The leader of an Atlanta-based nonprofit said his group is no longer prioritizing Hamilton County for what was initially publicized more than a year ago as a $25 million, 100-acre campus for homeless veterans.
“At this point, our focus is elsewhere, and we’re not going to take that up anytime soon,” Frontline Response CEO Terry Tucker said in a phone call Thursday, adding the group is no longer looking in Tennessee.
The group is pursuing a similar community in DeKalb County, Georgia, where it intends to build a veterans village with access to behavioral health services and job training. The group has identified about 21 acres for the project, Tucker said, noting it’s close to the original vision for the now-sidelined initiative in Chattanooga.
The group ran into issues finding land for the project in Hamilton County. They had publicly expressed interest in the McDonald Farm property in Sale Creek, but county commissioners indicated it wasn’t an ideal location for the initiative.
“The DeKalb project is further along because the municipality has been able to resolve those construction issues that invariably come up when you’re doing a project of this size,” Tucker said. “It’s not like building a house.”