EAST RIDGE — Six years ago, Bob Martino broke ground for what was to be the biggest commercial, entertainment and housing development ever built in East Ridge, anchored by the Chattanooga Red Wolves professional soccer stadium.
Martino had built residential and commercial projects in Utah, California, Ohio and Florida, and he promised the planned Gateway development around the stadium would be “an unparalleled experience for people in East Ridge, Chattanooga and beyond.”
After building the soccer stadium and securing a $5 million grant from the state and another $1 million from Hamilton County for infrastructure costs, Martino said three years ago that he was moving “full steam ahead ” with $200 million of plans to build 400 apartment and condominium units, 375 hotel rooms and 475,000 square feet of new commercial development, including a new Blaze Pizza to anchor a “Nooga Live” dining and entertainment center.
But so far, only the stadium and a dozen condos have appeared on Martino’s 110-acre site, and only two of the condos are occupied. The roads, sewers and paved parking areas planned around the 5,500-seat CHI Memorial stadium have yet to be built.
Construction work largely stalled two years ago, and the biggest business in the area, the senior housing complex known as East Ridge Residence, closed in October and is scheduled to be torn down later this year. Martino’s properties now have fewer residents and workers than before the stadium was built in 2019, even as nearby development has swelled elsewhere around the Exit 1 interchange on Interstate 75.