Developer eyes two big Chattanooga projects

photo Developers plan to build a mixed-use project on the 18-acres occupied by the shuttered Cumberland Corp., also known as Cannon Equipment at 950 Riverside Drive.
photo A 216-acre site owned by BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee may soon be sold for a housing project.

Single and multifamily homes, village-type concepts, and commercial space are options a developer is looking at raising on a 216-acre tract on Chattanooga's waterfront it wants to buy from BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee.

A few miles downstream on the other side of the Tennessee River, the same Georgia developer is moving ahead in a second key project and is close to buying an 18-acre parcel off Riverside Drive near downtown where officials are eyeing about 387 apartments.

Chris Senn, vice president of Augusta, Ga.-based Blanchard & Calhoun Commercial, said company officials like Chattanooga's direction.

"We see continued investment by international and national companies," he said.

On the BlueCross site in Lupton City off Hixson Pike, Senn said Blanchard & Calhoun is doing due diligence and crafting plans for one of the biggest remaining undeveloped tracts along the Tennessee River in the city.

"It's right in our wheelhouse," said Senn about the potential redevelopment of the large wooded site that has 154 acres on the river.

BlueCross is asking $10.25 million for the parcel where the insurer nearly put its corporate headquarters a decade ago. Senn said the company would like to close the deal for the land by early next year if they decide to move ahead.

He said officials are open-minded about how to use the land. "We're trying to figure out how to make it work," Senn said.

In addition to housing, there's opportunities for retail and office space, he said.

"We could mix in the three uses together," Senn said, as officials think about how to draw people to live at the parcel which is off Lupton Drive.

The idea of a marina at the site, which real estate professionals have raised in the past, isn't something Blanchard & Calhoun has explored yet, he said.

"We're not in the marina business," Senn said.

Roy Vaughn, a BlueCross vice president, said that while the insurer has held the property since 2001, buying it from Dixie Group, it's the right time to sell.

"We know we won't be using it as originally intended," he said.

Concerning the Riverside Drive location, Senn said the company is looking to close on that property before year's end.

"We'll move as quickly as we can," the company official said about the location occupied by the shuttered Cannon Equipment factory that's behind Erlanger and near UTC.

Blanchard & Calhoun hopes to build several three- and four-story buildings on the parcel, as well as a clubhouse and a pool, according to Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission documents.

Senn said his company is qualified to do big projects. He cited one in Knoxville, some in or around Augusta and another in Charleston, S.C.

The city's proposed expansion of Central Avenue could extend right through the complex, planners noted.

However, some people in the nearby Lincoln Park neighborhood don't want any of its property consumed by a connector road. In addition, others aren't interested in tying the area to the Riverpark.

Residents have publicly called for Mayor Andy Berke to stop the major road project because they believe the mayor has kept the public in the dark about preserving their park and that it discriminates against the community.

Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.

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