After three and a half years of leasing and development, Ooltewah's Cambridge Square has just about reached the halfway point of its commercial development and will soon begin building some of the 100 homes slated for its residential area.
The approximate halfway point was marked by construction of the mixed-use development's ninth commercial building, which is expected to be complete within the next few months, according to Jim Cheney, marketing director for Cambridge Square.
The building has no tenant as of yet.
The 10th building, which will break ground in January 2017, will include the second location of Riverview-based Italian restaurant Il Primo, set to open at Cambridge in September 2017, bringing the total number of tenants at the already-popular public square to 19.
"To only be three years into this or so and to have 20 solid tenants, we're very pleased with that progress," said Cheney. "Ooltewah, historically, has never really had what you would call a 'town center,' so this, I think, is filling that role pretty nicely."
Developers will continue to construct buildings as they find tenants to fill them, and Cheney said depending on the needs of those tenants are, residents could see eight to 10 more buildings go up over the next two or so years, filling the two remaining building pads on the square and all available space.
Most of those new buildings will be used as commercial office space, Cheney said, adding that developers are currently looking for professional service firms hoping to capture the Ooltewah market. With each building a shell, developers have the ability to build office suites of a wide variety of sizes - even one as small as 1,500 square feet - to fit their needs.
"That isn't typically what you get," Cheney said. "Usually, there's an available space and it either works for you or it doesn't. [But] we can accommodate really small spaces and we can accommodate really large spaces, so it's kind of the best of both worlds that way."
Progress is also being made on the residential side of the development. Most of the infrastructure has been completed, including roads, sewer and water lines, and houses will start being lined up on the property by spring.
Cambridge Square's residential portion will be a different kind of community, said Cheney. To offset the nearby retail spaces and lack of yards for each home, the development will focus on public green spaces and common areas, a design expected to invoke a greater sense of community between residents.
The homes, designed by River Street Architecture and built by BP Construction, will also introduce a wide range of architectural diversity, with 20 different house plans available and none repeated on any one street.
"So when you're going down the street, you'll see a Tudor, a Victorian or a Greek Revival, and all these traditional, authentic architectural styles, but they won't be repeating themselves," Cheney explained.
So far, developers have received a large amount of interest in the homes, which will start at $300,000, and they are already actively working on contracts for about eight to 10 pre-sale custom homes.
"We welcome anyone who's interested in living in Cambridge Square," Cheney said.