Developers introduce Daugherty Lofts with chamber ribbon-cutting event

January 29, 2025 by G. Chambers Williams III

Developers of the Daugherty Lofts in Clinton were on hand to show off their new apartments in the historic Daugherty Furniture Co. building on Main Street during a ribbon-cutting ceremony last Thursday.

About a third of the 39 apartments have been rented, and tenants began moving into the units in December, officials of the management company said.

City officials, including Mayor Scott Burton, and representatives of the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce were there for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The project developers were Hunt Capital Partners, in collaboration with Hickory Creek Capital Partners, who spent more than two years rehabilitating the former furniture store at 307 N. Main St. into the lofts, in a building that dates to 1942.

This five-story building has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2010, a designation that brought a lot of special requirements for the developers.

There is a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, which are billed as having “affordable” rent, and are limited to tenants making up to 60% of the area’s median income. They are not “low-income” housing, however, which is what many people thought when the project was originally announced, and which generated a lot of local opposition.

Hickory Creek Capital Partners founder Kent Leach led the dedication ceremony, and he mentioned the initial controversy that attempted to derail the project shortly after it was announced in January 2020.

“It’s been a long road, starting in 2020 when we won the tax credits just as COVID was getting started,” Leach told the crowd assembled for last week’s event. “We’ve faced every adversity you could think of – rising construction costs, rising interest rates, materials shortages, and longer lead times, just to name a few.

He mentioned the opposition from what developers call the “NIMBY” crowd – people who say of proposed developments: “Not in my back yard.”

“But seeing these doors open and people moving into their new homes, it makes me realize we’ve done a really good thing here,” he said.

“Not only have we given an old building new life, we’re making these really unique living spaces available at an affordable rent. It really makes it worth all the adversity we’ve gone through.”

The on-site office for the property manager is now open on the ground floor on Main Street.

Work on restoring the Daugherty building and converting it into the loft apartments began in early 2023, and a sign went up on the front of the building last April saying the property was “Now Leasing!”

Kristi Gass with D&K Property Management of Knoxville, which is in charge of leasing and maintenance of the building, said at the time that the first tenants were expected to move in by July 2024. But she said last week that construction delays prevented anyone from moving in until six months later than that.

The project was helped by the developer’s use of federal tax credits for “affordable housing,” and offers housing to renters with verified income that is up to 60% of the area median income.

But unlike nearby Clinton Towers, this is not “Section 8” or subsidized housing. It’s open only to people who have enough income to be able to make the established rent payments, which range from a low of $756 a month for a one-bedroom unit to a high of $1,273 for a three-bedroom.

A tenant’s monthly income must be at least equal to two-and-a-half times the monthly rent.

There are limits on how much money renters can make to qualify for one of the units, based on household size. That ranges from annual income of no more than $38,220 for a single person, to $72,120 for an eight-person household.

Applications to be put on a waiting list for one of the units may be filed on the website DaughertyLofts.com.

In late 2022, Hunt Capital Partners announced the “acquisition of $9 million in federal low-income housing tax credit equity and $1.4 million in historic tax credit equity financing for the acquisition and historic adaptive reuse of the former Daugherty Furniture building.”

The lofts include 11 one-bedroom, 23 two-bedroom and five three-bedroom units,” the Hunt Capital Partners announcement said.

The Daugherty Furniture building opened in 1942, and was a popular furniture store throughout World War II. Since the furniture store closed in 1985, the building has been predominantly vacant except for the first floor, which had been used as an antique shop since 2015.

The building was designed by architect Clem H. Meyers, and was constructed from 1938 to 1942.

Development costs for the Daugherty Lofts were reported to be $14.29 million. An elevator shaft was added to the outside rear of the building to give residents access to all floors of the building.

“Situated on a 0.27-acre parcel improved by a five-story, brick-and-stone veneer building, Daugherty Loft units will feature modern amenities, such as central air conditioning and internet access, in addition to Energy Star windows, appliances (e.g. refrigerator, microwave, washer/dryer) and HVAC systems,” the developer said.

“Upon completion … Daugherty Lofts will also offer residents common area amenities, such as a computer lab, exercise facility and central laundry,” the announcement said. “There will also be supportive services through HouseCall Primary Care — a Knoxville-based supportive-service provider — including general medical services, health and wellness care, psychiatric counseling, and foot and wound care on a house-call basis.”

J.R. Daugherty moved his furniture store to Clinton in the late 1930s because of the population growth of Anderson County, according to the Hunt Capital announcement.

“The store offered home delivery, with a fleet of delivery trucks. The third and fourth floors of the building served as apartments, which housed Oak Ridge workers and scientists in need of housing in a region running out of housing options,” it said.

About 99,000 pounds of locally quarried stone was used on the building’s exterior, most of which came from areas near the New River region of Morgan County and Scruggs Farm in Bethel.

All of the stone was hand-chiseled and laid by Gilbreath and Sebastian Marie, another local stone cutter. When the building was completed, in 1942, it was the largest commercial building in Clinton, along with Magnet Mills, Inc.