24-03-2025
Meet the 24-year-old developer building 50+ housing units in Knoxville
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — A young Knoxville developer has around 50 housing units currently under construction.
Once the projects are complete, Franco Irakoze will have 60-70 units under his belt, and he's only 24 years old. He is building 14 townhomes units in Mechanicsville on the corner of University Avenue and West Fourth Avenue. They're expected to be completed this summer.
'I actually grew up in Mechanicsville essentially all my life. I lived up the street on West Baxter.' Irakoze said. 'That's where I actually bought the first two properties I built. So when I saw these for sale, I was like, 'oh, this is right in my area.''
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Irakoze's career started when he was just 19 after leaving Tennessee State University when the COVID-19 pandemic started.
'Throughout high school I always had various businesses, drop shipping, ecommerce, and anything like that. But when the pandemic happened, me being forced to be home, I kind of found something that I wanted to do that I was passionate about. That was real estate, it just happened quicker than I thought,' he said.
Irakoze is a longtime Knoxville resident, but that's not where his story started.
'I was originally born in East Africa in a refugee camp. I came here in 2007 with my parents and my grandparents and we've lived in Knoxville since we've been here,' he said.
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Before jumping into townhomes and multi-family units, he built his most important project, a new house for his mom.
'I always told myself, whenever I get some money I want to take care of my mom, coming from an immigrant household that's essentially always number one thing to do and my parents never spoke a lick of English and they worked their way up here to get me here,' he said.
Irakoze's current projects include:
14 units on University Avenue/West Fourth Avenue in Mechanicsville
Four units on Harsch Street in South Knoxville
Four units on Allen Drive off of Clinton Highway
Two units on Cecil Avenue in Northeast Knoxville
Plans for 20 units on West Baxter Avenue in Mechanicsville
Plans for 14 units on Western Avenue
A number of his projects fall under the city's new middle housing standards.
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Once completed, some of his units will be up for sale and some will be available to rent.
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