Three men park their trucks on a parcel of Hamilton County land that was once home to a motel of ill repute and make their way indoors.
Instead of tapping a bell at a check-in desk, they park their posteriors on the cushioned chairs that circle a polished wood table in the dining area of a spanking new townhome.
“This land used to be the home of the Alpine Lodge,” says Gary Crowe, one of the three. “It was nicknamed ‘Paid by the Hour.’ We tore that down and built this place.”
A stay at The Outpost costs more than the Alpine charged – about $399,000 more – but its residents are planning to stay for longer than an hour. The view is the same; Black Creek Mountain looms tall behind the community, providing a staggering view of lush woodland that seems unlikely a mere 10-minute drive from downtown Chattanooga, and Raccoon Mountain offers a shorter version of the same panorama on the other side of Cummings Highway. However, instead of a shabby hotel with a bad reputation, a cluster of narrow but attractive modern townhomes occupies the land.
Townhomes like those at The Outpost are the bread and butter of Curbed Construction, the name the three men – which also include Thomas Connolly and Nolan Woody – gave their venture when they formed it in 2021.
“Thomas and Gary were using other local contractors and felt like those companies weren’t giving them the attention they wanted and deserved,” explains Woody, 32. “I was working for a large general contracting company and was looking to get out on my own. We sat down, hashed it over, and felt comfortable with each other. Three years later, we’ve completed a lot of cool projects.”
Curbed’s first endeavor was a mixed-use space across from South Side Pizza on Main Street that involved the renovation of one building and the construction of another. Kai Bistro resides in the former; Curbed set up its offices in the latter.
Atomic Ridge, a cottage community located on Chattanooga’s Missionary Ridge, followed, and then Curbed busied itself with townhomes, growing hamlets of closely packed domiciles out of Broad Street and St. Elmo soil.
“Townhomes aren’t for everyone because you sacrifice square footage and privacy,” admits Connolly, 39. “But a lot of folks appreciate them and are looking for the low maintenance product we deliver.”
As proud as Curbed is of The Outpost and similar projects, none of its principals want to pigeonhole the company as a townhome builder. Rather, as a general contractor that resides comfortably in the $1 million-$15 million project range, diversity will be the key to their survival and growth moving forward.
“Townhomes have been great for us – and we still have a following for that product – but we’re trying to diversify to stay ahead of the economy and of any trends or curves that are out there,” explains Woody. “So, we’re building an indoor golf facility and a self-storage facility, and we’re looking at doing some industrial work.”
Curbed has expanded in other directions, as well, including Knoxville, where it’s developing three projects. The three men are also hoping to carve out a niche in campgrounds after a positive experience building an eight-cabin getaway at the foot of the Great Smoky Mountains.
“That was fun,” says Connolly. “We’re looking forward to doing that in Chattanooga.”
Curbed has a diversified business model as well; in addition to in-house ventures, the developer takes on work for third parties. It tackled Nikkis Townhomes, a community that resides where the iconic Nikki’s Drive Inn once stood, for Fletcher Bright Company, for example.
“We started with our own developments and became good at what we do,” trumpets Connolly. “After building a great team, as well as a network of relationships with trusted subcontractors, we decided to talk with other folks, too. Luckily, our phone has been ringing with those opportunities.”
All roads lead to Curbed
In the era of sailing ships, a crew of varied skills was required to keep a vessel afloat and cruising toward its destination. Curbed Construction operates in the same way, with each of the principals bringing something unique to the table.
Woody has experience swinging a hammer for a major local contractor on large retail projects such as Hobby Lobby, Walmart and Dollar General. This allows him to serve as the company’s boots on the ground, says Connolly.
“Nolan is usually out in the field dealing with problems, making sure our project managers, superintendents and subcontractors are happy, making sure our third-party clients are happy, and making sure we’re staying competitive on third-party jobs. He could leave here and come back in two hours with concrete up to his knees. He’s able to hop in and get things done.”
In stark contrast, Connolly rarely hears the shrill screech of a buzz saw or the rhythmic pounding of hammers hitting nails from his desk at Curbed, where he focuses on the company’s financial well-being.
“You can usually find me at my computer building a spreadsheet and trying to make the numbers work. I also deal with our financing partners and our investors on the development end. I’m more reserved and quieter, and I like working in the background, so that suits me.”
Meanwhile, Crowe, 42, brings the vitality of a wound-up Realtor to Curbed, where he assists Connolly with bringing in new developments.
“Gary is energetic and positive,” notes Connolly. “He can enter any room, or step onto any job site, and motivate a team to get moving.”
The personalities and skills of the three men who form Curbed were forged on different paths, all of which led to the creation of the company.
