545 apartments planned on Chattanooga’s riverfront
A tract of land along the Tennessee River just outside downtown Chattanooga that has long held manufacturing or office buildings is yielding in part to the ongoing appetite for waterfront housing.
A 30-acre parcel at 2001 Riverside Drive that is home to Kenco Logistics headquarters and warehouses could hold 545 apartments in several buildings rising up to five stories high, according to a development company.
The parcel is “a very special piece of property that holds real promise for families and professionals looking for a great place to call home,” Rhodes Seeger of Augusta, Georgiabased Southeastern Development said.
“We have a strong track record for design that is reflective of the area and are looking forward to creating a neighborhood that is in close proximity to the riverwalk and to the downtown business district,” he said in a statement.
The company is seeking a zoning change in April for the land from manufacturing to commercial that would enable the apartment buildings along with potential future retail and office space, according to an application to the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency.
Kenco is expected to remain in its offices, said Gary Kimball of JDK Real Estate LLC, a Kenco subsidiary and identified in the application as the current property owner. He said by phone Kenco would lease space if the zoning change goes through and Southeastern Development moves ahead with its project. Southeastern has a long-term commitment from Kenco to stay as a tenant, according to the developer.
Two buildings closest to the waterfront would go up in the project’s first phase. A larger building to the west would rise in a second phase, the company said.
Southeastern already has built the One Riverside apartment complex nearby off Riverside Drive. The company said in 2019 that it was spending more than $40 million to construct a 280-unit apartment complex near Erlanger’s main campus.
“There’s just no better place for this project,” Seeger said about the proposed new development site that also borders a section of the Tennessee Riverwalk.
The development’s cost wasn’t available, but the company
termed it “a significant investment.”
The Tennessee River is seeing a slew of new and proposed waterfront living spaces.
One of the biggest residential and commercial projects on Chattanooga’s riverfront is planned for a 70-acre tract off Amnicola Highway that for many years held the Central Soya feed mill.
The site, with a half-mile of Tennessee River frontage and views into North Chattanooga, will hold about 750 housing units in a project valued at more than $400 million, said Scott Williamson, a vice president for Fletcher Bright Co., in an earlier interview.
Most recently, a South Carolina firm has started work on a 271-unit apartment complex on Chattanooga’s trendy North Shore near the river off Manufacturers Road as that area continues to woo new residents in a project valued at more than $50 million.
JDK Real Estate late last year sold seven warehouses for more than $67 million in the biggest property sale in Hamilton County in 2022.
Kenco was started in 1950 by Jim Kennedy Jr. and his brother-in-law, Sam Smartt Sr. In 2022, Pritzer Private Capital of Chicago agreed to a major investment in Kenco.