Knoxville builder plans ‘Missing Middle Housing’ in Mechanicsville neighborhood

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. ( WATE ) — Plans for new multi-unit housing are in the works, made possible by the City of Knoxville’s ‘Missing Middle Housing’ plan that passed in February.

Missing Middle Housing is house-scale buildings with multiple units in walkable neighborhoods. The city’s plan made changes to the city’s zoning code, regarding what types of units can be built and where. It’s now easier to build housing like duplexes, triplexes and townhomes in residential neighborhoods. The plan aims to increase housing availability and home ownership.

The new zoning code changes expand the types of projects builders can take on. R. Bentley Marlow is a builder in Knoxville with big plans for a section of Calloway Street in the Mechanicsville neighborhood.

He owns three single-family homes on the street. The middle of the three homes was rezoned last year. The other two homes were approved to be rezoned by the planning commission on Thursday.

Pending approval from the city council, he will now be able to turn these three single-family homes, and other multiplexes he plans to build behind them, into 15 total units.

“Now under the Missing Middle, I have the right to build a duplex or a triplex or a quadplex even, by just simply going to planning staff review. So it’s a much lower hurdle and it also goes faster,” Marlow said.

The plans have a few more hurdles to pass through at both city council and planning commission, but if approved, these are Marlow’s plans:

The left of the three houses, at 1214 Callaway St, will be turned into a duplex with a one-bedroom unit in the rear and a two-bedroom unit in the front. Then another duplex will be built behind it, and will have two one-bedroom units.

The middle house was rezoned last year. It will be converted into a duplex with a one-bedroom unit and a two-bedroom unit. Marlow then plans to build a multiplex with seven additional units behind it.

The right of the three houses will remain a single family homes. A duplex will be built behind it that will have two, one-bedroom units.

There will be fifteen new units in total.

The project would create more housing in a walkable, residential neighborhood, which is the goal of the Missing Middle plan. Marlow said it’d be a win for everyone.

“We keep the old homes, but we fix them up so they’re not dilapidated, boarded up structures. That increases housing availability for the city because there’s more units coming online,” Marlow said. “The more units we have, the lower or more stabilized rent prices will become because it’s a supply demand imbalance.”

Marlow has lived in Mechanicsville for 20 years and said the neighbors living on both sides of the project site wrote comments for the planning commission in support of it. He said he feels hopeful everything will be approved.

“I know what’s going on. I know what we need. I know what’s appropriate, and I live here. So I’m not a developer trying to move into someone else’s neighborhood just to make money. I’m trying to make my neighborhood that I live in a better place,” he said.

The rezoning of the two outer houses involved in the project is going to city council to be voted on Sep. 3 and Sep. 17.

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