The 5 Lives Of A Southside Pioneer

  • Tuesday, July 7, 2020
Re: Coyote Jack's Is For Sale:
 
Southside Pioneer!

From an inspiration for zonal urban re-development to an urban armpit and disgrace to a city in two short decades.  

1400 Cowart St. has had five lives and counting over most of a century: from meat packer, to furniture warehouse, to upscale restaurant, to mid-scale restaurant, to glorified honky tonk dive.
 
What comes next for this industrial remnant from Chattanooga’s past?  After the heady days of the late nineties, few could have imagined this building's downward spiral from what had unlocked an explosion of energy and hope throughout what had been awkwardly known as The South Central Business District, an area of forgotten urban decay.
 

The now bustling Southside area took its name from the then new Southside Grill that drew throngs of diners from suburbia and beyond to a forgotten corner of Chattanooga. Today, the building stands forlorn, awaiting its next chapter. 

What comes next? Have we entered a post-urban shift as discontent spreads across the land…  or is there a lingering regenerative spirit lurking in the shadows?

Let’s hope, the latter. Bring on the creative ideas.

Tom Van Cleave

Opinion
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