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Riverview Tower


The Riverview Tower is an office high-rise located at 900 Gay Street in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Completed in 1985, the 24-story structure is Knoxville's second-tallest building, and along with its sister building, the First Tennessee Plaza, anchors Knoxville's downtown office market. Since 2003, BB&T has been the building's primary tenant.

The Riverview Tower occupies the northern half of Gay Street's 900-block, which is bounded by Gay Street, Hill Avenue, State Street, and Main Street. The Andrew Johnson Building occupies the southwestern section of the block, and the two buildings share a central courtyard. The building contains 367,000 square feet (34,100 m2) of office space, and includes a 420-space parking garage. Along with BB&T, tenants include IBM, Alcoa, Union Planters, Lawler-Wood, and various financial groups and law firms.

The building was originally planned in the early 1980s as office space for the City & County Bank, headed by C. H. Butcher. Butcher's brother, Jake Butcher, was head of the United American Bank, which had built the First Tennessee Plaza in the late-1970s. Before the Riverview Tower was completed, however, the FDIC raided the Butcher brothers' banks, leading to the banks' collapse and the Butcher brothers' subsequent convictions on charges of bank fraud. The FDIC purchased the Riverview from the building's developer, Lawler-Wood, in 1985. The first tenants moved into the Riverview in 1987.

In 1990, Florida real estate developer Martin O'Boyle bought the Riverview from the FDIC for $18.5 million, using money he had borrowed from Providence-based Textron Collective Investment Trust. As a result of a lawsuit with O'Boyle in 1995, however, Textron became the building's owner. In 2001, Textron sold the building to its original developer, Lawler-Wood, for $22.2 million. Lawler-Wood then sold the Riverview to Texas real estate investment firm Behringer Harvard for $41 million in 2005.

Coordinates: 35°57′42″N 83°54′55″W / 35.96167°N 83.91528°W / 35.96167; -83.91528


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