Commercial Locksmith in Chattanooga, TN

St. Elmo's storefront row

St. Elmo's business strip grew up beside the station of a Lookout Mountain incline that began regular service in 1888. By 1915 it was a row of one- and two-story brick buildings with large display windows over low bulkheads.

Entrance doors on that row fall under the district's design guidelines, which prefer wood. Dark or bronze anodized metal with a wide stile may substitute; raw aluminum is never appropriate. The door material limits which locks and exit devices will fit, which is why it comes first in a commercial request.

A Certificate of Appropriateness covers exterior work on a storefront in a local historic district, so raise a new door, a new exit device or visible hardware with commission staff before ordering. This is general information, not legal advice.

Turnover and keys

• Staff changes. When someone leaves with a key, rekeying the cylinders that key opens retires it. On a master-keyed system, one level can often be changed without reissuing every key.
• Apartment complexes near campus. In Fort Wood, next to the university campus, apartment complexes stand among the older houses, and their owners or managers handle keys to common doors and unit doors at every turnover.
• Condominium entries. Battery Place is a small district of about 20 residential properties with two condominium complexes. Where an association controls the shared doors, it decides who holds those keys; a unit owner's rekey covers only the unit.

What to put in a commercial request

Name the business or building and the neighborhood, then list the door material (wood, anodized metal or glass), the lock or exit device on each door, the number of doors, and who holds keys now. Say whether the property sits inside a historic district and whether a manager or association must approve the work. See commercial locksmith, lock rekeying and the Chattanooga page.