A new $5 million shopping center is under construction on East Brainerd Road and Graysville Road. / Rendering by McMillan Pazdan Smith ArchitectureA new shopping center is planned for East Brainerd Road by a Chattanooga developer as the busy artery will see more retail and restaurant offerings.
A Starbucks unit will anchor the $5 million center on which work has already begun near Graysville Road, said Clint Wolford of Wolford Development.
Wolford said he’s working to lease up other space in the development that should open in early July.
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East Brainerd Road east of I-75 carries nearly twice as much vehicle traffic daily than nearby Gunbarrel Road, according to TDOT figures.
“We’re glad to have Starbucks,” Wolford said. “We’ve done a lot of business with them. I knew Starbucks was interested in having a location on East Brainerd Road.”
The developer said that what he likes about the 2.3-acre tract is the location on the road and access to Graysville Road.
“It has great ingress and egress,” he said. “It’s a busy traffic area.”
Wolford said East Brainerd Road carries more vehicle traffic than nearby Gunbarrel Road.
According to the Tennessee Department of Transportation, the average daily traffic on East Brainerd Road east of Interstate-75 is 42,064 vehicles. Gunbarrel Road has 26,161 vehicles a day, the latest TDOT figures show.
Chattanooga Lookouts general partner John Woods said he and Wolford are teaming up in the Starbucks development.
“I love the location the traffic coming through there,” he said about the site. “There’s still a lot of growth out there.”
Woods said he and Wolford also have partnered in another planned project nearby at the former East Brainerd Elementary School property near Joiner Road.
Woods, who lives in Atlanta but operates the headquarters for his investment management firm Southport Capital in Chattanooga, said he likes the business environment in the Scenic City.
“I think there’s lots of opportunity there,” he said.
At the old East Brainerd Elementary School, Wolford earlier had talked about a shopping center that could hold about 80,000 square feet of retail space on a 9-acre site, but work hasn’t started yet.
Last year, Wolford opened a new center at Highway 153 and Hamill Road that includes a First Watch restaurant. Two other eateries, California Tortilla and Mike’s Tavern, are slated to open in that center later this year, he said.
In addition, Orangetheory Fitness, which offers group personal training workouts, will open along with nail salon Bliss Nail, Wolford said.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.