Norris boat facility property auctioned
Big Creek Marine won’t be coming to this site along Andersonville Highway in Norris after all. Nearly two years since the LaFollette-based boat business said it would invest $3 million to open a new luxury boat sales and service facility and storage area on the site, the owners have sold the property at auction. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
They said in June that plans for the boat facilities were “on hold,” and they had listed the property for sale for $3.5 million.
Big Creek Marine LLC had said it intended to sell and service luxury boats and provide year-round protected storage for pleasure boats on two adjoining tracts totaling 9.2 acres at 2530 Andersonville Highway, between Exit 122 Outdoor Power Equipment and Meadow View Senior Living.
James Broyles, who owns Big Creek Marine with his then-wife Jessica, said in June, “Right now, we’ve got it on hold because of the economy. The cost of building has gone up.”
An agent with Powell Auction & Realty, which handled last week’s auction, declined to say who the buyer was, but did confirm that the winning bid was “just over $1 million. The auction, ended at noon on Wednesday, Nov. 20.
James Broyes said Monday that a developer from Knoxville was the high bidder, and he confirmed that the bid was “just over a million dollars.”
He could not provide the developer’s name.
According to the published auction terms, the “sale is subject to court approval,” and closing must “occur on or before Dec. 20, 2024.”
Broyles and his wife have split up, which Broyles on Monday blamed in part on the stress from the failed Norris project.
In May 2023, Big Creek Marine paid $800,000 for the two parcels together, one with 2.65 acres fronting on Andersonville Highway, and the other with 6.55 acres fronting on Acuff Lane, right behind the other tract.
The land was purchased from Clayton Holding Company, which is part of the Clayton Homes business. Clayton had been trying to sell the property for several years, since acquiring it in a foreclosure action. The $800,000 offer from the Broyles was the best Clayton had managed to get.
Prior to selling the property to the Broyles couple, Clayton Holding asked the Norris Planning Commission to rezone the 2.65-acre tract fronting on Andersonville Highway at Acuff lane to C-2 from its previous P-1 (Professional and Civic) status, and the 6.5-acre lot behind it to I-1 from P-1.
James Broyles told the Planning Commission and City Council that the 2.65 acre front lot would be the site of the boat sales and service operation, while the 6.55-acre back parcel would be used for covered, secure year-round boat storage.
The rezoning request was given preliminary approval by the Norris Planning Commission on Feb. 6, 2023, but final approval was required in the form of ordinances passed by the City Council.
The C-2 rezoning ordinance passed on second and final reading on a unanimous vote of the council on March 13, 2023, while the I-1 rezoning on the 6.55 acres was approved by a 4-1 vote, with Mayor Chris Mitchell opposing it.
The different zoning designations were necessary because Norris doesn’t allow outdoor storage facilities in a C-2 zone, but does allow them in the I-1 industrial zone. With the change to C-2, the front piece of property would be allowed to have the boat sales and service operations, but not storage.
Mitchell said at the time that he was “struggling” with rezoning the rear tract to industrial use because it could open it up to manufacturing use if the boat business didn’t open, or later moved out.
Broyles said in February 2023 that he planned to pay Clayton the $800,000 for the property, then spend about $3 million to build the structures for the boat sales, service and storage operations.
“We would employ five to six people to start,” he said.
But it was nearly a year before Big Creek Marine brought its plans to the Planning Commission to move forward in obtaining building permits and starting construction on the new business.
On Feb. 5, the Planning Commission gave provisional approval to the plans submitted by Big Creek Marine, which paved the way for a building permit to be issued and construction work to begin.
Broyles said at the time that he intended to begin construction by spring, but no building permits have been issued yet, and no work has ever begun.
