Idleville Apartments Are Newest Addition to SMH Dade Properties

By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor

Steven M. Henry’s latest construction project in Dade County is the Idleville apartment complex, just north of the Dade County Sports Complex. On Aug. 4, numerous government representatives participated in a groundbreaking ceremony.

Although Evan Stone (Industrial Development Authority executive director) used the term “workforce housing” when referring to the project during the July 21 IDA meeting, a more accurate term would be “affordable housing.”

Workforce housing typically involves some sort of government incentive/grant, so the Sentinel asked Henry if he had received anything like this. He said he hadn’t; his company simply saw a business opportunity in Dade and wanted to provide an affordable option for renters. “We’re trying to fill a need that I think Dade County has.”

It’s unclear why the IDA and Joint Development Authority (JDA) participated in the groundbreaking when it appears to be a private business venture unconnected to government agencies. For comparison’s sake, when Faircloth Realty held a ribbon cutting for their Woodford at Glenview subdivision, the Alliance for Dade organized and promoted the event (as they did for Idleville), and State Rep Mike Cameron and at least one city representative attended. (Mike was also present at Idleville.) However, the IDA and JDA appeared to be absent from Woodford’s ribbon cutting.

Henry anticipates charging $1,200 per month for the two bed/two bath units and $1,600 per month for the three bed/two bath units. There will be 24 units total, with some on the second floor and some remaining ADA accessible on the ground level.

If we go by the 30 percent rule (a common guideline saying that no more than 30 percent of someone’s gross income should go toward housing costs), household income for the two bedroom units will need to be $48,000 per year—well beneath Dade’s average household income of about $59,000 (per the U.S. Census Bureau).

Henry reported that each unit will have its own laundry room and a back porch facing the trees around the lot. “We’re trying to make everything where it feels like your home instead of feeling like you settled for an apartment.”

The units are not intended to be leased to Southeast Lineman Training Center (SLTC) students. Henry owns the existing units by the sports complex that he leases to SLTC students. He said that when he bought the property, there were already some units being leased to students, so he continued to expand that section.

For the new complex, Henry said, “I always intended on this site to be a complex for the community.” If things go well, he would like to build a neighborhood on another nearby tract that he already owns.

However, citizen Cody Doyle reported that when Henry was building the existing SLTC units, he told Doyle that they wouldn’t be for students. Doyle said, “After a meeting at the Dade County Administration Building, I caught up with then State Senate candidate Steven Henry. I asked him if the apartments by the Four Fields were meant for families or linemen, because I had heard they were for linemen. He laughed and asked, ‘Is that what Colton [Moore] is spreading?’ I told him no, I was just curious myself. He then told me they were meant for families to rent.”

The Sentinel went to the existing linemen housing units to see how they’ve held up. The ones closest to Highway 11 looked nice from the outside, but the next row had piles of trash and junk out front. While this is caused by the renters—not Henry—perhaps the property manager could enforce some level of cleanliness.

Further east into the property, there are individual units with foundations that appear to be nothing more than two-by-fours and corrugated metal sheets. The Idleville foundations include concrete blocks, so it appears that they will not be following the style of these individual linemen units.

The Sentinel asked the current students about their experiences in Henry’s rentals. Students pay one lump sum for 15 weeks in the rentals.

A student in one of the individual units spoke highly of the location and community and hadn’t had any problems with the building. “All of us here, we’re all like a family. We hang out on the weekends. It’s right up the road from school. Being close to people you’re in school with, I’ve enjoyed it.”

He spent the first three weeks of the semester driving to campus from his home 45 minutes away, but he decided to save his time and use his money on a rental instead, a decision he said was well worth it. He couldn’t remember if he paid $1,200 or $1,500 total for the unit, but either way, he felt it was a very good price for the quality, location, and community.

Another group in the center row of apartments had less favorable things to say. One student who used to work in carpentry spoke for the group, saying, “It’s the most poorly constructed house I’ve ever seen. The doors, none of them were straight. We had to readjust our door to be able to close it all the way. We actually had a skunk get in because it didn’t close all the way. Both houses down from us, their roofs leak, and the property managers did nothing about it even after several calls.”

As for the kitchen and appliances, the students were satisfied, but they found the concrete floor less appealing. However, given that SLTC students don’t have the best reputation when it comes to taking care of property, it’s understandable that Henry didn’t invest money into carpet or hardwood floors.

These units house up to six students at a time with each paying $2,200 (or $146 per week). The spokesman said, “That’s low if we lived on our own, but not with up to six of us in here.” According to the school’s website, these units have three bathrooms and three bedrooms.

The Sentinel asked the group’s neighbors about the leak. They said they’d had a few leaks, but they didn’t offer any further comments.

The Sentinel also reached out to Tyler Hughes for his general thoughts because his company focuses on providing affordable rentals. Hughes focuses on flipping instead of new builds, but he is familiar with Dade, Chattanooga, and other nearby markets.

As he highlighted at the start of this year (see the Jan. 15 Sentinel), Hughes said again that more inventory is the best way to achieve affordable options. Labor and material costs are what they are, and Hughes doesn’t anticipate these ever decreasing, but more inventory will create more competition which should eventually benefit the renter/buyer.

Hughes said, “I personally think it’s good for the county, regardless of the price points Steven is trying to hit.”

All in all, Henry seems to be working toward his vision for the area: linemen rentals, apartments, and perhaps a restaurant and a neighborhood one day. Both attempts to establish a restaurant via a food truck phase have failed thus far, but one day, a restaurant could add to the appeal of the community.

In addition to owning SMH Homes/SMH Construction, Henry is the chairman of the Catoosa County board of commissioners. (Catoosa’s form of government is slightly different from ours; while Don Townsend is both the county executive/manager and the board chair, Catoosa has an elected chair and an appointed manager.)