News

Owners eye commercial use for old dealership

Investors are marketing the old Joines Ford dealership for commercial use. [CONTRIBUTED PHOTO]

By Lightning Reports, Published: August 19, 2015

Harley Stepp says an old Ford dealership at 101 East Allen Street ought to be sturdy enough for most any use. The second floor of the  Joines Motor Co. was used as a showroom.

Stepp, through Richard Whitney of Whitney Commercial Real Estate, is marketing the old Henderson County planning department offices, which was originally built for the auto sales company. Stepp, a retired attorney who owns the building in a partnership that includes Leisure Craft owner Dick Herman, said he’s had some interest from developers.
“One organization looked at it with the idea that they would have a business downstairs and condos upstairs,” he said. “It’s eventually going to go for something.”
An architect’s rendering shows potential commercial uses for the old Land Development Building on East Allen Street.Stepp and his partners commissioned renderings that show some possible office and retail uses for the ground floor, which fronts on East Allen Street. The two-story 25,000-square-foot building comes with 35 parking spaces. The property is valued on the tax books at $1.37 million. The owners are willing to sell the building or renovate it and lease it, Whitney said.
Stepp said he is increasingly confident that Hendersonville’s commercial real estate market is heating up.
“There’s no question about it,” he said. “There’s a lot of things happening right now that if you asked me five years ago (whether they would) I would have said, ‘probably not.’”