Chattanooga riverfront project wins planning panel approval
One of the biggest residential and commercial projects on Chattanooga’s riverfront – proposed for a 70-acre tract off Amnicola Highway – on Monday won approval from a planning group.
The site, that for many years held the Central Soya feed mill, won a zoning change from manufacturing to central business zone with conditions.
The proposed project will hold about 750 housing units in a project valued at more than $400 million, said Scott Williamson, a vice president for Fletcher Bright Co., in an earlier telephone interview.
The parcel with an official Judd Road address is 4 miles from downtown and also will offer service-type commercial space, Williamson said.
The Chattanooga-based development company is seeking federal permission to put in about 100 boat slips on the Tennessee River. When all the permits are in hand and demolition at the site is finished, Williamson said he expects work could start late this year or early in 2023. The project still needs City Council approval.
Proposed apartments OK’d off Highway 58
The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission on Monday approved one of the largest apartment projects in the county in years.
More than 700 apartment units are planned for a vacant parcel 54 acres in size at 8699 N. Hickory Valley Road.
MAP Engineers owner Mike Price, who is working on the project for developer RM Investment LLC, said an adjacent tract where Walmart planned and then backed off a superstore at North Hickory Valley Road and Highway 58 also will hold nearly 150 townhomes by a company affiliated with the apartment developer, Price said.
Some nearby residents expressed traffic concerns about the new apartments. Also, Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond said while he’s not opposed to new housing, there are traffic worries.
But Price said an updated traffic study is underway and changes are planned at the North Hickory Valley Road and Highway 58 intersection to add dual left turn lanes.
He said if the apartment project receives rezoning from the County Commission, work likely will start in 2023 with the first units opening in 2024.
– Compiled by Dave Flessner