Groundbreaking held for The Bend
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – A centerpiece of the Chattanooga Westside broke ground Wednesday.
Part of the One Westside project, The Bend will be located along Riverside Drive between MLK Boulevard and Main Street.
The process to raise Chattanooga’s newest neighborhood out of the ground will take some time.
Groundbreaking at The Bend. (Courtesy: Urban Story Ventures)
Urban Story Ventures President Jimmy White, said, “We’re about 12 to 18 months, depending upon weather and things like that from seeing new streets and different light poles and park benches and Belgian pavers at the intersections, and then you’re going to start seeing the vertical come out of the ground the fourth quarter of this year.”
The mixed-use development The Bend is the hope of a brand-new Westside for city and county leaders.
Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly said, “It’s going to make us a more competitive regional economy. It’s going to create genuine economic lift for this community. It’s going to create a brand-new neighborhood for the city of Chattanooga.”
There is a promise of affordable housing, as 10 percent of all housing has to be for residents making under 80 percent of Chattanooga’s median income.
White said, “The next question (companies ask) is, “Where’s the workforce housing? Where’s the affordable housing coming? It’s hard with construction prices and interest rates the way they are today for developers to build a housing product to make the numbers work, so it takes some form of subsidization to do that. If you can do that by having a developer come in, put the infrastructure in, and take a portion of that increment that’s created on future revenues to make that happen, that’s what we need to be doing.
White says there’s already a ton of economic momentum at The Bend as there are several businesses already lined up to move in once tenant space is available.
White said, “We’re in the design phase with multiple corporate HQ’s right now, and hopefully many announcements are coming.”
The Bend should be fully completed in phases throughout the next three to five years.
Westside Evolves will be dependent as well on a federal grant to help fund new construction in those public housing projects.
