300+ housing units in development near Tri-Cities Airport

Katherine Simpson
·2 min read

BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) —More than 300 housing units within a three-mile radius of Tri-Cities Regional Airport are currently in the development pipeline.

Among those projects is a proposed 120-unit single-family housing development at the intersection of TN-75 and Airport Parkway.

Thursday evening, the Kingsport Regional Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of a requested rezoning for the project from Mixed Use to Planned Development District.

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Kingsport Planning Director Ken Weems said the rezoning will put the project on par with similar ones in the city.

“It’s much more conducive to residential neighborhoods,” Weems said. “It’s got provisions for open space and green space, and another great thing about it – it’s also controlled by the Planning Commission.”

Weems said the planning commission will review site plans for approval once the Board of Mayor and Alderman approve the rezoning request.

However, the 120 units proposed for this site represent only a third of the total units at some point in the development process in the surrounding area.

Economic development organization Sullivan NETWORKS recently sold land along Hawley Road for residential development.

NETWORKS CEO Clay Walker told News Channel 11 they began considering offers from residential buyers after they hadn’t found an industrial tenant for the property.

“We don’t focus on residential development, but we do see that need and it certainly helps us in recruiting companies with more housing, more affordable housing, really housing across the gamut of price points,” Walker said.

Developer Jordan Hodges, who works with Orth Homes and Gateway Development among others, is involved in the project. He said the project is an example of the types of locations that have been successful in the past.

“We call them the between communities,” Hodges told News Channel 11. “So like Piney Flats, Gray, Blountville. And it just so happened that, you know, we don’t have anything in Blountville. So we had the opportunity, saw it, and we think it’s going to be good for us.”

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