Construction crews continue their work Thursday afternoon at Lover’s Leap at Rock City Gardens. They are adding four dining terraces and several fire pits for visitors to enjoy views of downtown Chattanooga and the valley while they eat.Rock City is renovating several sites at its gardens and is adding terraced seating near the edge of its famously advertised view, Lover’s Leap.
The project started last week and is slated to end by March 1, kicking off the park’s often-busy spring season.
“Now you walk out there and it’s a place you can look through binoculars, you can look through telescopes. But it’s a place you hike to, look, then hike back,” said Jeff Raabe, Rock City’s director of operations. “The difference will be you’ll hike out there and have a place you can go and lounge.”
Lover’s Leap’s 60 to 75 seat terraces will regularly host live musicians and serve food and drinks.
Last year, about 375,000 people visited the gardens. Over the next year, Andrew Kean, president of See Rock City Inc., plans to expand the food options, polishing off what he hopes will be a space that will bring repeat visits to the tourist attraction.