A new look may be coming to Chattanooga’s oldest remaining mall as the building holding what was once America’s biggest retailer is seeing new interest 15 months after its shutdown.
The former Sears store and its nearby parking lots at Northgate Mall would undergo a vast transformation into a new site for Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts under a proposal involving Hamilton County Schools.
According to renderings, the property would hold a 165,000-square-foot school building, a gymnasium, soccer field and three playgrounds, with the school relocated from its dilapidated East Brainerd location. The school would be expanded to serve grades K-12 instead of just K-8.
“It would change that whole area,” said Ryan Naegele, president of the Hixson Council of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce and a business owner in the area.
The plan is part of “Phase Zero” of a 10-year facilities plan recommended by MGT Consulting Group to the Hamilton County school board last month.