One of Chattanooga’s best calling cards for recruiting new businesses and improving job prospects and overall quality of life is a thriving downtown. That goal involves a lot of moving parts. One key part, at least as long as residents here rely mainly on their cars for transportation, is parking. Some City Council members may not want to deal with that issue at the moment, but like it not, they don’t have much choice.
Parking plans for downtown have been a sticking point for years, wavering between progress and complacency. The topic has recently risen again because Mayor Ron Littlefield needs to meet a promise he made to TVA officials two years ago to build a new 1,000-space parking facility. The agency then was considering moving its offices to Hixson. Mr. Littlefield, quite justifiably, brokered the promise to build a new parking garage to keep TVA’s offices downtown.
Though TVA would pay for use of the facility and help retire the capital bonds necessary to build it, the city is on the hook for arranging the initial financing. Mayor Littlefield has proposed a $6.5 million bond issue by the city to attract financing partners for the proposed garage, which would cost $13 million to $15 million. He reasonably is seeking participation in financing the package from the County Commission and Republic Parking.
At least two sites are under consideration. A 1,000-space parking garage, for example, could be constructed on the Republic Parking pay-and-park lot formerly occupied by the Civic Forum between Market and Broad and 10th and 11th streets. Or it could be built along Chestnut Street just north of 13th Street, next to the Trade Center’s parking decks.
The former would be a more convenient site for general public and commercial use for downtown visitors because it’s more central, visible and closer to shuttle stops and downtown amenities. That location would also facilitate the transition of the Patten Towers, which has no parking, to condo development.