Authored By Chloé Morrison
Financial technology company TransCard is investing in one of the city’s most recognizable historic buildings. “We spent a long time looking [for a headquarters building],” President Chris Fuller said. “We were spending a little time looking outside Chattanooga in places like New York City and Atlanta. We decided to double down on Chattanooga.” The company, which is a digital payment processor that focuses on corporate disbursements, is investing nearly $3 million in renovations for downtown’s flatiron-style Southern Express Building, which is where popular restaurant and bar The Pickle Barrel is located. TransCard will take over the second, third and fourth floors, which is about 24,000 square feet. The building, which dates back to 1893, will be renamed The TransCard Building. Pickle Barrel will stay where it is, and another restaurant is expected to move into the first floor, too. Dillard Construction owns the majority of the 1010 Market Street property, although TransCard now has some ownership, Fuller said. Public and private investment in the city’s Innovation District, including Miller Park renovations, helped keep TransCard here, Fuller said. “Another thing...we loved so much about this building is it was built in 1893,” he said. “It’s got a lot of history. We are a high-tech company, and it’s like old meets new, which we think is really cool.” In 2013, TransCard expanded and added jobs here, according to Nooga.com archives. Since then, the business has operated from a riverfront office near the former Alstom plant. The company’s lease is up at that location is up soon, Fuller said. About TransCard TransCard’s digital processing platform helps corporations make instant disbursements. Corporations can funnel any funds through the platform and it gives payees a choice of how they want to receive funds. The platform eliminates the need for businesses to send checks. For example, if a cable company needed to offer a gift or refund after a problem with an installation or customer service, TransCard’s platform would allow them to submit that payment to the customer, who gets to choose the most convenient way to receive it. “As we all know, checks are costly and expensive,” Fuller said. “Our solution is a whole log more cost effective.”
