Urban Story Ventures and Charlotte-based Hill Partners have unveiled a $350 million open-air district at The Bend, the roughly 120-acre stretch of Chattanooga's Westside riverfront where Alstom and General Electric once built power equipment. The district will take 28 acres of that tract and run to about 476,000 square feet of retail, office and residential space.
Perkins&Will's design preserves the industrial character of the former plant, integrating surviving structures into the new district rather than clearing them. Retail holds the ground plane at a reported 218,000 square feet along the riverfront edge. Class A office accounts for roughly 41,000 square feet, and 230 residences sit above. That is enough density to carry street life without swallowing what is left of the industrial fabric.
The district is expected to create more than 1,000 jobs and generate more than $100 million in gross sales once fully operational.
The district is not the only major bet on The Bend. Venu Holding Corporation is also building a $300 million amphitheater on the same site, targeting completion in late 2028. That puts roughly $650 million of vertical construction underway on a single former industrial tract. Developers have said the full build-out of The Bend will surpass $1 billion.
Construction on the mixed-use district is scheduled to begin in 2027, with a targeted opening of fall 2028.