Townsend Insurance Group has acquired a property for its new offices not far from where the company started in 1983.

The independent insurance brokerage bought the former Regency Realty office at 1053 Oakhaven Road for $520,000, a price which reflects the scarcity of available property in East Memphis.

Ron Townsend started an American National Agency office locally in 1983 not far from the Oakhaven Road property. Richard Townsend, now managing partner, joined the family business in 2007 and helped grow it.

The single-story office property was built in 1951 and renovated in 2023. It has 1,291 square feet of space.

“The office complex features an expansive outdoor space replete with custom seating, a fire pit, a fountain, a covered entertainment space with thoughtful lighting and gardens, which will be used for client events,” Richard Townsend said.

The company has five employees.

“I am planning to add new employees in the coming months, and the office purchase plays a part in that growth trajectory,” Richard Townsend said.

The property has neighbors such as the Erling Jensen restaurant, Patrick Accounting and Whirks, a payroll-services company.

Barry Maynard and Frank Dyer, both senior vice presidents of brokerage at Gill Properties, brokered the sale.

The sales price, which comes to $402 a square foot, reflects the demand for well-placed East Memphis properties.

“We had five different offers at or above the number we sold it for,” Maynard said.

The seller chose Townsend because they were sure they could close the transaction and because other offers had less favorable contingencies or longer due-diligence periods.

Companies and investors are looking for property at or near Poplar Avenue, Maynard said.

“You can find them, but there aren’t many available,” he said. “We don’t have any more land to build on, and it’s expensive to build right now.”

That might bode well for Outdoors Inc., which recently listed its 0.3-acre site on Poplar Avenue for $1.95 million.