A new 113-unit apartment complex called Altura is taking shape off Ebenezer Road in West Knoxville, rising on a stretch of land that sold for nearly $9 million less than two years ago. The project sits between the Hanna Place and Briar Glen subdivisions, on a 57-acre tract that a private family trust sold in September 2024, split between two buyers who together paid just under $9 million for the ground.
According to the Knoxville News Sentinel, whose Saul Young captured the development as it takes shape, Altura will bring 113 units to the corridor. That figure lines up with what county planners approved back in mid-2024. Per Knoxville-Knox County Planning, the site received Planned Residential zoning authorizing 113 multi-family units at a density of 3.4 units per acre, with sidewalks required along the Ebenezer Road frontage.
The land itself changed hands in a pair of transactions recorded with the Knox County Register of Deeds: Crescent Springs LLC paid $5.16 million for 23.45 acres, while S&E Properties LLC paid $3.61 million for 33.13 acres of the same 57-acre tract. Those company names later resurfaced in county infrastructure agreements tied directly to the apartment project.
Traffic Fixes Tied to the Development
Local officials have treated traffic capacity along Ebenezer Road as the central issue surrounding the project, and public records back that up. In March 2025, the Knox County Commission approved a $465,548 Memorandum of Understanding with Crescent Bend Development LLC for road improvements along Ebenezer Road, alongside a separate agreement with S&E Properties LLC covering upgrades at the Kingston Pike and Ebenezer Road intersection.
A traffic impact study evaluated for the site went further, requiring a dedicated southbound left-turn lane on Ebenezer Road at the complex entrance and an extension of the northbound right-turn lane at Kingston Pike, according to Knoxville-Knox County Planning. Ebenezer Road is classified as a minor arterial with a 45 mph posted speed limit, and the planning conditions also mandated that stormwater retention ponds must not interfere with any future widening of the road.
Utility groundwork for the complex has already been mapped out as well. Site planning blueprints filed with KGIS designate First Utility District as the water and wastewater provider for the development, with the Knoxville Utilities Board supplying electricity and natural gas — a required clearance milestone before multi-family construction can proceed in Knox County.
Why West Knoxville Keeps Drawing Apartment Builders
Altura is landing in the priciest rental submarket in the metro area. Western Knox County commands the highest average asking rents in the region at $1,832 per month as of late 2024, well above the metro-wide average of $1,450, according to The Kirkland Company. That gap helps explain why builders keep targeting West Knoxville even as construction ramps up countywide.
Knox County permitted a record number of new multi-family units in 2025, a wave that helped stabilize annual rent growth near 3.5% after years of steeper post-pandemic increases, per East Tennessee REALTORS. Even so, Knoxville's apartment vacancy rate measured a tight 6.6% in spring 2026, according to Hancen Sale — tighter than both Tennessee's statewide vacancy rate of 8.0% and the 7.2% national average. Analysts generally consider a vacancy rate between 7% and 8% to be a balanced market.
The tight conditions trace back further than the current building boom. Knox County accumulated a cumulative housing deficit of roughly 17,000 units due to a decade of below-average residential permitting from 2008 through 2020, according to a report from Compass. That long shortfall has fueled a wave of multi-family projects across the region in recent years, including a 202-unit West Knoxville project planned nearby at North Peters and Cedar Bluff roads by KCDC and Elmington Capital, as well as similar proposals recently reported in Powell, the Old City, and downtown Knoxville.
