North Shore apartments join growing rental trend

Staff photo by John RawlstonA vacant lot at the corner of Cherokee Boulevard and Manufacturers Road is being eyed for a five-story, 84-unit apartment building.

Chattanooga’s biggest hotel developer is venturing into the city’s hot downtown apartment market and joining a growing list of firms looking to cash in on the trend to rent.

Vision Hospitality Group, which has 30 hotels, is planning a five-story, 84-unit apartment building on the North Shore near Renaissance Park.

The project is a first for Vision and one of more than 15 such ventures under development or consideration by companies that would create upwards of 2,000 new residential units downtown within the next couple of years.

“There’s great demand, from everything we’re hearing, for housing,” said Mitch Patel, Vision’s chief executive officer. “The timing couldn’t be better.”