Penny Hughey, left, stands with daughters Kinsey Clark, right, and Anna Kate Hughey Friday, April 8, 2016 in their Cameron Harbor apartment.Last year, Penny Hughey and her daughters sold their flat-screen TVs. Nine-year-old Anna Kate sold off her stuffed animals, and her older sister Kinsey thinned out her wardrobe. Penny sifted through family keepsakes, getting rid of inherited dishes, cookware, books and boxes of memorabilia.
Yes, it was hard, they say. But what the family gave up to downsize from their three-story home in Ringgold to the Tennessee riverfront has been worth it, the three agree. The family recently moved into an apartment in Cameron Harbor, a $100 million waterfront development.
Tucked away behind the corporate offices of BlueCross BlueShield and just next to Alstom Power along the Tennessee River, Cameron Harbor has been years in the making.
Developer Eugene “Buck” Schimpf purchased the 23-acre property in 2008, and, since then, has been quietly planning a future for one of the last remaining pieces of untouched downtown riverfront. He waited out the housing market crash, knowing his patience would bring success to the small slice of the city where he saw such potential.
In 2014, in collaboration with Nashville-based Evergreen Real Estate, Schimpf began to build his dream. A year later, the first of his tenants and homeowners began to move in. Phase 1 of Schimpf’s $100 million dream brought one apartment building, 10 riverfront homes and 17 village homes to the Harbor. Construction for Phase 2, with a second apartment building and 27 Craftsman homes, is ongoing.