A pair of East Main Street sites could hold multimillion-dollar commercial and housing projects after the parcels won rezoning approval from a Chattanooga planning panel Monday.
One mixed-use development would reuse the 12,000-square-foot Raines Brothers construction company building at 1038 E. Main St. and include 20 to 40 new townhomes.
The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission recommended rezoning the 4.2-acre tract from manufacturing to urban general commercial.
What's next
The City Council will look at giving final approval on the East Main Street rezoning cases on Jan. 8.
Justin Tirsun of Chazen Engineering said plans include making the building's front along East Main into commercial space and the internal part of the site used for the townhomes. He said he didn't know the price points of the townhomes.
The Planning Commission staff said the property is surrounded by M-1 manufacturing zoning, but it's close to the central business zone. The staff said there have been several requests for changing the zoning of tracts in the East Main area to UGC and C-3 commercial. UGC is seen as fitting a more urban-type development, according to the staff.
Tirsun said talks are underway with the city about pedestrian access between the Raines Brothers building and nearby Montague Park. While the site is still owned by the Raines Brothers, there are several potential buyers looking at redeveloping the tract, he said.
The other possible East Main development is nearby on the 1200 block. Property owner Jeffery Nation and Tirsun sought and won rezoning of that 2-acre parcel from M-1 to UGC.
Tirsun said there's no specific project identified yet for the site, but it was readied for mixed use.
"The owner just wanted to rezone so it meets with others in the area," he said. Tirsun said that given the scope of the potential projects, each likely would be multimillion-dollar developments.
The City Council will look at giving final approval on the rezoning cases on Jan. 8.
Tirsun said there's a lot of growth in that area of East Main, noting that it's "the next step after downtown."
"You see downtown built out and then first-tier subdivisions around it grow with it," he said.
Tirsun said that pattern is seen in other areas of the city. One of those is the South Broad Street corridor.
Just last week, Tirsun unveiled that rezoning is sought for a 15.6-acre tract off South Broad that would offer hundreds of townhouses, apartments or condos for the site.
The property off West 33rd Street across from Chattanooga Christian School could hold up to about 450 housing units, according to planning documents submitted to the city.
Also, an adjacent parcel at South Broad and West 33rd streets would have about 48,000 square feet of small-shop space.
Ann Weeks, president-emeritus of the South Broad Redevelopment Group, said the timing is right for the proposed housing.
"We need rooftops to bring businesses," she said.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.