With the conclusion of the Head of the Hooch rowing regatta this past weekend, the time has come for Chattanoogans to prepare for an 18-month closure of the city’s downtown riverfront.
A multimillion-dollar redevelopment project led in partnership by the downtown redevelopment nonprofit River City Co., the city of Chattanooga, Hamilton County and other local agencies aims to reshape Ross’s Landing, making the downtown riverfront a place that residents use more often in their day-to-day lives while still facilitating the plethora of events that take place at the riverfront each year.
“One of the core values of the Riverfront Parks Next project is really looking at this riverfront park as Chattanooga’s front porch,” River City Co. President and CEO Emily Mack previously told the Chattanooga Times Free Press. “We think about front porches as places where friends and family come together to connect with each other and nature, and that’s really what this project is about.”
The project aims to add amenities to the riverfront such as shade trees, a flexible sport court, restaurant spaces and a new playground, among others. The redevelopment also seeks to address issues such as electrical access and water drainage to better support event operations. Crews have already installed a new dock at the riverfront ahead of the redevelopment’s official start.
Officials have yet to set a definitive start date for construction, but the project is expected to break ground this fall. Officials plan to have the project “substantially completed” by late spring 2028, according to an October press release.
Staff Photo by Seth Carpenter / Athletes set up their equipment Nov. 6, 2026, at a staging area on Ross’s Landing for the 2026 Head of the Hooch Regatta. The city of Chattanooga will be closing the Riverfront in 2027 for major renovations to the public space. 
Staff Photo by Seth Carpenter / Raul Arellano carries his rowing shell along Riverfront Parkway on Nov. 6, 2026, ahead of the Head of the Hooch Regatta. The city of Chattanooga will be closing the Riverfront in 2027 for major renovations to the public space. 
Staff Photo by Seth Carpenter / A rowing team practices on the Tennessee River on Nov. 6, 2026, ahead of the Head of the Hooch Regatta. The city of Chattanooga will be closing the Riverfront in 2027 for major renovations to the public space. 
Staff Photo by Seth Carpenter / Athletes carry their rowing shell along Riverfront Parkway on Nov. 6, 2026, ahead of the Head of the Hooch Regatta. The city of Chattanooga will be closing the Riverfront in 2027 for major renovations to the public space. 
Staff Photo by Seth Carpenter / Chattanooga residents and athletes Jeanniee Nolan and Maggie Helton chat on the stairs of Ross’s Landing ahead of the Head of the Hooch Regatta. The city of Chattanooga will be closing the Riverfront in 2027 for major renovations to the public space. 
Staff Photo by Seth Carpenter / Rowing teams make their way to the Tennessee River from Ross’s Landing on Nov. 6, 2026, ahead of the 2026 Head of the Hooch Regatta. The city of Chattanooga will be closing the Riverfront in 2027 for major renovations to the public space.
(READ MORE: Chattanooga event organizers planning for a 2027 without Ross’s Landing)
The redevelopment should be good for the community, Cold Stone Creamery manager Allison Haire said in an interview. But because of the construction, Haire is doing what she can to prepare the riverfront business to see a decline in sales as the shop is dependent on foot traffic, she said.
“People will still go to the aquarium, so we’ll still get some foot traffic,” Haire said. “It may not be as bad as we’re thinking it could be. So, I don’t know, we’re trying to stay positive about it.”
Located in a ground-level space in the same building as the Cold Stone Creamery, restaurant Agave and Rye also benefits from foot traffic.
“Chattanooga is a very outside city, so if no one’s outside, then no one’s here,” Agave and Rye General Manager Netanja Jackson said in an interview.
Jackson is waiting to see what happens with construction, but she hopes the restaurant can keep its name out there to keep people coming in, she said. Jackson pointed to the closure of the Walnut Street Bridge, which recently reopened after its own 18-month closure, as a preview for what may be in store for Agave and Rye.
“With the bridge project that happened for the last 18 months, all the businesses over in North Shore were really affected, but now that it’s back open, they said they’re all really, really thriving,” Jackson said. “So, I’m hoping that we can survive these 18 months, because I know once it opens back up, it’s going to be a very prosperous area.”
(READ MORE: Dozens of businesses, $926M in construction invigorate downtown Chattanooga)
While officials have heralded this latest riverfront redevelopment as an important update to one of Chattanooga’s iconic settings, the project has received criticism from the public online, with some questioning the need for the redesign and expressing concern about how the project may effect parking, businesses and events.
For Cinty Ward, her biggest concern is the project getting completed on-time, she said in an interview. The Ringgold resident said her family is on the river as much as possible in the summer and makes use of Chattanooga’s riverfront, which she called the city’s hallmark.
While dismayed about the duration of the construction, Ward said the riverfront is in need of renovation like the Walnut Street Bridge and “improving it could only be a good thing.”
“If you leave things stagnant, they don’t grow and they don’t progress,” Ward said. “Evolution is inevitably a good thing typically.”