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The Bend developer aims to assuage Chattanooga board

Staff file photo by Matt Hamilton / Jimmy White, president of Urban Story Ventures and majority owner of The Bend, takes questions from the media during a press conference at the project site. Staff file photo by Matt Hamilton / Jimmy White, president of Urban Story Ventures and majority owner of The Bend, takes questions from the media during a press conference at the project site.

By David Floyd July 13, 2026 6 min read

A change in the ownership structure for a riverfront project called The Bend has caused a Chattanooga board that oversees tax incentives to scrutinize its deal with the developer.

The situation led to a pointed exchange during a public meeting last week about the waterfront project at a bend in the Tennessee River.

“You’re characterizing it as crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s, but we’re talking about a long-term partnership,” Melody Shekari, a member of the Chattanooga Industrial Development Board, said at the meeting. “And right now, I’ve seen investor documents about The Bend that have never been shown to this body but have been publicly released.

“There’s news articles that just continue to come out after we have meetings, and at what point am I going to build trust?” she said. “At least, I don’t feel like there’s a good trust relationship, and that’s a problem.”