Chestnut Street opens to fanfare with celebration of Fletcher Bright [photos]

Chris van der Merwe, left, and Andra Kramer walk through the "Remembering the Past, Celebrating the Future" fundraiser to raise money for WTCI held on the newly repaved section of Chestnut Street between Martin Luther King, Jr., Boulevard and 8th Street on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn. The fundraiser featured music from Arlo Guthrie, the Dismembered Tennesseans, and Priscilla and Little Rickee.
Chris van der Merwe, left, and Andra Kramer walk through the "Remembering the Past, Celebrating the Future" fundraiser to raise money for WTCI held on the newly repaved section of Chestnut Street between Martin Luther King, Jr., Boulevard and 8th Street on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn. The fundraiser featured music from Arlo Guthrie, the Dismembered Tennesseans, and Priscilla and Little Rickee.

A newly renovated downtown corridor on Chestnut Street was a whirlwind of cocktails, door prizes and music Saturday night in celebration of musician Fletcher Bright and ongoing development in the city.

The event was hosted by the Defoor brothers, who recently purchased the vacant Gold Building at Pine and M.L. King Boulevard, as well as the Pioneer Bank and Citico parking garage, as part of a massive project to breathe new life into the three-block area.

The Defoors began refurbishing the section last year into a new luxury hotel, entertainment, housing and retail complex.

As part of that $88 million project, the 800 block of Chestnut Street received a facelift over the last four months and the event marked its reopening to traffic.

Speakers included Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke, U.S. Sen. Bob Corker and Bright himself, who performed with the other members of the band Dismembered Tennesseans.

The speakers pointed to the event as a sign of Chattanooga's economic development, and the city's burgeoning art scene as a bellwether of a city on the rise.

"Chattanooga is on a roll," Berke said. "You look at some of the things happening there and it is really incredible."

He thanked the Defoor brothers and said their investment is an essential step in financially supporting the revitalization of the downtown area as more and more people begin to call it home.

"We are unlocking the capital that we need, leveraging those private dollars that the Defoor brothers are willing to risk to change our area all around us," he said.

The Defoors already own a Chattanooga hotel, the Embassy Suites Chattanooga Hamilton Place, which was chosen as the 2014 Hotel of the Year by Embassy Suites Hotels from among more than 200 hotels throughout North America. They are also currently building a Westin hotel - slated to open in 2017 - in the Chattanooga gold building.

Corker also praised the Defoor brothers but took the opportunity to celebrate the night's honored guest, saying Bright gave him his start when Corker was 25 years old with $8,000 to his name by helping him with a development in Brainerd.

"Fletcher Bright is one of the greatest human beings I've ever met, and he's an example to all of us," Corker said.

Included in the door prizes raffled off were Rolex watches, all-expense-paid trips to see Hamilton on Broadway and even a 2016 convertible Porsche 911.

Headlining the event was Arlo Guthrie, the son of Woody Guthrie, who received his first recording contract after writing Alice's Restaurant, an album that examined countercultural movements in 1960s America.

Proceeds from the event went to WTCI, the Tennessee Valley's PBS station.

Contact staff writer Emmett Gienapp at egienapp@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6731. Follow him on Twitter @emmettgienapp.

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