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Return to the River
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21st Century Waterfront Plan Fulfills Chattanooga’s 20-Year Vision
In the 1990s, Chattanoogans built an international reputation for "Can Do" community spirit when the Riverfront Renaissance enlivened Chattanooga’s once dormant city core into a thriving center for business and tourism.
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Today, Chattanooga stands poised to complete its long-range vision of re-integrating the city with its river roots. Although this effort has been two decades in the making, the final chapter of the story is unfolding in a remarkable three-year sprint to the finish line.
COMPLETING THE RETURN TO THE RIVER
When Mayor Bob Corker persuaded the Tennessee Department of Transportation to give the City of Chattanooga Riverfront Parkway, a four-lane state highway that had effectively cut off access between the city and the riverfront, he had no way of knowing he was about to launch a $120 million project that would change the face of downtown Chattanooga.
Like all Chattanooga projects, the process began with a public meeting. In February 2002, hundreds of people gathered to commit their ideas for the waterfront to onionskin paper laid over huge maps of the area.
Guided by Hargreaves and Associates, a Boston firm with international waterfront development experience, the ideas expressed during the public visioning process became the basis for a comprehensive plan to remake the riverfront.
The 21st Century Waterfront Plan includes major expansions of the Tennessee Aquarium and Hunter Museum and enhancements of the Creative Discovery Museum, as well as a new public pier, riverfront park, wetlands area, Trail of Tears passage, and adventure playground.
The project will also create a hard-edge shoreline suitable for mooring leisure boats and strong pedestrian connections between all of the projects.
Mayor Corker announced the goal of making the 21st Century Waterfront Plan a reality by May 2005. He then led the Tennessee Aquarium, Hunter Museum, and Creative Discovery Museum in a joint effort that raised $51 million in private sector contributions in just 90 days.
Mayor Corker also took the lead in persuading the state legislature to institute a hotel/motel tax, and in identifying other resources resulting in $69 million in public sector support for the plan. The plan does not rely on any funding from the city of Chattanooga’s general fund.
Construction is well under way on the riverfront transformation, and one of the most ambitious downtown redevelopment projects ever undertaken is on schedule to be completed just three years after citizens came together to brainstorm ideas.
THE TENNESSEE RIVERPARK MASTER PLAN
When the 21st Century Waterfront Plan is completed, it will mark the end of a journey Chattanoogans began in the 1980s.
Reeling from the effects of two recessions, downtown Chattanooga had suffered the exodus of its major retailers. There was very little happening after 5 p.m.
In 1982, Chattanoogans joined together in a community planning process called Vision 2000. The discussions covered a range of issues, from human rights to athletics, but restoring downtown’s vitality was very much at the heart of the meetings.
Coincidentally, a publicly appointed citizens group—the Moccasin Bend Task Force—was holding community conversations about how to reclaim the Tennessee River as a public asset.
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Central to those discussions were the dual notions of public access and quality development along the riverfront. They came together in the Tennessee Riverpark Master Plan. |
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Published in 1985, the 20-year plan called for $750 million worth of mixed-use development, enhancement, and conservation along 22 miles of the Tennessee River corridor as it passed through Chattanooga.
During the 1990s Chattanooga started turning plans into bricks and mortar. The Tennessee Aquarium opened in 1992, the Chattanooga Visitors Center and renovated Walnut Street Bridge were unveiled in 1993, and the Creative Discovery Museum came along in 1995 and the IMAX Theatre in 1996. Directly across the river from all this activity, Coolidge Park, featuring a vintage carousel, opened in 1999, spurring a retail renaissance on the north shore. On the south end of town, the convention center was being expanded a block away from the Chattanoogan, a newly-constructed conference center and hotel.
Private enterprise was also rekindled. Big River Grille and Brewing Works, a homegrown brew pub, established itself as the anchor tenant in the historic downtown trolley barns and became the flagship of what has grown into a national chain. Carmike Cinemas opened a seven-screen multiplex cinema, its first venture into a downtown area in years.
The Riverset Apartments opened as the first downtown housing built in more than a decade, with all 41 of the units being leased before the complex opened.
These successful revitalization efforts attracted national editorial attention. During the 1990s, Chattanooga was featured on the covers of U.S. News and World Report and Parade magazines.
The downtown renaissance and the public process to which Chattanooga had become so committed earned it honors as one of the world’s great cities (NPR’s Morning Edition); one of the most enlightened cities in America (Utne Reader); one of the top 10 family vacation destinations (Family Fun magazine); and one of the country’s best places to live, work, and play (Outside Magazine).
Tourist numbers grew, as did the number of communities from around the globe sending delegations to study Chattanooga’s success. The list literally ran from A to Z, with delegations coming from Austin, Texas, one year and from the Republic of Zimbabwe the next.
