Hixson retail center under construction

Work is under way for the biggest retail development in the Hixson area since the Target shopping center opened in 2005.

Site preparation is taking place for a planned 60-acre retail development on Highway 153 near Grubb Road.

Tenants for The Fountains of North Chattanooga will be announced in early September, said developer Greg Blosser, president of Paragon Development Inc. of Barnesville, Ga.

“We’ll hopefully have a groundbreaking ceremony in a month or so,” he said.

Officials earlier put the project cost at $40 million.

Infrastructure will be completed by the end of the year, Mr. Blosser said, and buildings will be under construction by February. Tenants will begin opening later in 2009. GenTech Construction is the contractor.

There will be between 325,000 to 360,000 square feet of retail space in a strip center and eight outparcels, Mr. Blosser said.

Across Highway 153 and about a block south, Harold Crye of Crye-Leike Realtors is building an 8,400-square-foot office complex next to its 14,000-square-foot office complex.

The building, which will be a masonry exterior, should be completed by November, said listing agent Kellie Lane. The Strauss Co. Inc. is the contractor.

The building is speculative, Ms. Lane said, and is subdivided into six bays of 1,400 square feet. Initial site work is being done.

At least half a dozen restaurants have opened in Hixson in the past few years.

A $10 million Publix grocery store and shopping center is under way at the intersection of Hixson Pike and Cassandra Smith Road.

In addition, Bi-Lo recently built a bigger store in Hixson to replace a unit on Hixson Pike near Northgate Mall.