New downtown apartments built or currently in the works
› Douglas Heights, 691 beds› UTC dorm, 600 beds› Cameron Harbor, 220 units› 1400 Chestnut St., 220 units› Vine Street, 200 units tentatively planned› 700 block of Market Street, 125 units› 110 Tremont St., 53 units› Chattanooga Choo Choo, 97 units› Maclellan Building, 90 units› North Shore apartments, 84 units› Vine and Houston, 68 units› Market and Main, 63 units› Clemon Bros. Building, 54 units› Tomorrow Building, 49 units› Walk2Campus apartments, 34 units› Vine and Lindsay, 31 beds
On a rainy spring morning, Vic Desai, a principal at Chattanooga-based ViaNova Development, officially opened his company’s new, 54-unit apartment building in downtown Chattanooga. Built in the 100-year-old Clemons Bros. Building at the corner of Eighth and Chestnut Streets, the apartments boasts high ceilings, 18-inch plank floors and a sturdy, concrete construction not often found in newer buildings.
The Clemons building was originally constructed for the manufacturing and sale of furniture. It was later converted into BueCross BlueShield office space, complete with sheet rock walls, carpets and suspended ceilings. When Desai and Company bought the old building, it had been sitting empty for years, and the floors remained largely as BlueCross BlueShield had left them when the insurance giant relocated to Cameron Hill.
In late 2014, ViaNova went to work retrofitting the six-story building for hip, urban loft-style downtown apartments on a $7.5 million budget. The ground floor is reserved for retail space.
“When you make this kind of investment, there’s a multiplier effect for our city,” Mayor Andy Berke says.