Bobby Joe Adamson has spent his whole life in the Summit community. His father, the late Charlie D. Adamson, sharecropped land there, land that Bobby Joe bought in 1982.
That land is now the proposed site of a 300-unit, $30 million apartment complex that Bobby Joe hopes will draw others to the community. Not only does he want the amenities that could follow more residents in the area, he is the head of Adamson Developers, which brought the project before the county Planning Commission last week.
“Every time we talk to someone about bringing a McDonald’s, a Subway, a Hardee’s or a sit-in place to eat … they jump over us and go to the next exit, over to Collegedale, because we don’t have enough residents there to support it,” Adamson told planning commissioners.
His own house sits in a community of single-family housing which he also built immediately behind the proposed apartment site.
If approved by the Hamilton County Commission, his proposed Summit Pointe will be a gated community with a 20-by 60-foot pool, a clubhouse, walking trails, a dog park, a tanning and workout facility and an outdoor kitchen with five grilling areas and flatscreen TVs.
Last week, the project gained unanimous approval from the Planning Commission, despite a recommendation by planning staff not to approve the required rezoning. The apartment complex would sit on 20.5 acres of what is now primarily single-family residential, (R-1) property.
“We hope to start on it sometime in spring of [next] year,” said Charles Adamson, son of Bobby Joe and project manager for Adamson Developers. “It’s going to be a fast-track job.”
He said Summit Pointe will offer 750- to 1,350-square-foot floor plans, offering one, two and three bedrooms, and the apartments will be built all at one time.
Future plans call for developing commercial and residential property north and east, eventually extending all the way across Old Lee Highway.
John Bridger, executive director of the Regional Planning Agency, said the planning staff’s 2012 review of the “transitional” area where Adamson wants to build calls for apartment housing as suitable for the area. Bobby Joe Adamson said he personally visited with neighbors of the proposed Summit Pointe complex and held a community meeting to hear their needs.
Bridger said Adamson’s credibility with residents “makes a difference.”
A handful of residents showed up to the recent rezoning hearing to support the project. There was no opposition at the meeting.