The developers of a Westin Hotel in downtown Chattanooga say they plan to spend a combined $88 million on that project, new condominiums, a high-end restaurant, office space and other work in a three-block area.
Defoor Brothers Development also is helping fund a sizable streetscaping project near the Pine Street and M.L. King Boulevard hotel to create a festival atmosphere, though some business operators on Chestnut Street are concerned the 800 block will close to cars for up to 15 weeks.
The investment, one of the biggest ever downtown, will transform the area around the 261-room Westin that’s under construction in the landmark Gold Building, said Byron Defoor, a principal in the local group with brother Ken Defoor.
“It’s like a city icon,” Byron Defoor said about the hotel, formerly the BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee headquarters which the group bought in 2010. He said 18,000 square feet of convention space will be added to the 10-story structure the brothers decided to improve rather than tear down.
A Shula’s Steak House is to open across from the 10-story hotel in the former Gilman Paint headquarters building at Pine and Eighth, Byron Defoor said.