Former Bridgewater Baptist, in West Knox, is now an event center

Nov. 29--A former church on a high-profile spot in West Knoxville has undergone a conversion.

Almost three years ago, the former home of Bridgewater Baptist Church was sold for nearly $1.4 million to a pair of local businessmen.

Now, the 33,000-square-foot building has been reopened as an event center, and is hoping to benefit from a prominent location on the north side of Interstate 40, near the Bridgewater Road exit.

On a recent afternoon, Kim Robertson, the manager for Bridgewater Place, gave a tour of the facility, which includes an assembly hall that can seat 135 guests at tables; a catering kitchen; classrooms; corporate meeting space; and even a large gymnasium.

One of the target audiences is weddings, and with that in mind Bridgewater also includes a bride's room, groom's room and reception hall.

Robertson said the advantages of the facility are convenience and versatility.

"You can have everything from very casual up to formal and we're conveniently located in West Knoxville," she said. "You'll never have a guest getting lost on the way to your party or your wedding."

The Bridgewater Road area has undergone a mini-renaissance in recent months. Besides the event center, which opened in August, insurance firm Answer Financial in October opened a newly built, 32,775-square-foot office and call center next door.

The event center building was purchased in late 2010 by Daniel Harb, the co-owner of HPV Inc., and Doug White, owner of Toyota of Knoxville.

White and his wife, Melissa, had already taken on another real estate rehab in recent years, when they bought the former Crimson Building -- at the corner of Gay Street and Summit Hill Drive -- and completed a residential renovation that had been launched by a previous developer. That project is now known as the 300 Building.

The Bridgewater building is a very different sort of commercial property, but the two ventures did have one thing in common: Neither was living up to its potential.

As Melissa White put it in a recent interview, the former church was "just sitting here dormant -- nobody was utilizing it."

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