Chattanooga Issues Request for Proposals for 21st Century Waterfront Development

RiverCity Company

The City of Chattanooga, Tennessee, through its coordinating developer, the RiverCity Company, has issued an invitation to developers for the first of four private development parcels associated with the fast paced $120 million dollar revitalization of the downtown Tennessee River waterfront. Due May 15, 2003, proposals are being sought for a combination of mixed-use parcels that have stunning views of the river, the downtown and nearby ridges and mountains.

Between 1990 and 2002 Chattanooga's downtown charted almost $600 million in public and private investments and another $302 million has been announced for completion by 2005 in addition to the value of the development contained in the RFP. Benefiting from a national reputation for its recent downtown development and high quality of life, the downtown is experiencing growth in both residents and employees and an increasing interest in downtown living.

Dubbed the 21st Century Waterfront Development, the project dramatically extends the existing well known success of the waterfront district with $60 million in public improvements that include a waterfront park, pier and extensive docking facilities designed by Hargreaves and Associates of Cambridge Massachusetts, a $30 million dollar expansion to the Tennessee Aquarium and a $20 million expansion of the Hunter Museum of American Art atop the only bluff on the Tennessee River. Both the Aquarium and Hunter expansions break ground this year and, along with the public improvements will be complete in May of 2005. The four development parcels, with building footprints of approximately 88,000 square feet in total, front a variety of public park and plaza areas and offer fine opportunities for residential development in combination with parking and retail development.

The request for proposals as well as the schematic drawings of the waterfront improvements can be downloaded from RiverCity's website: www.rivercitycompany.com. For more information call Ken Hays or Ann Coulter at 423-265-3700.