Black Creek, Chattanooga

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What it is

Black Creek sits in Lookout Valley, about ten minutes southwest of downtown Chattanooga at the base of Lookout Mountain. Established around 2000, it is a master-planned community of custom single-family homes, cottages, and townhomes built by a roster of partner builders to shared architectural standards. Hundreds of acres of protected land, private hiking and biking trails, and stocked fishing ponds surround it, and the community is now expanding with a new mountaintop neighborhood, a planned walkable village, and a nine-acre lake.

The three cost layers (this is the part people miss)

Most buyers price Black Creek as “home + HOA.” It is actually three layers, and the third is the one that surprises people:

• 1. The home. Custom and semi-custom homes, cottages, and townhomes. Pricing varies widely with lot, view, and builder, and new mountaintop product sits at the top of the range.
• 2. The HOA. Covers common areas, trails, ponds, and community standards (enforced by CC&Rs). This is mandatory.
• 3. The Black Creek Club — optional, and a real monthly number. The golf, racquet, fitness, pool, and chef-led dining amenities belong to a separate private club with its own membership tiers and dues. Club membership is optional, not bundled into the HOA. The championship course is the only Golfweek Top-100 residential course in Tennessee — which is exactly why full golf membership is not cheap. If amenities are the reason you’re buying here, budget the club dues as a third recurring cost, not an afterthought.

The tax catch: Black Creek is inside the city limits

Black Creek is located within the City of Chattanooga limits. That matters more than almost anything else about the community, because city addresses pay both the Hamilton County rate and the City of Chattanooga rate, while unincorporated addresses (like most of nearby Ooltewah) pay county tax only.

That is roughly $2,900 more per year on a $600,000 home, purely because of the address — before you add HOA or club dues. The mountain views are real; so is the city tax. Our Hamilton County tax guide explains the post-2025-reappraisal rates in full.

Who Black Creek is genuinely right for

• Buyers who want amenities and a master-planned feel and don’t need age restriction.
• Active retirees who will actually use the golf or racquet facilities enough to justify club dues.
• People who value a close-in location (10 minutes to downtown) over the lowest possible tax bill.

If your priority is the simplest, lowest-cost low-maintenance home, compare it head-to-head with the county-tax-only option in Ooltewah: Black Creek vs. Stonebrook →