Urban Story Ventures and West End Property, LLC have chosen Dover, Kohl & Partners as the master planner chosen to reinvigorate 112 acres of riverfront property newly named the West End. The firm’s projects include revitalizing South Miami, creating downtown plans for Richmond, Va., and Montgomery, Ala., and crafting visions for new neighborhoods like Glenwood Park in Atlanta.
“Our primary goal is to return this riverfront property to productive use, and Dover, Kohl & Partners’ range of expertise will help us accomplish our vision for West End,” said Jimmy White, principal in West End Property, LLC and co-owner of Urban Story Ventures alongside Hiren Desai.
“Dover, Kohl & Partners had a hand in launching the revitalization of Chattanooga’s Southside years ago, and their focus on designing livable communities is exactly what we want for Chattanooga’s West End.”
Dover, Kohl & Partners led the Southside Neighborhoods Plan for Rustville, Fort Negley and Jefferson Heights.
“We’ve always been drawn to Chattanooga’s beauty and innovative thinking. This is a historic moment for Chattanooga. What happens on this site will affect the future of the city in many ways,” said Meredith Bergstrom, project director and revitalization specialist with Dover, Kohl & Partners. “Our work has always been about creating and nurturing places where people want to be, and so we’re determined to devise a plan worthy of the site’s great potential.”
The firm will create a final design for the entire site that includes inspiring connections to the Tennessee River and downtown Chattanooga as well as to the site’s past and present importance as an active, industrial employment center.
“Working with Dover, Kohl & Partners, we are designing a true multi-use area, where manufacturing jobs will return to the state-of-the-art Alstom facility and where families will spend whole afternoons and evenings enjoying this new imagined section of Chattanooga riverfront,” said Mr. White. “Revitalizing the West End will create hundreds of employment opportunities for people in our community and revive the entire area.”
Dover, Kohl & Partners will listen, draw, research and write through a continual feedback loop as they work toward a final design. The final plan will incorporate the manufacturing facility, river access, gathering spaces, retail, restaurants, office space and residential buildings.
The firm’s multi-disciplinary planning team includes Hall Planning and Engineering and VHB, both well-known multimodal transportation planners and engineers; Partners for Economic Solutions, an urban economics consulting firm; and Horsley Witten Group, a leading-edge green infrastructure and sustainable engineering studio.
Dover, Kohl & Partners expects to have a final plan complete in the second quarter of 2019.