Citi pulls permits for $11M Boones Creek building renovation | WJHL

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — One of the area’s largest employers is on the move, but not very far.

Citi, which has 1,896 employees locally according to Washington County’s most recent audit, has pulled a building permit to renovate the 45,000-square-foot former ITT-Tech building at 4721 Lake Park Drive in Boones Creek. For years, Citi has operated out of a significantly larger building on Sid Martin Road in Gray.

Citi pulled the permit with an estimated value of $11 million worth of work on Monday.

The company had eyed a move to Boones Creek before the COVID-19 pandemic began due to growth constraints in Gray caused by proximity to a railroad line. Those initial plans didn’t envision an event that would completely change the way call centers operate, though.

So instead of possibly building a larger building on raw land, the company has drawn up plans to put 660 call seats in the Lake Park Drive building. The majority of its local workers continue to work from home. Once filled to overflowing, the Gray site’s parking lots appeared less than a fifth full Tuesday.

Records show Citi purchased the Lake Park Drive building for $6,000,000 on Nov. 5, 2021. Its value for tax purposes is appraised at $4.5 million. The company’s two buildings in Gray, sitting on 10 acres of land, total 127,000 square feet and the property is assessed at $9.2 million.

By Tuesday evening, Citi had not yet returned a request for information about a timeline for its project in Boones Creek or whether it would completely depart the Gray location.