212 market up for lease

The sudden closing of 212 Market for personal reasons this past Monday, came as a shock to many.

The Moses family is well known for pioneering and sustaining downtown Chattanooga’s growth.

We look back 25 years.

Over 28 years ago, the Moses family bought some land near the Tennessee Aquarium.

Back in 1991, former 212 Market Co-Owner Maggie Moses says they had a vision for downtown Chattanooga.

A farm-to-table restaurant that was Tennessee’s first certified green restaurant.

Former co-Owner Maggie Moses believed that we’d, “pick up a lot of the traffic that would be going in and out. We are building a terrace up on top which would be kind of a fun thing for people to go out there at lunch time and look out across and see the aquarium.”

But back then, there wasn’t much of a vision for that area.

“Where Big River and all those are was basically pigeon poop. It had been horse barns way back in the day,’ explains Co-Owner Sally Moses.

Moses says it took years of research and planning.

“Took us about three years and we’ve looked for property up at Bluff View and over on the river. They weren’t zoned at that time. We were told they would never be zoned for a restaurant or anything.”

She says all perishable food has been donated to the local food bank.

And that they are selling many items to a friend who is opening a restaurant.

Moses says it has been a very, busy week.

“Yeah, almost a week and the phones been ringing and we’ve gotten all sorts of social media, ‘we’re so sorry, we’re so sad. We wish you the best.”

Moses says they hope to lease the building for $100,000 a year.

She says there is also an option to buy for about $2,000,000.