by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

At the Nov. 5 meeting, the Monteagle Planning Commission approved the site plan for what developer Trevor Cross described as a “boutique hotel,” a project three years in the making. In November of 2023, the commission approved rezoning the DuBose Conference Center property from Institutional Development to Commercial C-2. The project on the former Conference Center site calls for two restaurants, open to the public, and a spa, pool, and pickleball and tennis courts for the use of guests. One aspect of the plan, no internal vehicle traffic on the property other than to and from the parking lot, presented the commission with a unique circumstance when considering the proposed route for emergency vehicle access.

Cross explained the roadbed beneath the two-foot-wide grass aprons on each side of the paved 8-foot-wide golf cart-type path was the same substructure used under asphalt. “It can hold an 85,000-pound fire truck,” Cross said. “It’s used all over the country. It’s about aesthetics. Twelve-feet wide doesn’t feel ‘pedestrian.’”

Commissioner Dan Brown noted at a workshop thatb Fire Chief Travis Lawyer approved of the emergency vehicle access route.

“It’s not a road so I don’t see why we would require it to meet the definition of a road,” said Commissioner Alec Mosley. “If the cart path holds the weight of a fire truck, it seems satisfactory.”

The entrance will be the same as at present, with parking primarily in front. Guests will check in then have the option of self-park or valet parking. “The internal traffic will be entirely pedestrian or by golf cart,” Cross said. The 133 lodging options include hotel type rooms, 42 casitas (cottages), and 10 rooms in what is now Claiborne Hall possibly for use by groups holding conferences or meetings. In addition to abundant meeting space, the venue will feature both a sit-down lunch-and-dinner style restaurant and a lounge with a bar and light food.

The developers, College Street Partners, are in the process of negotiating with the Mountain Goat Trail Alliance and town to move the trail closer to DuBose Avenue. Monteagle owns the easement, and the developers will ask for a new easement. “It would be all on our cost. Having the Mountain Goat Trail go through our parking would create some odd interactions,” Cross observed. The Partners plan to screen the parking from the trail with an evergreens buffer. “We want to hide the parking the best we can,” Cross insisted.

Questioned about noise concerns from the pickleball court, Cross said, “We want to be good neighbors.” He suggested a “sound buffer” could be added to the fence or the court could require using “quiet paddles.” The project plan shows a berm to buffer the site from traffic noises, which would also help buffer noise from the pickleball court.

Monteagle engineer Travis Wilson has approved the project’s stormwater and utilities plan. “We’ve already done some demolition and abatement,” Cross said, “shoring up structures and removing asbestos. We think we found the foundation of the old Fairmount College building built in the 1800s.” Cross described huge red bricks three times the size of bricks typically in use today. The building burned down and Cross speculated a new structure was built on top of the old one.

Cross expects construction to begin in late February or early March of 2027 and for the facility to open to the public in the fall of 2028. He pointed to close proximity to I-24 enhancing the hotel’s attractiveness as a “destination” venue. “We anticipate visitors from Nashville and Chattanooga, as well as nationally.”