And yet, as Mayor Corker stood at Ross’s Landing in 2002, it was clear there was still work to be done, so he began the conversations with the Tennessee Department of Transportation that led to the 21st Century Waterfront Plan.
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USHERING IN THE 21ST CENTURY
In the 80s, Chattanoogans developed a process for coming together to develop a unified vision. In the 1990s, that vision took form through a Downtown Renaissance that raised eyebrows all over the world.
Today, Chattanooga is ushering in the 21st Century, as only Chattanoogans can, with a project that shows the true power of vision when combined with "Can Do" community spirit.
When the ribbons are cut in May 2005, it will be 20 years—almost to the month—since the Tennessee Riverpark Master Plan was published, announcing Chattanooga’s intention to redevelop its riverfront and reconnect to its river over two decades. Chattanooga will have returned to the river on schedule. |
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Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Dive beneath the waves and journey to the open ocean where 10-foot sharks, fierce barracuda, and graceful stingrays glide through amazing coral formations. The Tennessee Aquarium’s new 60,000-square-foot, $30 million Ocean Journey building will enhance the original Aquarium experience and will add 650,000 gallons of saltwater to what is currently the world’s largest freshwater Aquarium.
The new Ocean Journey building’s centerpiece will feature a replica of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, a unique coral reef system in the Gulf of Mexico, where coral formations unlike any others in the world occur. Visitors will feel as if they’re actually diving among the corals, currents and curious creatures that thrive in this sea floor sanctuary.
Seen from various vantage points on several levels, the Gulf exhibit will be surrounded by smaller galleries that will feature unusual creatures like cuttlefish, squid, crabs, and jellyfish. Visitors will also journey to a lush tropical beach with 100 feet of "shoreline" where they can touch bamboo sharks and stingrays.
Architect: Chermayeff, Sollogub & Poole, Inc. Boston |
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Reconnecting Hunter to the City
You’ve never had an art appreciation experience like this. Perched on an 80-foot bluff on the edge of the Tennessee River, the Hunter Museum of American Art offers visitors entrancing views of the river and the surrounding mountains of the Cumberland Plateau. Inside, the museum offers visitors views of an exceptional collection of American art inside—long recognized as one of the country’s finest.
In spring 2005, visitors will be enveloped by the view of the river from the museum’s newly renovated lobby, while enjoying a new café, gift shop, auditorium, and new art studios. Once inside the galleries, the inspiration continues because it’s not just about the art—it’s about the experience. Even those who have never visited an art museum will see works of art as a way to better understand American history and culture. Visitors can leave their "mark" on the Hunter by sharing their own interpretations of the American experience.
And those are only some of the changes. Imagine an outdoor sculpture park where you can soak up the sounds of a jazz concert, stop by a studio class to create your own masterpiece, or even attend a cooking demonstration. The Hunter’s enriching and entertaining programs will breathe new life into the framed "still-life" associated with most art museums.
The $19.5 million expansion and renovation plan includes a pedestrian bridge that will put the millions of Tennessee Aquarium visitors within a three-block walk from the Hunter Museum’s front door.
Although High Street will continue to serve as the primary entry for vehicular traffic, the central pedestrian connection will be along First Street. Visitors can ride an incline from the corner of Market Street up to Walnut Street where the pedestrian bridge will bring them over Riverfront Parkway and into the sculpture garden entry. Pedestrians may also enter the Hunter Gardens from new intersections at Riverfront Parkway and Second Street or via the riverwalk and esplanade along Riverfront Parkway.
Architect: Randall Stout Architects, Los Angeles |
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Big Plans for Little Hands
After eight years and lots of attention from almost three million little hands, The Creative Discovery Museum is creating two new exhibits while renovating its permanent exhibits. Already one of the top 20 children’s museums in the nation, this $3 million renovation will enrich visitors’ experiences even more.
The museum building, an architectural city landmark, stands at the scenic gateway to the waterfront and downtown tourism districts. That’s why the heart of the renovation involves the creation of two gateway exhibits, one at street level and the other high atop the museum’s roof. The exhibits will serve as billboards for visitors driving into Chattanooga’s waterfront district.
The project’s first phase completed was RiverPlay—a place where children can pilot a riverboat, perch high in a crow’s nest, create dams and channels for floating boats, and "fish" off a pier. With its waterfall, two-story spiral slide, and spraying jets of water located behind a two-story window facing Chestnut Street, RiverPlay conceptually "connects" to the Tennessee River just three blocks away.
Also completed is phase two, which created the Little Yellow House for children ages 4 and younger. What could be more fun than exploring a child-sized version of a cozy home, including a little red sports car, yellow garage, and garden?
Scheduled to open to the public in spring 2005 is a whimsical rooftop expansion where children and their parents will find a whole new meaning to hands-on activity, learning, and play. The sky is truly the limit at the Creative Discovery Museum.
