A developer is planning a new three-story apartment project just about a block away from Erlanger's downtown campus with hopes of wooing medical personnel as tenants.
The 18-unit complex would go up at 401 Central Avenue where an older, smaller apartment building recently was torn down, said Eric Emery of the engineering firm NE Group in Chattanooga.
He said in a telephone interview that the new complex would sit close to Erlanger and also abut the historic Fort Wood neighborhood.
The project is seeking a zoning change from the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission in September that would permit the additional apartment units, Emery said.
The matter had come up before the Planning Commission earlier in August and was delayed after hearing concerns from a number of neighbors to the project.
Fort Wood homeowners voiced concerns about the height of the building and the traffic and parking problems it might produce.
Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly, who lives in the area, said at the August meeting that he supports more multifamily housing near downtown and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, but he wants to make sure the development fits into the neighborhood.
Developer Aaron Nesbitt of Denver, Colorado, said by phone that while the multimillion-dollar project is in a preliminary stage, plans are to raise a building that is "a traditional style in keeping with the neighborhood."
"It should be nice," he said. "It won't go low income. It's for people who want to live close to the urban core. It would be a good fit for physicians and nurses."
Also, Nesbitt said, the units wouldn't be far from the UTC.
"I'd like to start as soon as possible," he said, adding that the supply chain is slow.
The complex could hold two-bedroom units, but Nesbitt added that the design is still in the planning stage.
Emery said he doesn't believe work on the building would start before the end of this year. Likely, the complex could open later in 2023, he said. Emery said parking would be on site.
The Regional Planning Agency staff is recommending approval of the proposed new zoning to the Planning Commission with conditions.
The proposed apartment building isn't too far away from another complex that is planned at Central and McCallie avenues.
That three-story apartment complex is to hold 27 or 28 apartments, said Lauren Dunn, an architect at Chattanooga-based Franklin Architects, in an earlier phone interview.
Most of the apartments will hold two- or three-bedroom units, although a few with one bedroom are proposed in the project that's estimated at about $3.5 million, Dunn said.
Also, the Central and McCallie intersection is where a 55-unit townhouse project was proposed in April by a different developer.
"We're improving the McCallie Avenue corridor," Kaitlin Sims, a civil engineer for the firm LaBella Associates, said at a meeting of the city's Form-Based Code Committee in support of the townhomes in April.
The vacant lot where the townhouses are proposed by RP Homes was at one time pegged to hold student housing for nearby UTC students.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.