Groundbreaking Held For New Lookouts Stadium

City, county, land development and baseball officials gathered Monday morning, July 15, for a groundbreaking ceremony at the former Wheland Foundry/U.S. Pipe site in South Chattanooga near Moccasin Bend, which will house the new Lookouts baseball stadium.

Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly called the site Chattanooga’s “western gateway” and dubbed the development plan a “generational move,” set to generate as much as $1 billion over the next 30 years in economic development. Homes, office and retail space are planned to surround the multi-use stadium itself, which will also serve as an all-day, all-year concert venue and event space with restaurants and parks within it.

Jim Irwin of master developer New City Properties said the site, with its reusable historic buildings and river site near downtown is “one of one,” an example of the “sheer power of storytelling. I was blown away,” he said.

“This is really a unicorn,” he said.

“This could have been a strip mall,” Mayor Kelly said. “We will not be raising taxes or cutting our city budget to pay for this,” he said. It is estimated that over the next 30 years the TIF will generate $186 million in new taxes for Hamilton County Schools and $102 million more for the City and County.

“We do consider this our home,” said former Cincinnati Reds player Eric Davis, now a special assistant for the team.

“We’re excited about the commitment that we’re making,” he said, reminding the group that the Reds already “came back” to the Lookouts in 2018 after a few years with the Pensacola Blue Wahoos.

“Tennessee has such a tremendous history with Minor League Baseball,” said Peter Woodfork of Major League Baseball, touching on local care of players, player development, and fans.

“We do not take that lightly,” he said. “We don’t underestimate that at all.”

Andy Stone of landowner Perimeter Properties said that the historic steel structures on the 140-acre property will “celebrate our city’s proud industrial heritage.” U.S. Pipe and Wheland Foundry employed tens of thousands of Chattanoogans during the century they were in operation, and new plans will bring “these old foundries back to life” and reestablish their historical place of importance in the local economy, he said.

“Imagine the workers and their stories,” Mr. Stone said.

Mayor Kelly said the Community Benefits Agreement with the South Chattanooga Community Association and Bethlehem Center is the city’s first of its kind. The agreement was recommended as an integral part of the property’s status as a tax-increment financing district, which City Council and the County Commission approved in August 2022, alongside another TIF district for a neighboring Chattanooga Housing Authority project, One Westside, which includes The Bend.

Mayor Kelly and other speakers referenced the long road taken to reach this groundbreaking date. The project had stalled in 2023 as county and city officials nailed down who would pay for what amid rising project cost estimates. They also worked in protections for taxpayers and incorporated needs of the surrounding neighborhoods.

County Commission Chairman Jeff Eversole spearheaded a reworked deal in January 2024.

“It’s just a complicated project to get right,” Mayor Kelly said. “These big rocks are why I ran for office,” he said.

“It was, in the end, a success,” said Gary Chaven of Perimeter Properties.

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Any additional stadium costs above $112 million will be the responsibility of Perimeter Properties and the Lookouts.

$80 million will be financed by the Sports Authority bonds already approved in 2022.

$32 million will be loaned to the Sports Authority by Perimeter Properties (landowners) and the Lookouts (and will be subordinate to the $80 million of public financing).

$3 million in cash will be contributed to construction by the Lookouts, plus a 30-year lease payment of $1 million per year (the highest in Minor League Baseball history).