Chattanooga airport area seeing developer interest; hotels, retail, offices, housing viewed as projects [document]

Private developers are expressing a lot of interest in future commercial or residential projects near Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport, a city councilwoman says.

“I’m getting a lot of calls from developers,” said City Councilwoman Carol Berz about the Lee Highway, Airport Road and Shepherd Road areas near Lovell Field which a recent study indicated is poised for new development.

She said the city could help development of new hotels, housing, retail space and offices by reworking intersections and putting in sidewalks such as has been done downtown. But, Berz said, there’s no consideration of using eminent domain to take private property.

“This isn’t an eminent domain issue,” she said. “Nobody is taking anybody’s property.”