Bryant Corp. buys Chase Building
Expansion of 3-story structure a possibility
8/14/2007
By Keith Lawrence
Messenger-Inquirer
The Malcolm Bryant Corp. has added to its Owensboro holdings with the purchase last week of the Chase Building, 200 E. Third St.
If future business conditions warrant it, Bryant said, he has room to add two stories to the top of the three-story building and add on the ground floor where the bank's drive-through windows were.
Chase Bank, which will remain as a tenant, no longer uses the windows, he said.
There are no plans to expand the building immediately, Bryant said.
The building, which then housed Citizens State Bank, opened in 1969, built at a cost of $1.1 million. In 1995, it underwent a major renovation that cost almost that much.
Bryant said he plans to have the building power-washed soon to remove pollution that is turning the stone gray.
Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management's Real Estate Opportunity Fund announced last October that it had bought 33 properties and banking centers in 10 cities totaling 5.3 million square feet from JPMorgan Chase & Co. for $460 million.
That included $936,800 for Chase Bank's downtown Owensboro branch.
Chase said at the time that it preferred to lease rather than own its banking centers.
Bryant said Monday that he approached the new owners about buying the building and found that they were willing to sell it.
"I paid $700,000 for it," he said. "It's a great location, and it has super occupants."
The building houses the bank and the Greater Owensboro Center of Commerce -- the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce, Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp. and Owensboro Metropolitan Planning Commission.
When the Emerging Ventures Center of Innovation opens on the third floor this fall, Bryant said, the building will be full.
The Malcolm Bryant Corp. manages more than 1 million square feet of property in 15 communities -- about 600,000 square feet of it in Owensboro.
Local holdings include The Springs Health Centre, Corporate Centre, Midtown Building, National City Bank Building, Healing America Building, Courtyard Office Park, 1001 Frederica Street and the Hampton Inn.
