Chattanooga hotel developer Mitch Patel fulfills his father's dream with retirement community in East Brainerd

Staff photo by Mike Pare / New 26-unit retirement-type community is going up off Hickory Valley Road near East Brainerd Road.
Staff photo by Mike Pare / New 26-unit retirement-type community is going up off Hickory Valley Road near East Brainerd Road.

"It's not something I'm getting into as a business. This was my father's dream." - Mitch Patel, CEO of Vision Hospitality Group

Chattanooga hotel developer Mitch Patel says he's helping fulfill his father's dream of bringing together family and friends at a new project involving over two dozen homes in East Brainerd.

The 26 single-family units in the retirement-type community located off Hickory Valley Road range from $250,000 to $400,000 each, he said, and all of the lots are already committed.

"I'm not a subdivision developer,"said Patel, who is chief executive officer of Vision Hospitality Group. "It's not something I'm getting into as a business. This was my father's dream."

His 75-year-old father, Ish Patel, is retired as are many of his family and friends. They're downsizing and moving into homes more compatible with their ages.

Mitch Patel said he put together a small development team including builder Ethan Collier, Elemi Architects and Pinnacle Bank, and they asked what his father's friends and family members were looking for in new residences.

"We came up with a plan," he said.

Some residences are one-story with three bedrooms while others have two levels and four bedrooms, Patel said.

"All are ADA [Americans with Disability Act] compatible. Garages are in the rear," he said. The units are located on a cul-de-sac and there is green space as well, Patel said. "We're building a clubhouse that's under construction. They can gather and play cards and socialize."

While some buyers are moving from other parts of the country, such as Illinois or Mississippi, most are from the Chattanooga area, he said.

Some already are living in the development, Patel said, and most everyone will be moved in by next spring.

His father moved to Cleveland, Tennessee, in 1980. Ish Patel came to America from India in the late 1960s with only $8 and a dream of getting an advanced degree in microbiology at the University of California-Davis.

When he moved to Cleveland, Ish Patel took over an 80-room Scottish Inn, which Mitch helped out by cleaning rooms, doing laundry and taking out the trash as needed.

"They love this community," Mitch Patel said.

He noted that Tennessee has no general income tax and Chattanooga is close to bigger cities such as Atlanta and Nashville. From the development, Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport is about five minutes away and Interstate-75 is about two minutes away, Patel said.

Last year, Vision Hospitality opened The Edwin, the 90-room hotel downtown near the Walnut Street Bridge. Vision operates more than 30 other hotels under such major nameplates as Marriott and Hilton.

Last month, Vision started work on a 135-room Aloft by Marriott hotel as part of the redevelopment of the former Sears location at Hamilton Place mall. That seven-story hotel is expected to be ready in spring 2021. Vision is joint venturing with mall owner CBL Properties on the Aloft.

"We are thrilled to begin the second phase of Hamilton Place's redevelopment project with the start of construction on Aloft by Marriott by our partners at Vision Hospitality Group," said Stephen Lebovitz, chief executive of CBL Properties.

Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.

Upcoming Events