Architect: Tom Kraemer, Cincinnati |
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| Rocking the Cradle |
Rolling on the River |
21st Century Plan Spin-Off: Seven Mixed-Use Development Sites
Downtown |
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At $25.9 million, Ross’s Landing improvements will create better Riverbend Festival grounds while capturing and preserving the site’s history as the birthplace of the city. An expansive public green will accommodate seating for large and small crowds, and the reconfiguration of Riverfront Parkway will enlarge and improve the riverside park.
Chattanooga Green, a sweeping green space stretching from the Smokestack parking lot down to a new city pier lined with light masts, will create an animated space extending over the river. At the same time, the design will honor the history of Ross’s Landing. |
Improvements along the riverfront will create a beautiful new home for the Southern Belle riverboat. The public marina will be upgraded, and all along the riverfront, mooring spaces will accommodate visitors whether they’re arriving by small recreation boat, luxury yacht, or the Delta Queen riverboat.
Around the edges, new development opportunities have been set aside for waterfront restaurants, retail shops, and residential development on the downtown side of Riverfront Parkway. |
River Pier Landing, a $20 million condominium-parking garage-restaurant complex overlooking the new riverfront park at Ross’s Landing, is under development by Kinsey Probasco and Associates. River Pier features 17 units of luxury condominiums, each with a balcony overlooking the Chattanooga Green.
It is the first of seven parcels of mixed-use development throughout the district. |
| Making the Right Connections |
Park Place |
First Things First |
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One of the key components of the 21st Century Waterfront Development Plan is not an expansion at all but a contraction. Riverfront Parkway has been narrowed to two lanes and rerouted, all in the interest of connections and traffic flow improvements.
"Mayor Corker made narrowing the Riverfront Parkway a top priority," says RiverCity Company President Ken Hays. "He got the Gov. Don Sundquist administration to essentially give us the road, thus paving the way literally and figuratively for a return to the river."
The parkway overhaul connects the parkway to the city at four separate, signalized intersections (Lindsay, Houston, Lookout, and Second streets). |
One of the city’s most popular attractions, Coolidge Park, will more than double in size with a 22-acre expansion beneath Market Street into the Tennessee Wetland Park, a preserve with an interpretive boardwalk west of the bridge. The Adventure Playground designed for pre-toddlers to pre-teens and a segment of the Trail of Tears will bring recreation and history to the district. In addition, a new, mixed-use neighborhood of residential and commercial development will mark the beginning of a connection between downtown and Moccasin Bend.
The cost of the expansion is $13.5 million for purchase and upgrade of the GE Roper site and creation of the park and playground. |
A transformation of First Street amounting to $6.35 million will place the Bluff View Art District within a direct three-block walk of the Tennessee Aquarium. Pedestrians may walk or ride an incline up the street decorated with concrete and sandstone pavers, limestone benches, plantings, and sculpture. Two residential and retail units are planned for First Street, and along the block between Cherry and Walnut streets—called the "Garden Block"—shops, galleries, restaurants, and residences will eventually line terraced lawns. The terraces will serve as parks, a sculpture garden, and festival space. The street ends at Walnut Street where a new pedestrian bridge links the block to the Hunter Museum of American Art. |
A CITY THAT WEARS ITS ART ON ITS SLEEVE
A $1.2 million appropriation from the 21st Century Waterfront Development Plan funding will provide the city’s public art plan with a spectacular launch for several projects.
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A Picturesque Passage |
Lighting the Way |
Our Bluff is Calling |
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A second piece of the public art component—light masts for the new
city pier—is being designed by James Carpenter, an artist based in New York City whose firm is working on the design of a new Seven World Trade Center building. |
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The passage connecting the Tennessee Aquarium to Ross’s Landing underneath Riverfront Parkway will commemorate Chattanooga’s American Indian heritage and honor Cherokees who were part of the Trail of Tears.
A group of Cherokee artists from Oklahoma who call themselves Gadugi, the Cherokee word for "working together," is creating seven ceramic medallions six to eight feet in diameter to mount on the west wall of the passage.
The medallions are decorated with symbols that represent 1,000 years of Cherokee art. Text panels in English and Cherokee syllabary will interpret designs ranging from the symbol for the sun to the symbol for fallen warriors.
The north wall of the passage will be mounted with larger-than-life, steel-coated stickball players in various stances of the game. |
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The third public art project will herald the entrance to the Bluff View Art District at First Street. Pavers will serve as a gateway announcing the beginning of First Street. Two freestanding canopies will provide shelter for a mechanical incline, protect people from the elements, and help pedestrians find their way. Further up First Street, visitors will enjoy a sculpture garden of permanent and rotating artwork that will usher them into the arts enclave at Bluff View. |
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