Jim Nantz, a CBS sportscaster who has has worked on telecasts of the NFL, NCAA men's basketball finals and the Masters golf tournament for the past four decades, calls himself a storyteller.
But during a recent trip to a clifftop site he is investing in at River Ranch Gorge atop Aetna Mountain, Nantz said he was speechless to describe what he said was one of the best mountaintop vistas east of the Mississippi.
"I live in a storytelling world where I tell people what you see," Nantz said while touring the developing Aetna Mountain project being developed by Thunder Enterprises. "I try to put the right words to what I see, but there are almost no words for this. What I am seeing here is truly glorious."
Nantz is among 375 property owners who have already invested in what could grow into the biggest residential mountaintop development in Tennessee. Nantz, who moved his family from California to a Nashville suburb three years ago, has acquired a lot on the east brow of Aetna Mountain overlooking the Tennessee River and its surrounding mountains.
"There are views here that make you think you'd need to be in Montana or somewhere in the Big Sky territory," Nantz said in a new video promoting River Gorge Ranch. "I'm just awestruck by it. It feels like you're close to heaven, and I am so proud to have a home here."
A three-time Emmy Award winner, the 64-year-old Nantz has been the voice behind some of America's biggest sporting events and is set to call the Super Bowl and Masters in 2024. He is also now an ambassador and spokesperson for River Ranch Gorge after being introduced to developer John "Thunder" Thornton.
In the video, Nantz and Thornton tour the vistas of River Gorge Ranch, and Thornton said sharing that day with Nantz "was one of the best days of my career."
(READ MORE: Thunder Enterprises acquires 7,400 acres on Aetna Mountain)
Thornton, who has developed resort properties in Wyoming, Montana and Hawaii, built Jasper Highlands atop Jasper Mountain in Marion County over the past decade with more than 1,300 mountaintop residential lots, along with hiking trails, a fitness center, swimming pools and the Top of the Rock restaurant. His newest venture, River Gorge Ranch, includes 7,400 acres on Aetna Mountain above the former Hales Bar Dam. It is 6 miles south of Jasper Highlands on Interstate 24 atop Aetna Mountain at Haletown Exit 161, where Thunder Enterprises has built its new sales office in the former Big Daddy's fireworks store.
River Gorge Ranch will be about a 20-minute drive to Chattanooga and less than a two-hour drive to Nashville. Thornton said it offers a similar appeal to what has drawn retirees and other homebuyers from 48 states and eight different nations to Jasper Highlands.
(READ MORE: Gov. Lee says River Gorge Ranch important to the state)
River Gorge Ranch will be nearly twice as big as Jasper Highlands with an estimated 2,500 residential lots when it is built out over the next decade or two. Like Jasper Highlands, Thornton said River Gorge Ranch will offer residents seclusion without isolation.
The road up Aetna Mountain is more than 90% complete, and construction on some of the first homes in the development should begin this year.
Plans for River Gorge Ranch include a 13,000-square-foot restaurant that will be twice the size of Top of the Rock, as well as trails and sidewalks for hiking and biking. There will also be a town village area around the restaurant, which will be open to the general public, with plans for a health spa, cabins and retail stores. Thornton said he anticipates the new restaurant and public areas will open in 12-18 months.
"The excitement and anticipation for our River Gorge Ranch community has exceeded our expectations," Dane Bradshaw, president of Thunder Enterprises and an SEC basketball commentator, said in a phone interview Friday. "This will be a first-class mountaintop community, and we can't think of a better way to illustrate first class than to be endorsed by Mr. Nantz."
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6340.
Contributed photo / The view from atop Aetna Mountain overlooking the Tennessee River is a key selling point for the new River Gorge Ranch being developed in Marion County.