When the founders of Access America decided to help launch other businesses in the Loveman's building six years ago, they quickly found a wealth of startup ideas from young entrepreneurs - and a dearth of suitable housing options for those wanting to live near their downtown business incubator.
"You could live in the Loveman's building if you could afford hundreds of thousands of dollars for a condo or you could live in the suburbs if you wanted to drive," recalled Allan Davis, who started the Lamp Post Group along with Ted Alling and Barry Large. "There wasn't a place for young millennials who wanted to walk or ride their bike to work. In talking with the people we were drawing to our city, we saw a real need for a downtown micro-living space to offer a more communal style of living."
To fill that need, Davis, Alling and Large bought a vacant, four-story building at Georgia Avenue and Patten Parkway a block away from Loveman's and spent $8 million over the past couple of years to bring a new type of housing to the downtown market.
"We've taken a 120-year-old building and renovated it as flexible, innovative housing for Chattanooga movers and shakers," said Tiffanie Robinson, president of Lamp Post Properties, the real estate arm of the business incubator that Davis, Alling and Large created. "This not only provides housing for those working in the growing startup scene in our downtown Innovation District, it also offers a kind of a community and more connections for those moving to our city with flexible leases and furnished apartments to make it attract talent to Chattanooga and to retain people once they move here."
The renovated structure now includes 39 furnished, micro-unit apartments above a first floor of commercial space that will soon include Plus Coffee and Southern Squeeze juice bar - both scheduled to open within a month or two - and Jack Brown's Beer and Burger joint and the Palace Picture House movie theater, which are scheduled to open by this summer.
So far, 19 of the 39 apartments are leased and already tenants are sharing occasional meals, foosball games and relaxing get-togethers in the central common area of the building.
"It's a little like college dorm life - without the kegs," Robinson quipped during an open house Thursday to promote the downtown complex.
The Tomorrow Building name is a takeoff of one of the building's most popular predecessors, Yesterday's bar and restaurant, which operated for nearly 30 years before its closing nearly a decade ago.
The building dates back to 1888 and for many years was the site of the Ross Hotel. Many of the former hotel rooms have been converted to apartments that range from 300 to 700 square feet in size. Tenants can pick three-month, six-month or yearlong leases that run $895 to $1,300 a month, utilities and Gig internet service included.
Stephanie Hays, the community living manager for the Tomorrow Building, said residents enjoy the shared space within the complex and the interaction of tenants in the building. Tenants in the Tomorrow Building have their own kitchenettes in their rooms but they can also share two larger kitchens and dining rooms, a large living room and a multipurpose space for events.
Chris Weller, one of the co founders of Branch Technology who moved to Chattanooga after graduating from the University of Virginia's architecture school, said he moved into the Tomorrow Building to be a part of a community. Although the units are about the size of a hotel room, the tall ceilings, huge windows and furnishings included in the apartment "make the space feel much bigger," Robinson said.
The Tomorrow Building is part of a surge of downtown apartments being added for college students, millennials and empty nesters. The River City Co. estimated last year that 2,500 apartments, 260 condos and 1,000 beds for UTC students were either being built or on the planning boards in the downtown area.
Just as the former Ross Hotel was converted into the Tomorrow Building apartments, one of the main hotel buildings at the Chattanooga Choo Choo converted former hotel rooms into apartments in Passenger Flats, which co-owner Jon Kinsey said is now nearly full and has spurred construction of more apartments on the Choo Choo property.
The Tomorrow Building is the biggest venture by Lamp Post Properties, which is also developing whiskey stills, open offices, storefronts and other commercial space at the Tennessee Stillhouse on West M.L. King Boulevard, the former Cooper's Office Supply building on Cherry Street, and the Mayfield Annex Building on Walnut Street. Lamp Post also owns the Smart Bank building and Loveman's buildings downtown.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6340.