Work on M.L. King extension scheduled to commence
200 more apartments going up at Cameron Harbor on waterfront
Work is expected to start Thursday on extending West M.L. King Boulevard to the riverfront and offer a direct link between the key downtown Chattanooga artery and the Tennessee River.
Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke said that extending the road from Riverfront Parkway to the Blue Goose Hollow trailhead at the Riverwalk is an integral part of tying the city to “one of its most valuable and scenic public spaces.”
The $ 3.5- million project will be done by Highland Building Group, which is affiliated with Cameron Harbor developer Evergreen Real Estate of Nashville.
Earlier this year, the city approved an economic impact plan for the M. L. King Boulevard development area and enabled Berke to work up a tax-increment financing (TIF) agreement with Evergreen.
It’s only the second TIF the city has executed. The first was done about six years ago related to the Black Creek development in Lookout Valley. Under a TIF, developers spend the money for a project up front, then are paid back with interest over a period out of additional tax revenues generated by the development.
Evergreen will build the road and other improvements and deed those and easements to the city.
Aaron White of Evergreen said he expected the M.L. King extension to be ready in early fall 2019.
At the same time, Evergreen is building two more apartment buildings in the area with a total of 200 units. With those completed, White said Evergreen will have 700 units in Cameron Harbor, stretching from the city’s downtown marina to about the Blue Goose Hollow trailhead.
Along with single-family residences built in the area and other work, White said about $100 million in development has taken place in Cameron Harbor over the past five years or so.
“It’s a testament to the growth and strength of the Chattanooga community.” – AARON WHITE, EVERGREEN REAL ESTATE CO- FOUNDER
“It’s a testament to the growth and strength of the Chattanooga community,” he said.
Also, on the opposite side of the planned M. L. King extension, a Chattanooga developer who recently bought the former Alstom plant is looking at more potential housing and other commercial development.
Developer Jimmy White, no relation to the Nashville businessman, termed the vacant 112-acre Alstom site Chattanooga’s biggest riverfront revitalization project since Ross’s Landing was remade more than a decade ago.
He said the oldest production facilities on the north end of the site nearest M.L. King will be torn down. That side of the parcel will be marketed to office users as light industrial space or as potential retail, hotel and
residential space.
Aaron White said along with the extension and the apartment buildings, the developer will redo Fulton Street within Cameron Harbor as well as provide new traffic signals at Riverfront Parkway and M.L. King with crosswalks.
Charita Allen, the city’s deputy administrator of economic development, said preliminary construction documents have been submitted for the new road.
Dr. Charles Holt, one of 13 dentists working in an office building off Riverfront Parkway and M. L. King, asked the city’s Industrial Development Board on Monday to consider a turn lane related to the extension to speed traffic.
Aaron White said while the new apartments are the last developable piece at Cameron Harbor for his company, Evergreen officials are looking at other properties in the area either undeveloped or under-developed.
“We’ve tried to appeal to different segments of the market,” he said. “As long as it’s phased and Chattanooga keeps growing and there’s demand from homeowners and renters …, I feel good about it.”