October 10, 2021 – Morristown and Hamblen County are in the midst of a housing renaissance. Within a year-and-a-half, the county has seen an amount of growth not seen in decades. Almost 15 different home construction projects are on the way within Morristown city limits, with the possibility of even more to come.
Since February 2020, the Morristown Planning Commission has approved 600 multi-family units and 400 single-family lots, said Steve Neilson, planning director for the city of Morristown.
There’s a reason for the growth. “I think it’s pent up demand,” Nielson said. The construction is diverse that is being built – apartments, duplexes, condos and homes. A lot of the construction is occurring on the east side, Neilson said, just off U.S. Highway 25E.
The major construction is already helping change the face of the city . Just weeks ago, the Morristown City Council approved improvements to Thompson Creek Road to widen it and also build a connector road to Walmart in anticipation of a 300 unit complex being built by Mitch Cox.
The construction boom has started for one primary reason, city officials said. Because there has not been home construction going on – at least not enough to keep up demand – since the Great Recession struck in 2008. After the recession, many homebuilders folded and the speculative market declined.
“Since that period, we haven’t really had any major players,” Neilson said. The major players are now back with builders such as Mitch Cox, Shannon Greene, D.R. Horton and Phillip Carlyle in the picture.
Marshall Ramsey, president of the Morristown Area Chamber of Commerce said the home growth is not surprising. It goes back to the amount of manufacturing and availability of jobs in the area right now. Van Hool, a major bus transportation company, is expected to start building a manufacturing facility in Morristown by 2023. They have promised anywhere from 300 to 400 jobs up front with the possibility of more from expansion.
Over the next five years, there are committed expansions from companies that will bring in an additional 750 to 800 jobs. “We’re the economic hub of the Lakeway region,” Hamblen County Mayor Bill Brittain said. “We have thousands of people commuting in here every day and we’d like them to stay here.”
Source: Citizen Tribune
