DOWNTOWN APARTMENTSWalnut Commons* Location: Walnut and Second streets* Investment: $11 million* Number of apartments: 100* Rental range: $740 to $1,100 a month* Other elements: Little Miss Mag Child Care Center will double to 100 children and add a new downtown playground* Schedule: Pending final approvals, 19-month construction schedule could begin in 90 daysMission on Main* Location: Main and Market streets* Investment: $9 million* Number of apartments: 48* Rental range: Under $700 to $1,150 a month* Other elements: 18,000 square feet of first-floor retail space and 50-car underground garage* Schedule: Target completion in first quarter 2012
The two biggest apartment complexes built in downtown Chattanooga in a generation could begin to take shape next year.
The construction reverses more than three decades of decline in the number of residential rental units available in the central city.
Despite the slowdown in new downtown condominiums – or perhaps because of it – developers told the Chattanooga City Council on Tuesday that there is a growing demand for downtown apartments.
Pending approval Friday of proposed city property tax breaks for the projects, construction could begin by year end on the long-delayed 100-unit apartment complex to be built above Little Miss Mag child care on Walnut Street and a 48-unit apartment complex and retail center at the entrance to downtown at Main and Market streets.