after 121 years of operation. Chris Curtis, the president of Riverside Development, said the 7.5-acre foundry site at 1601 Reggie White Blvd. could house an array of different new developments after the foundry is closed.

In downtown Chattanooga, Curtis has already bought or developed the Douglas Heights and Edge apartment complexes near UTC and the corporate headquarters for the South's largest vending machine supplier, Five Star Food Service, among other projects. Riverside Development has also built or redeveloped retail, multifamily housing and mixed-use commercial real estate throughout the Southeast.

The Chattanooga builder and developer could not be reached Monday, but in a news release he said he has an agreement to buy the Eureka Foundry site and is developing plans for not only the historic foundry but also adjacent property in the area.

"We are excited for the opportunity to transform such a central part of Chattanooga's Southside and honored to pay homage to the foundry's history as part of this project," Curtis said. "The combination of these two adjoining sites creates a wide array of development possibilities."

The owners of Eureka Foundry told the remaining 41 employees of the business last week that the foundry will shut down and the workers will be laid off by the end of September.

Eureka Foundry was started in 1902, and the company has remained in the same family for four generations. The ductile and gray iron foundry business has been on its current Southside site since 1980, when Eureka took over the former Ross-Meehan foundry.

The building housing the aging foundry was erected, in part, in 1920, and the foundry owners said the cost of maintaining the facility has proven to be too much to remain competitive with other metal casting and foundry operations.

Fred Hetzler Jr., the fourth-generation president of the family-owned company, said he and his brothers were unable to find a buyer for the business, but they hope to soon finalize the sale of the property to Riverside Development.

"We've exhausted our efforts to try to find a buyer for the business," Hetzler said in a telephone interview Monday. "It was a very difficult day for everyone last week when we told them about plans to close the foundry. I hate to do it, but it's what is necessary."

Eureka Foundry is the oldest family-owned foundry of its type in Chattanooga, although the cookware manufacturer Lodge Manufacturing in South Pittsburg has been forging cast iron cookware since 1896.

The original foundry on the site was built in 1920 with 39,397 square feet and the total square footage for all structures on the property now includes 215,958 square feet of buildings, according to Hamilton County property records.

The site is next to Naked River Brewing and just down the street from Finley Stadium and the First Horizon pavilion.

Contact Dave Flessner at [email protected] or 423-757-6340.