The apartment-building boom in Chattanooga hasn't fizzled amid the coronavirus-driven economic downturn as a 96-unit complex is planned for a vacant tract off Shallowford Road.
"Everything indicates that apartments are still in demand in the Chattanooga area," said Mike Price of MAP Engineers, who is representing developer David Gardner.
The proposed complex at 6402 Shallowford Road is slated for a site across from the new Veterans Affairs clinic that's under construction.
The apartment complex is to hold six separate buildings, all of which will be two stories high except for a pair of the structures which will rise three levels, said Price.
He said work is expected to start next spring at the 5.6-acre parcel at 6401 Shallowford.
The VA clinic, which has a tentative opening date spring 2021, is adjacent to a 10-acre parcel where a pair of Chattanooga developers earlier unveiled plans to build a $10 million residential project. The developers, Marcus Lyons of Oasis Residential and Pratt Home Builders, said last year they intended to construct 82 garden-style rental homes.
The apartment complex still needs rezoning approval from the City Council. Last week, the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission voted in favor of rezoning of the tract from Residential Townhouse RT-1 to Residential R-3.
Chattanooga has seen an array of new apartment complexes built over the past several years with several thousand more multi-family housing units added to the market.
The rezoning for the new apartments on Shallowford Road was approved despite a recommendation against the zoning change from Regional Planning Agency staff.
The staff report said the property was rezoned to RT-1 in 1986 for construction of a maximum of 45 units. The report said the proposed density for the new apartments and the land use isn't compatible with the existing plans for the area.
The planning staff said while there is an adjacent multi-family housing development, the request is not compatible with single-family detached residences which also are nearby. The report said the current RT-1 zoning allows for moderate-density housing that serves as transition between high-density and low-density houses abutting the proposed project.
Price told the Planning Commission that a meeting with the neighborhood was held by the development group and a list of six conditions was crafted for the project.
He said the conditions, which include a minimum building setback and dumpster operating times, was submitted to the nearby neighborhood association president. Price said the association head passed the conditions onto neighbors and, in an email, indicated that there wasn't an objection to the project moving ahead.
"With those six conditions and having met with the neighborhood, this plan is a proper development adjacent to a current apartment development," he said.
Blythe Bailey, a member of the planning commission, said the number of units planned for the apartments appear to be twice that of the 45-unit limit cited in the staff report.
"I didn't hear a condition that might resolve that," he said.
David Mathews, another panel member, said the rezoning to R-3 would negate the previous zone.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.