Seven stories are not meant for everywhere. They're meant for areas where they fall in context with certain buildings.
In the 1200 block of tree-lined Cowart Street in downtown Chattanooga, at the very northern edge of what's considered the Southside district, is the vacant gravel lot - which has been a vacant gravel lot as long as Hamilton County Commissioner Joe Graham can remember - that by this time next year may be alive with construction crews.
It's the site that Knoxville-based Belle Development Group picked to build a seven-story, 140-unit apartment building, offering a mix of one-bedroom and efficiency units, aimed at young professionals and the downtown workforce. The apartment building is expected to cost "north of $25 million," according to Mike Price, owner of MAP Engineers, and representative for the project. It comes at a time when more than 2,000 new units are planned for downtown.
But the project also marks a potential changing of the guard in downtown development - an intentional shift by officials to raise the skyline.
"I hope it's the beginning of a trend where we start building up," said Chris Anderson, city councilman representing the area where the new apartment building is proposed.
Chattanooga City Councilman Chris AndersonHe said that, for 30 years, downtown building height caps and restrictions have smothered infill development and pushed growth outward.
"We've created the sprawl that now plagues us," he said.
Anderson spearheaded the motion for the Chattanooga City Council to approve the seven-story construction earlier this week, and he did so despite the fact that planning staff at the Regional Planning Agency recommended denying seven-story clearance and that planning commissioners last month voted against recommending allowing seven stories by one vote.
Anderson said he talked with the community and neighbors of the proposed project, and "the overwhelming number of residents in that neighborhood are in favor of the project based on my conversations with them."
The proposed apartment building will reach 75 feet into the air and include more than 200 parking spots available for tenants in an on-site garage, a detail planners praise, especially in the car-cramped Southside.
The 1200 Cowart St. property is a hotdog-shaped, one-acre piece of land.
Some opponents of the project say that at that location the building will stick out, looming over its neighbors. But the developers point out the 100-foot-tall TVA building nearby and the four-story Chattanoogan hotel.
Longtime Chattanooga developer Don Moon said last month that the building would "be domineering down there."
Price understands the concerns.
"Seven stories are not meant for everywhere," he said. "They're meant for areas where they fall in context with certain buildings."
He believes the apartment building will fit in with its Cowart Street neighbors, and that "it's not out of character, that there is a complementary use as it relates to buildings."
Graham, meanwhile, said downtown living is essential to downtown health. And that recent history has proven the Southside isn't yet where it needs to be.
"Economically, the neighborhood had a really nice grocery store, but it couldn't sustain itself," he said, referencing the closure of Grocery Bar earlier this year.
"They need more residents to be able to sustain a grocery store," he said.
Graham also said that, under the form-based zoning codes Chattanooga is moving toward in an effort to make the city more pedestrian friendly, slightly taller buildings are recommended, and in this case a six-story building would have been allowed with no exception required.
But while the project is seen as a positive changing of the guard by some, it still has opponents. Chief among them is architect Thomas Johnson, who owns several buildings in the vicinty of 1200 Cowart and who has helped restore and repurpose buildings in the Southside - including St. John's Restaurant.
"This project is a seven-story parking deck," he told City Council members earlier this week. "The project is going to destroy everything we've done for the past 25 years."
Johnson was unavailable for comment on Friday.
City officials will vote again on Dec. 1 to grant final approval for the apartment building. The developers were given time to sort out a setback and building proximity issue with a neighboring business, the Tennessee Valley Public Power Association.
Price said if the project gets final approval in December, work could begin in the middle of spring next year and then take 15 to 18 months to complete.
Contact staff writer Alex Green at agreen@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6480.