A proposal for a seven-story, 140-unit apartment building in the 1200 block of Cowart Street drew differing opinions from planning commissioners on Monday, and it took two rounds of voting for the advisory panel to reach a divided agreement that seven stories is too tall for a new multi-family project on the border of the urban core and Southside districts.
In their pre-meeting review of the proposed project, staff at the Regional Planning Agency recommended against allowing the proposed apartment building to be seven stories, just under 75 feet tall.
The review cited the nearby TVA buildings and Chattanoogan Hotel for precedents in the area, both of which are five stories tall, though the TVA building is inches above 100 feet at its tallest point.
The developers of the proposed new Southside apartments – Belle Investment Group – plan to utilize pre-cast concrete construction for the apartment building, and incorporate 190 built-in parking spaces in a garage in the center of the building, walled off on three sides by the apartments themselves.
Access to the proposed apartments is to be on Cowart Street.