The city's Southside continues to grow and flourish, and we got a big taste of that this past week.
The area around Main Street has seen a tremendous renaissance over the last decade or more, and events like MainX24 (Dec. 2, 2017) have done a great job of showcasing the creative people who live and work in the area, as well as the cool places to eat and shop that exist there.
Barry CourterSo, in that sense, this past week was more about continuing to grow, but it was still a chance to look a little bit into the future, especially as it relates to the Chattanooga Choo Choo and the development there.
In a year when "Chattanooga Choo Choo" is celebrating its 75th anniversary as the country's first gold record, representing more than 1 million copies sold, the tourist attraction/hotel is looking to become the anchor for a new wave of growth.
There was a special VIP gathering at the newly opened Songbirds Guitar Museum and guests got to hear a mini concert by David Bromberg and Vince Gill in addition to checking out the more than 540 guitars.
Among the displays was a case curated by Gill himself. He said he chose the nearly two dozen instruments from the overall collection based in large part on the emotional connection he felt to each one. They reminded him of his first, or his last, or his father's guitar, for example.
New restaurant Frothy Monkey also opened last week, and it was packed. On Saturday, Station Street was closed off for a street festival with live music. While the icy rain kept the large crowd away, we did get to see how the space can become a space for such events.
Coincidentally, I also attended a gathering of civic and community leaders on Saturday who heard a presentation by Franzi Charen from Asheville, N.C., on that city's revitalization successes over the last 20 years.
Asheville has a very active "Go Local" program, and it has done a lot of good for the city of 80,000. It's become so popular that more than 9 million tourists visit every year. Those numbers have attracted a lot of out-of-town interest, as you might imagine, and Charen also talked a good deal about Asheville's very real current challenges regarding gentrification.
Non-residents are buying up properties, and landlords, even some of the local ones there, are doubling and tripling rents. The rising costs are driving away the cool shops, which are being replaced by chains.
It is a problem we need to get out in front of.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.
