215 & 223 Commerce Street
215-223 Commerce Street | Kingsport, TN 37660-4318, US
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On the 223 Commerce side, the gym space features industrial-size overhead doors — an unusual and valuable feature in a downtown building. Those doors make the space readily convertible to a wide range of higher-clearance, drive-in, or load-in/load-out uses: a supply company, contractor showroom with stock area, plumbing/HVAC/electrical distributor, flooring or window/door showroom, light fabrication, or commercial service operator who needs to roll trucks or material directly into the building. Few Downtown Kingsport spaces can accommodate that kind of operation Commercial fundamentals here are unusually tight across every sector — Office at 4.0% vacancy, Retail at 1.5%, and Multifamily at 5.6%, all outperforming national averages. Kingsport buying power per dollar of retail rent is 10% to 24% higher than Knoxville, Nashville, and Asheville, NC. B-2 Central Business District — Exceptionally Broad Permitted Use List The property sits inside Kingsport’s B-2 Central Business District, the city’s most flexible and use-permissive commercial zone. Permitted principal uses include — but are far from limited to — the following, making the building suitable for a wide range of tenant mixes or owner-user concepts: Retail & Shopping Clothing and apparel boutiques, gift and card shops, bookstores, antique and consignment, jewelry, art galleries and artist studios, home goods and furniture showrooms, florists, specialty food retailers (butcher, bakery, cheese, chocolatier), wine and liquor stores, music and record shops, sporting goods and bike shops, toy and hobby stores, pet supply, cigar/tobacco, novelty and souvenir shops. Golf cart sales were explicitly approved by the Kingsport Board of Zoning Appeals in 2025 as a B-2 principal use. Food & Drink Sit-down, fast-casual, ethnic, and fine dining restaurants; cafés, coffee shops, tea houses; bakeries and pastry shops; ice cream, gelato, and frozen yogurt; juice and smoothie bars; delis and sandwich shops; bars, taverns, lounges, and wine bars. The code also expressly permits brewpubs and craft breweries (up to 10, 000 SF of production area in commercial zones), craft wineries, and distilleries with tasting rooms — a natural fit given the in-place Ole Crow Tavern kitchen and King City Distillery operation. Cat cafés were approved by BZA for the Boops & Beans concept in 2024. Light Trade, Industrial & Specialty — The Industrial-Door Use Set Plumbing/HVAC showroom + office, electrical contractor with counter sales, appliance and kitchen/bath showrooms, flooring and window/door companies, printing and sign shops, commercial/ghost kitchens, tech repair, light indoor fabrication, AV/low-voltage, security, and fire protection system companies, small accessory data centers, and secure asset storage (exotic/vintage vehicles, precious metals, financial assets, art, and other high-value assets). The 223 Commerce industrial-size doors make this category genuinely operable in the building — not just theoretically permitted. Professional & Office Law, accounting, and CPA offices; architecture, engineering, and design firms; real estate, insurance, and financial advisory; banks and credit unions; medical, dental, optometry, chiropractic, and physical therapy; mental health and counseling; tax preparation; marketing, advertising, and PR agencies; software and tech startups; co-working spaces; nonprofit and association offices; small accessory data centers. Personal Services Hair and nail salons, barbershops, day spas, massage therapy, tanning, tailoring and alterations, dry cleaners and laundromats, shoe repair, tattoo and piercing studios. Entertainment, Culture & Recreation Movie and performing-arts theaters, music venues and concert halls, dance/yoga/pilates studios, indoor fitness and gyms (the in-place G1 Elite use), martial arts, art classes and maker studios, escape rooms, arcades, museums, galleries, event venues and banquet halls, private clubs. Lodging Hotels, boutique hotels, and bed & breakfasts. Education & Instruction Tutoring centers; music, art, and dance lessons; indoor trade and vocational schools. Residential Residential uses permitted (except single-family detached dwellings) — supporting an upper-level or rear-of-building loft conversion if a buyer wants to reposition any portion of the asset. Downtown Kingsport Incentives & Tax Advantages Beyond the Opportunity Zone, the property’s location inside the Central Business District makes it eligible for additional local incentive programs, which may include the Façade Grant Program, Redevelopment Grant Program, and Downtown Kingsport Loan Program — designed to help offset the cost of purchase, renovation, and façade improvements. Buyer to verify current program availability and eligibility with the City of Kingsport and Downtown Kingsport Association. Qualified Opportunity Zone tax benefits available to eligible investors include: • Deferral of federal tax on capital gains rolled into a Qualified Opportunity Fund that acquires and substantially improves property in the zone • Reduction of the deferred gain depending on holding period • Elimination of federal tax on new gains generated by the Opportunity Zone investment if held for 10+ years — with no depreciation recapture on the OZ basis Buyer should consult their CPA or tax advisor regarding eligibility and current IRS rules.
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215 & 223 Commerce Street is one of Downtown Kingsport’s most distinctive commercial assets — approximately 17, 750 square feet of flexible space contained within a single building yet operating under two separate street addresses. That multi-address configuration is genuinely rare for the market: it gives an owner the footprint of a larger facility while preserving the option to operate, brand, or sub-lease as multiple distinct storefronts and suites under one roof. The building is 100% occupied across four tenants — a tavern with a full commercial kitchen, a craft distillery, a high-end fitness operator, a destination retail concept, and a supplemental storefront. Two leases are intentionally short-term, letting a buyer underwrite a stabilized, in-place rent roll from day one and step into those spaces as the leases roll — capturing income today while retaining full control of the building going forward. Inside the building, the prior food-and-beverage build-out is the standout asset. Anchor tenant Ole Crow Tavern has invested approximately $500, 000 in a fully upgraded commercial kitchen and bar build-out — hood system, line equipment, finishes, and front-of-house infrastructure all in place. That level of turnkey F&B infrastructure would be cost-prohibitive for a buyer to replicate from scratch and gives the next operator (or the next tenant) an immediate, move-in-ready restaurant platform. On the 223 Commerce side, the gym space features industrial-size overhead doors — an unusual and valuable feature in a downtown building. Those doors make the space readily convertible to a wide range of higher-clearance, drive-in, or load-in/load-out uses: a supply company, contractor showroom with stock area, plumbing/HVAC/electrical distributor, flooring or window/door showroom, light fabrication, or commercial service operator who needs to roll trucks or material directly into the building. Few Downtown Kingsport spaces can accommodate that kind of operation The property sits inside the City of Kingsport’s Central Business District — which is simultaneously a TIF District, a PILOT District, a federally designated Qualified Opportunity Zone, and part of the Tennessee Main Street program — placing it inside the boundary eligible for the City’s Façade Grant Program, Redevelopment Grant Program, and Downtown Kingsport Loan Program. Qualified Opportunity Zone designation additionally allows qualifying investors to defer capital gains, reduce the tax on those gains, and grow their Opportunity Zone investment capital-gains-tax-free, with no depreciation recapture, after a 10-year hold.