New preschool, retail space planned for Chattanooga's North Shore

Staff photo by Mike Pare / A parcel on the North Shore at 607 N. Market St. is to hold a new preschool and other development.
Staff photo by Mike Pare / A parcel on the North Shore at 607 N. Market St. is to hold a new preschool and other development.

It's a growing area. We love the local flavor.

The Goddard School, a private preschool and daycare with locations in 36 states, is slated to anchor a planned new mixed-use project on Chattanooga's North Shore.

Heather Everett, director of operations for locally based developer V-2 Design, said the school is to take up a large part of the 607 N. Market St. tract.

"There will be other spaces for other people to have stuff in," she said. "We're hoping somebody local comes in with a small market."

The 1-acre site at West Bell Avenue and North Market was formerly occupied by Precision Wire Engineering Co. Everett said early demolition work has begun, but not all the buildings on the parcel will come down by the new users.

"They'll use some of the existing buildings," she said.

A real estate listing shows that retail space will have ground level entry from North Market in about 6,800 square feet.

A fitness center, cafe, or offices would fit on the site, according to real estate broker Wendy J. Elliott of Stonecrest Properties.

A drive way will swing around to the back for access to The Goddard School, the listing said.

The Goddard School's website said it uses the most current academically endorsed methods to work with children six weeks to six years old. The Goddard School, which has more than 460 locations including other sites in Tennesee in Nashville, Memphis and Knoxville, reaches over 65,000 students.

Everett said the preschool is expected to be open before the end of the year.

"It's a growing area," she said. "We love the local flavor."

The North Shore is undergoing a flurry of new development, both housing and commercial.

For example, Chattanooga developer Matt McGauley recently began construction of six high-end townhomes on part of a high-profile site that formerly held the Town & Country Restaurant for nearly 60 years just off North Market on Woodland Avenue.

"That neighborhood has matured and grown," said McGauley, chief executive of developer Fidelity Trust Co. "There's high demand to be in that location."

That tract will hold the units priced from $595,000 to $750,000 each, McGauley said.

Also, nearby Cherokee Boulevard has seen a surge of new apartments open and under construction.

Locally based Vision Hospitality Group has opened an 84-unit apartment complex called 10/North on Cherokee.

But the largest is a 190-unit, $37 million apartment complex at Cherokee and Manning Street on the former site of The Loft restaurant.

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

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