Some 168 townhomes are planned near a new stretch of the South Chickamauga Creek Greenway as a developer seeks to build housing for workers at growing businesses in that part of Chattanooga.
“It’s so close to all these jobs,” said Chattanooga developer Jason Farmer, citing companies at Enterprise South industrial park and along Bonny Oaks Drive as examples.
He said in a telephone interview that one- and two-level townhomes are planned at 4065 Caine Lane, within the project that’s estimated at $42 million when built out.
The Greenway stretches 12 miles from Camp Jordan in East Ridge to the Tennessee Riverwalk, and the Cromwell Hills Connector close to the planned townhomes is the most recently completed segment. That part begins behind the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum and ends around Cromwell Hills, an apartment complex of about 400 residents.
To construct the townhouses, Farmer is asking for a zoning change on a 25-acre vacant parcel from the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission when it meets Dec. 12.
He said the prices for the units are expected to range from $225,000 to $285,000.
“There’s a lot of workforce-type jobs we don’t feel like are being served,” Farmer said.
In October, Volkswagen’s Chattanooga plant at Enterprise South officially rolled out its all-electric ID.4 SUV in front of Gov. Bill Lee and other officials.
The hourlong event included a few hundred of the 4,700 plant workers, about 1,000 of whom were hired this year for EV assembly.
The plant recently has gone to five-days-a-week, 24-hour-a-day production with the addition of a third shift.
The proposed townhouse project is also a mile or two from Chattanooga Airport where West Star Aviation has announced that it’s adding about 100 jobs to the 250 people who already work there.
The aircraft maintenance company is expanding its operation in a $17 million project with a new 40,000-square-foot hangar while retrofitting an existing hangar to include a design studio. Overall, the company is adding 57,000 square feet of new hangar and support space, according to officials.
Farmer said the land for the townhomes is part of a 40-acre tract that previously held a single residence. The developer said he’s buying the site from a seller who purchased it as speculative property.
Farmer said the residential development is slated for construction in two phases, with the first starting in late 2023.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.