Spring fixup on riverfront

PDF: Waterfront

About three years after the grand opening of Chattanooga’s 21st Century Waterfront, parts of the downtown site have required or will need repairs to address various problems, officials said.

“We have cracks where we shouldn’t have cracks,” said Vance Travis, a principal in TWH Architects, Inc., who is working with a group of architects and engineers to remedy issues at the Passage. “With the pace with which this thing was built and all the different parties involved, there were some things that were overlooked.”

Tens of thousands of dollars have been spent on waterfront repairs during Mayor Ron Littlefield’s administration, and the Chattanooga City Council on Tuesday night approved a contract for $48,701 to recaulk concrete terrace steps at the riverfront.

On Monday, the Chattanooga Downtown Redevelopment Corp. is scheduled to meet to discuss proposals for a forensics study of the Passage, the water-based attraction at which officials say water is seeping down walls and potentially could pose a danger.

Mr. Littlefield said some of the fixes at the Passage will be “warranty items” that may be covered by the contractors. But he said there are electrical grounding and other issues there that need to be addressed.

“There are a lot of questions that are pretty complicated, but I’m confident that solutions will be found,” he told council members Tuesday. “We’ll get the Passage reopened as quickly as we can.”

Maintenance money

During the Littlefield administration, $147,586 has been spent on general waterfront repairs, records show. That figure includes $72,000 in electrical repairs, $25,000 for irrigation fixes and $12,000 for plumbing.

Kevin Brady, the city’s director of parks, said roughly half of that $147,586 total is attributed to construction problems and the other half is related to general maintenance.

In addition, problematic electrical hookups by the marina will cost about $15,000 to fix, officials said.

Meanwhile, the Chattanooga Downtown Redevelopment Corp. spent about $80,000 in leftover funding from the waterfront project to better support the concrete terrace steps that had sunk in over time, said Jeff Pfitzer, who was director of capital planning under previous Mayor Bob Corker.

But Mr. Pfitzer, now director of special projects with the RiverCity Co., said this was an “anticipated expense” and noted that maintenance and repair costs were expected. He said such costs should be anticipated with a large-scale project such as the $120 million 21st Century Waterfront.

Mr. Pfitzer said the tax revenue and parking dollars that have come from development projects spurred by the waterfront investment should more than cover the costs of fixing any infrastructure.

Todd Womack, who served as communications director under then-Mayor Corker and now is U.S. Sen. Corker’s chief of staff, said in an interview Tuesday that the waterfront has generated millions of dollars in new investment in Chattanooga.

“Any project of this scope with so many people and entities involved will experience some issues that need to be corrected,” Mr. Womack said. “It’s my understanding that those involved will come back with a plan to address whatever problems may exist there and are ready to implement it.”

Time and management

Ken Hays, who was involved in the 21st Century Waterfront when he led the RiverCity Co., said the fast timeline for project completion was realistic and all parties worked together to make the investment a reality.

“I don’t know that anything should be blamed on a quick timetable,” said Mr. Hays, now with the Kinsey Probasco Hays development firm.

But Mr. Hays said that if the RiverCity Co. had been left to manage the waterfront, some of the problems might not be cropping up.

“I do think had there been some continuity, some of these issues may not exist, or frustration may not exist,” he said. “To my knowledge, there’s not any of the same people at all involved in the management of the waterfront today that were involved in the development of it.”

Richard Beeland, spokesman for Mr. Littlefield, noted that Dan Kral, who had been with RiverCity Co., had been hired by the Littlefield administration to oversee the completion of the 21st Century Waterfront.

But Mr. Beeland said the Littlefield administration is not “pointing any fingers.”

“We’re not accusing anyone; we’re not blaming anyone,” he said. “All we want to do is just open the Passage and do so when it is safe.”