Infrastructure Construction To Start At The Bend Riverfront Project

Real estate development group Urban Story Ventures broke ground on Wednesday afternoon on the North Phase of The Bend, a 120-acre mixed-use redevelopment along the Tennessee River.

Officials said the groundbreaking ceremony was the kickoff to the North Phase of infrastructure on the Martin Luther King Boulevard side of the site. This spring/summer, the development team will move forward with infrastructure projects that are critical for preparing pad-ready blocks for mixed-use, including intended use for an urban grocery store, new office and retail space, multi-family apartments, and parking, it was stated.

Urban Story Ventures is already pre-leasing commercial space at the Bend and has $1.3 billion in the pipeline, officials said. The company plans to make "several exciting announcements" later this year, it was stated.

Lead partners include master town planner and urban design firm Dover, Kohl and Partners, general contractor Grace Construction, engineer and landscape architect RaganSmith, architect Tinker Ma, and environmental consulting firm Terracon.

Community stakeholders, business leaders, and neighboring businesses on the Westside gathered for the groundbreaking ceremony, where Mayor Tim Kelly, Mayor Weston Wamp, and Chamber President and CEO Charles Wood voiced support of the ambitious project.

“For nearly a year, we’ve worked alongside Mayor Wamp and Urban Story Ventures to get the best possible deal for the residents of Chattanooga and Hamilton County. This project essentially adds a whole new neighborhood to Chattanooga, and transforms another, so it's not a stretch to call this a generational opportunity,” said Mayor Kelly.

“The Bend represents an unprecedented partnership between visionary developers and an equally ambitious future for public education in which students will have opportunities to engage in work-based learning with companies just down the road from the new Gateway site. I’m grateful Jimmy White and the team at Urban Story Ventures partnered with taxpayers to align their success with our community’s success, and I look forward to cheering them on,” said County Mayor Wamp.

“Urban Story Ventures is combining a level of creativity and scale to the Bend development that Chattanooga hasn’t seen in a very long time,” Mr. Wood said. Fifty years from now people will think of the Bend as a natural part of downtown Chattanooga in the same way we think of the Northshore, Fort Wood, and Southside neighborhoods today.”

An independent analysis completed by Younger & Associates showed that the Bend is expected to generate nearly $1 billion in new investment over the next 30 years, officials said.