Aiming to make a dent in Chattanooga’s affordable housing crunch, a developer has plans to convert three hotels with 218 rooms into apartments.
“So many folks are in need of housing,” said Carey Thornhill, chief executive of Thornhill Management Group.
Thornhill said in a phone interview that plans are to buy and convert the Motel 6 at 7707 Lee Highway and the America’s Best Inn at 7717 Lee Highway as well as the Knights Inn at 3655 Cummings Road.
The Lee Highway hotels are near the Airport Inn at 7725 Lee Highway, where the city is looking to change that property into about 70 units of permanent supportive housing in a plan that has drawn fire from some neighbors.
Also, Thornhill’s group that’s based in Soddy-Daisy plans to buy a property that in the past offered 19 rooms by the week on Dayton Boulevard and renovate the units into apartments, he said.