Media Coverage

Charleston Post & Courier
February 23, 2004
Local Developer Plans $180 Million Knoxville Project
By John McDermott

The James Doran Co., a Charleston-based commercial real estate development company that built the Publix shopping center on Daniel Island , is making a big splash in Tennessee .

Knoxville civic boosters rolled out the red carpet last week after news broke about the company's proposed Northshore Town Center , a $180 million "new urban-style" project that blends housing, retail space and offices.

"We could not have had a better reception," said Bob Doran, company president.

Planned for a 141-acre tract, Northshore will include 500,000 square feet of retail space, 300,000 square feet of offices, 450 apartments, 150 townhouses and 120 single-family residences. Doran said a movie-theater chain is within days of signing a deal for a 20-screen multiplex.

"It's the biggest project we've ever undertaken," Doran said of Northshore last week.

Doran said he and his investors are bullish on Knoxville because of its projected growth and the ensuing demand for housing, retail stores and office space. Greater Knoxville , he said, will add about 10,000 jobs a year over the next five years, many of them in high-tech fields. Doran also noted that the federal government is set to spend billions on nanotechnology research at nearby Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

"We're right in the path of that growth," he said.

Since news of the project broke in the past week, Doran said, his family-owned real estate company already has received serious inquiries for 50,000 square feet of medical office space from area physicians.

The Doran Co. plans to open a Knoxville office within the next few months. The Northshore project will be overseen by Leigh Colyer. Construction is scheduled to begin later this year, starting with the retail phase.

The company's other town center-style developments are near Orlando , FL, and on Daniel Island . A third is just getting started in Richmond , VA. The company also owns a smaller shopping center in Chattanooga , TN

The James Doran Co. was established as a Charleston stevedoring firm in 1882 by Doran's great-grandfather and has been in continuous operation since, making it one of the oldest locally owned businesses.

In addition to his maritime interests, the company founder dabbled in commercial real estate. The stevedoring business survived through the 1960s, but by the early 1970s, when Bob Doran came aboard, the company had switched its focus to developing income-producing properties.

Closer to home, Doran said the company is in the process of getting a new 21,000-square-foot office-above-retail building approved for its Daniel Island property.

"We're now in the process of drawing up those plans," he said.

To date, the company has completed just 45,000 of 162,000 square feet proposed for the Publix tract.