How the Union Depot project in Bartlett will fill a void in the city's housing market

Work is underway on Bartlett's first mixed-use development.

The Union Depot, which is being built by development firm Blue Sky Communities, is led by local developer Keith Grant of Grant & Co. Builders, a Collierville-based homebuilding firm that also owns Blue Sky Communities.

The 74-acre project site is located off U.S. 70 at Stage Road on the former campus of the Tennessee Baptist Children’s Homes. In December 2021, the Bartlett Board of Mayor and Aldermen, under former Mayor Keith McDonald, approved a special use permit to allow for a mixed-use development.

Grant said the lack of sewer capacity through the Fletcher Creek basin had impacted new Bartlett development in the southern portion of the city for years. The City of Bartlett worked through the issues that allowed the Union Depot mixed-use development to move forward.

Here is a closer look at the project.

What does the Union Depot development in Bartlett include?

The Union Depot development is planned to be built in six phases.

Grant said the development is set include 337 flats, which will offer amenities including a clubhouse, pool area and fitness center within a gated area. In addition, there will be 55 lofts above ground-floor retail, 70 townhouses, 161 single-family homes and an additional 5 acres of retail for a total of 85,000 square feet of commercial space.

Grant said they’re in discussions with some prominent local restaurants about relocating to the Bartlett development.

“Bartlett is a really good place for people to raise their family and live,” he said. "The elected officials are great to work with, and Bartlett is a pro-business community.”

Grant noted the townhomes are expected to cost around $300,000, while the single-family homes are estimated to be around $450,000. In terms of the lofts, a one-bedroom will cost more than $1,500 a month, with two-bedrooms costing more than $2,000 a month.

“This is going to be higher-end product and first class to the community,” Grant said.

According to Grant, the first 15 flat units at Union Depot will be move-in ready in December. The clubhouse is also expected to be done around that time. He said construction of the townhomes will start in January and is expected to be completed in April.

Grant said the buildout of all the homes, including flats, lofts, townhouses and single-family units, will take about five years to complete.

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How the housing landscape is changing

Bartlett Mayor David Parsons said the City of Bartlett understood several years ago that mixed-use developments were the big development trend. About three years ago, some Bartlett officials took a trip to Nashville and some other areas nearby to see what the mixed-use developments looked like in Middle Tennessee.

“We could see with the landscape of housing was kind of changing where it was going to these mixed-use developments,” Parsons said. “... The City (of Bartlett) had tried for sometime to find uses for the (former) Tennessee Baptist Children’s Homes' site and nobody could seemed to make the numbers work on it, so it was going to take a mixed-use to have some blended uses in there to make the numbers work in there. The ball kind of got rolling with this (Union Depot) development."

Parsons said other local suburban municipalities like Germantown and Lakeland both have mixed-use developments, while Arlington announced last March a new mixed-use development that could cost between $500 million to $700 million.

“With those mixed-use developments, it generates a lot of activity in and around those communities," he said. “The spinoff of it, with the commercial uses with restaurants and so forth, is really a good high number of spinoff opportunities that come from it.”

Parsons is pleased on how the Union Depot development will create different types of housing options in Bartlett.

“A lot of people that are accustomed to a big house on a big lot, they realize the upkeep and maintenance,” he said. “With dual incomes working, they want a lower maintenance and more common area. This will be the niche in the housing market that we don’t currently have.”

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What will Union Depot mean for the future of Bartlett?

John Threadgill, president of the Bartlett Area Chamber of Commerce, described the roughly $200 million Union Depot project as the largest private investment in Bartlett’s history. He said the multiphase, mixed-use development is already serving as a catalyst for growth in Bartlett.

“Located in the municipality’s core retail and commercial district, Kirby Whitten and Stage Road, Union Depot will have a huge impact on the area, especially the further development of Summer (Avenue) east of Stage,” Threadgill said in an emailed statement.

“There is still roughly 50 acres of undeveloped commercially zoned land along the (Highway) 70 corridor which Union Depot will definitely (complement) and spur future development.”

Corey Davis is the Collierville and Germantown reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Corey.Davis@commercialappeal.com or 901-293-1610.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: What will Union Depot in Bartlett include? Housing, retail and more