Novare Group Holdings LLC
08/01/2024 | Press release | Archived content
Robust apartment constructions combating Chattanooga housing shortage
Nearly every section of Chattanooga and Hamilton County are seeing new apartment projects underway, planned or just completed as the surge in multi-family housing refuses to ease.
From downtown to Ooltewah, East Brainerd to Hixson, and the South Broad District to Lee Highway, apartments are popping up or proposed and adding thousands of new units.
"The goal is to build a community," says Chattanooga developer Hiren Desai where work kicked off earlier in the year on the first phase of an estimated $100 million development. A 63-unit, three-level apartment complex is going up on West 26th Street just off Broad Street.
Eventually, hundreds of new apartments and townhouses are to go up on nine to 10 acres on the parcels Desai has assembled.
Called the Flats at Southside Gardens, the studio, one- and two-bedroom units are under construction within walking distance of the proposed Chattanooga Lookouts minor league ballpark.
Desai says the new apartment complex, slated to open later this year, will include on-site parking and private balconies. Rents are expected to fall between $1,600 to $2,200 per month.
ADVERTISEMENT
According to experts, there's more demand for housing than what is being built, despite the increase of residential units permitted in Hamilton County in recent years.
From 2021 to 2023, permits were issued for 3,877 multi-family housing units in Hamilton County, figures show.
While mortgage interest rates have doubled from pandemic lows three years ago, home prices in Chattanooga have continued to rise with the inventory of homes on the market, which is still relatively limited compared with demand. That's prompting some to decide to live in or stay in apartments.
The cost of single-family homes in Chattanooga hit a record in May. The median price of homes sold in the Chattanooga area rose in the month to an all-time high of $344,000, or nearly double the typical price of Chattanooga homes sold seven years ago, according to the Greater Chattanooga Realtors.
In East Brainerd, after building one of the largest apartment complexes in Hixson, an Atlanta real estate and development company is raising an even bigger project near Hamilton Place mall.
The Novare Group and its joint-venture partner BCDC are putting up a 344-unit, garden-style apartment community on 15 acres along Gunbarrel Road next to the Village at Waterside shopping center near Interstate 75 and Shallowford Road. Known as the Populus Waterside, the four-story apartment complex will include private garages, a co-working lounge and fitness center and a resort-style pool, among other amenities.
The new apartments are similar to the 250-unit Lullwater at Big Ridge, which the Novare Group opened in late 2019 in Middle Valley.
"Populus Waterside represents our ongoing belief in Chattanooga, which is a dynamic, growing city driven by the health care, automotive industries and advanced manufacturing," says Jim Borders, president and CEO of the Novare Group.
A South Carolina firm is raising a 271-unit apartment complex on Chattanooga's trendy North Shore near the Tennessee River as the area continues to woo new residents.
photo Photo by Olivia Ross / Chattanooga developer Hiren Desai poses for a photo outside of new housing at 245 W. 26th Street on March 12.
The project, which is on Manufacturers Road across from the 2 North Shore retail center, is valued at more than $50 million, says Liz Palmer, director of development for Middle Street Partners in Tennessee.
Two buildings will make up the complex when completed, which was slated for later this year. A five-story structure will face Manufacturers Road while a four-story building opens up to the river, Palmer says.
Also, the downtown site of Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly's former auto dealership could hold one of the biggest apartment projects ever built in the city, according to plans.
The proposal calls for a 10-story apartment building with 621 units and 907 parking spaces in a garage at Riverfront Parkway and M.L. King Boulevard.
The three-acre parcel additionally could hold nearly 10,000 square feet of commercial space, according to the proposal filed with the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency.
If built as planned, the development's cost may hit more than $100 million, says Mike Price, owner of the firm MAP Engineers who is helping the developer with the proposal.
ADVERTISEMENT
"It's quite a project," he says.
In Ooltewah, an 18-acre tract off Hunter Road near Hilltop Drive is slated to hold a 236-unit apartment complex, according to plans. The proposed $40 million apartment complex would go on an 18-acre vacant tract and help ease the housing crunch in the area.
"It's needed," says Price about the busy area close to the Chattanooga Volkswagen plant, Amazon, McKee Foods Corp. and other major employers.
At the same time, one of the largest new apartment complexes in the Brainerd area in years is going up on a 42-acre tract to meet what an official says is a need for more multi-family housing in that part of Chattanooga.
The complex that will hold 336 apartments is sitting on a former wooded parcel at 1558 Vance Road near the Sportsbarn East, says Tommy Austin of Austin Real Estate, who's represented North Carolina developer Ardmore Residential.
"It will meet a perceived and actual need for this area," Austin says. "There has been a concerted effort of leaders to see that need filled."
The site includes a hill with views of the surrounding area, and the developer doesn't plan to add a lot of units onto the property, he says. "That's part of the beauty of this. There's not heavy density."