The Chattanooga City Council and Hamilton County Commission are scheduled to vote this week on plans for Westside developments, a move that would start the process of investing billions into residential, retail and commercial property.
The City Council is set to vote Tuesday, and the County Commission has a vote scheduled for Wednesday.
The plan both bodies are set to vote on are for Westside Evolves and The Bend. Together, the developments are dubbed One Westside.
The Bend, which would be developed by Urban Story Ventures, is a potential $2.3 billion redevelopment of the former Alstom tract. It would include hundreds of thousands of square feet in commercial, retail and recreation space.
(READ MORE: The Bend developers are trying to bring headquarters-type jobs to Chattanooga)
Westside Evolves is a proposed $1 billion redevelopment of public housing in the area. As part of the plan, two public housing complexes on the property — Gateway Tower and College Hill Courts — would be demolished and replaced with more than 1,700 mixed-use housing units.
According to a survey conducted recently by the Chattanooga Housing Authority, most residents of the complexes want to remain living on the property once redevelopment is completed.
Officials with the housing authority and Columbia Residential, the Atlanta-based company that would redevelop the property, have previously said the residents have a right to return at the same rental rate they are currently paying.
The Chattanooga Housing Authority “appreciates the focus provided on One Westside by the City Council and by the Hamilton County Commission,” Betsy McCright, the housing authority’s executive director, said in an emailed statement. “The questions they’ve asked have made the project stronger. If we are successful, we will immediately begin the hard work that will lead to generational change.”
Some in the community have voiced fears that the One Westside plan will displace Black Chattanoogans in the area.
A part of the votes this week would be for the creation of a special tax district for One Westside.
(READ MORE: New analysis highlights disparities in Chattanooga housing market)
The tax district is formally known as tax increment financing, a funding mechanism used by the city and county to promote development and growth through tax incentives.
The financing works by taking new tax revenues from the increased property value of a redevelopment and splitting the dollars based on an approved agreement over a certain amount of time.
The tax district for One Westside would last 20 years and would fund essential services, education, infrastructure and affordable housing.
Projected breakdown for every $1 in new tax revenue from One Westside
— Essential services: 28.1 cents.
— Public schools: 22.6 cents.
— Sidewalks, stormwater and other infrastructure: 21.95 cents.
— Downtown educational investments: 13 cents.
— Westside Evolves: 10 cents.
— Administrative services: 2.35 cents.
— New fire station: 2 cents.
Source: Hamilton County and city of Chattanooga
Jimmy White, president and CEO of Urban Story Ventures, has previously said the project would not be possible without the tax incentives. He said during a County Commission meeting last week the tax incentives would cover about half of expected infrastructure costs.
“This TIF, the way we model it with public incentives for affordable housing and education, is going to be transformational, something like we’ve never seen before,” White said last week.
The Bend and Westside Evolves are economically tied together.
On Tuesday, the City Council, as part of the One Westside plan, is set to vote on allowing the housing authority, as a means of funding Westside Evolves, to apply for a $50 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
That grant requires matching the $50 million with local funds, which would be funded through the special tax district that both the City Council and the County Commission are scheduled to vote on this week.
If both bodies approve of the plan, the next step would be for the city’s Industrial Development Board to vote on the project.
Contact Ben Sessoms at bsessoms@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.