A five-story Holiday Inn Express is planned for a tract of land adjacent to the Chattanooga Convention Center as downtown has several more hotels, along with over 400 rooms, in its future.
The 114-room Holiday Inn Express is slated to sit on Carter Street across from the convention center on a parcel that currently holds two existing buildings, said Allen Jones of ASA Engineering & Consulting.
The hotel will be constructed between 12th Street and a new exit ramp from U.S. Highway 27 that feeds onto Carter Street at the convention center, said Jones. The site also will hold 91 parking spaces, he said.
"It's a great location across the street from the convention center," he said after a meeting Thursday with the Chattanooga Form-based Code Committee, which approved the project.
The Chattanooga developers are Sam and Scott Patel, Jones said.
COMING IN 2018
Hotels either underway or planned for construction in 2018 in downtown Chattanooga:* The Edwin, 90 rooms* Moxy Hotel, 102 rooms* Tru by Hilton, 114 rooms* Holiday Inn Express, 114 roomsAlso proposed:* 21-room hotel on Frazier Avenue by the Walnut Street Bridge* Boutique hotel on Market near the Chattanooga Choo Choo
"They're in the hospitality industry," he said, and involved mostly in hotels.
Scott Patel declined to say how much would be invested or comment on the project.
Jones said there is a parcel adjoining the hotel tract that belongs to the state but also could be developed in the future. The rear of the hotel would back up against U.S. 27.
Committee member Heidi Hefferlin said the proposed hotel would improve the urban site.
To meet the city code, the developers requested and received a half dozen variances from the panel. Those included reductions of the parking setback and buffer along with a smaller landscape island size in the lot.
The proposed hotel would be the third immediately around the convention center, though four others are within a few blocks.
In late October, the Westin hotel opened a couple of blocks from the convention center at Pine Street and M.L. King Boulevard. That 260-room hotel is at the center of an estimated $88 million in work bringing new life to a part of downtown by Chattanooga developers Byron and Ken DeFoor.
The 10-story hotel was remade from the former headquarters of BlueCross Blue Shield of Tennessee known as the Gold Building.
At least four other hotels are planned or underway downtown.
The Moxy by local hotel developer Hiren Desai is underway at King and Market streets. Vision Hospitality Group, Chattanooga's largest hotel developer, has The Edwin boutique hotel under construction at Walnut Street and Aquarium Way.
Also, Vision has a Tru hotel planned for Chestnut Street. Another boutique offering is envisioned for the vacant St. George Hotel site on Market Street.
In addition, a 21-room hotel is proposed for the site of a longtime North Shore restaurant building next to the Walnut Street Bridge on Frazier Avenue.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.