Woody is a Chattanooga native and a McCallie School graduate who grew up watching his grandfather flip houses. After moving out of state to attend college and then beginning a career in sales in Mississippi, he returned to Chattanooga to marry and build a life.
The construction bug bit Woody when he flipped his first house in Lookout Valley – near where The Outpost now stands – at the age of 21.
“I made a bit of money off of that and then went to work for a commercial contractor,” Woody recalls. “After I’d worked my way up to senior project manager, I thought, ‘I’m starting to understand the business and how things come together. I think I can do this on my own.’ Then Thomas and I talked, and then Gary and I talked, and then we all came together.”
Connolly grew up in West Tennessee’s Dyersburg and then moved to Chattanooga for college in an effort to move as far away as possible from his hometown and still be able to pay in-state tuition, he laughs. After graduating from UTC, he moved to Atlanta to work in asset management. While there, he also earned an MBA in real estate finance and development at Georgia State.
Upon returning to Chattanooga in 2013, Connolly worked for a hospitality developer for five years. He entered Crowe’s orbit when he hung his real estate license at Uptown, a local brokerage Crowe founded.
Along the way, Connolly become interested in Main Street development.
“The South Side was becoming a place where people wanted to be,” Connolly remembers. “There were a lot of businesses and restaurants opening up, and I saw an opportunity to provide some housing that targeted young professionals.”
Connolly’s first project was East x Main, a 21-townhome bundle on Main Street. That development led to more projects, and soon after Connolly and Crowe joined forces to build the Layouts on Underwood townhomes in Chattanooga’s Southside neighborhood, they saw the value of acting as their own general contractor.
“We had good relationships with our general contractors, but the difficulties of doing multiple projects at once made it necessary for us to begin doing it ourselves,” Connolly says.
A child of Red Bank, Crowe says he’s been “all about real estate” since passing the Tennessee exam on the seventh try at the age of 20. After flipping a property on his own at a still-tender age, he began adding investment clients to his portfolio and, eventually, the Chattanooga area was peppered with his work.
Crowe founded Uptown after the brokerage with which he’d aligned his business shuttered.
“Then I connected with Thomas, and we found ourselves doing bigger and better things,” he says.
Industry challenges
As Curbed has stamped its name on projects throughout Hamilton County, it’s become a part of the legion of builders and developers who are reshaping the region. Since Chattanooga is not only the company’s base of operations but also home for its three principals at the end of each workday, the men are paying close attention to local housing trends and how these shifting tides are impacting the area economy.
Two topics of concern collide as their thoughts turn from Curbed to the local housing industry in general: the lack of sufficient housing and the need for more affordable accommodations.
“We attended a bank meeting where we learned Hamilton County needs to develop 15,000 lots,” says Connolly. “We want to do our part to close that gap, but we also don’t want to be yet another developer that’s building $600,000 townhomes.
“Hamilton County might need 15,000 lots to accommodate its housing needs, but pricing them all at $600,000 would eliminate 70% of the market. Curbed is in the $300,000 to $400,000 range, but we still have a lot to figure out as builders. I believe the industry as a whole is trying to figure out affordability.”
Woody says the answer to building affordable housing lies in land acquisition and infrastructure.
“Curbed can build townhomes all day, but making sure that the cost of the land and the infrastructure are right will play a big role into making those 15,000 lots come to fruition. It’s going to be hard to get the numbers to pencil because of the land and the infrastructure.”
Crowe goes further, saying affordable housing starts with not just the land but also the people who are selling it.
“When a lot is available to purchase to fill a housing need, we look at the dirt, and if the dirt is too expensive, then we pass. If the dirt is affordable, then we move on to the infrastructure. If installing the infrastructure will cost too much, then we pass.
“But it all starts with the dirt. That’s where you win. We celebrate when we purchase dirt because we know we’ll be able to provide a product that’s affordable. So, sellers need to come down on their prices.”
Market dynamics make that easier said than done, concedes Connolly.
“I paid about $200,000 per half acre for East x Main. That was in 2017. Now we’re seeing half acres go for up to $1 million. Some of that is due to scarcity; there’s been a lot of development on the South Side and there aren’t many lots left. The sellers understand that.
“There’s also more competition than when we started doing this, which also drives prices up.”
For Woody, Connolly and Crowe, the solution lies in expanding their search for opportunities beyond Chattanooga, such as the land on which they’re building The Outpost.
“At the end of the day, construction is wood, nails and concrete,” says Connolly. “I feel like we have enough experience with those things to grow in this market and increase our client base.
“We’ll need to be thoughtful about the growth of our team, though. We don’t want to be the biggest contractor in town. We enjoy being small, nimble and able to react to the market.”