Officials broke ground Friday on the $100 million first phase of privately funded development by Erlanger Park in what developers have christened the Foundries District.
Atlanta-based New City Properties, the master developer for the publicly owned Chattanooga Lookouts stadium and surrounding district, plans to build a 287-unit apartment building and 550-space parking garage connected by a pedestrian bridge over West 26th Street.
The apartments overlooking the stadium and the garage are scheduled to open in fall 2028 after two years of construction.
Reaching Friday’s groundbreaking was in some ways less certain than construction of Erlanger Park, because the $115 million stadium was funded mostly by taxpayer-backed public bonds with some private debt that is likely to be covered by future tax revenue. The city provided an additional $10 million for infrastructure upgrades around the stadium.
The development’s private investment from Birmingham-based EBSCO Real Estate and Atlanta-based Sweetwater Holdings will generate tax revenue that will go partly to pay off debt on the stadium, an important piece of its funding formula.