A developer backing the latest plan for a new grocery store on Walden's Ridge said Tuesday the project also will offer housing, shopping, dining and green space that the mountaintop area needs.
"We're trying to do it right. We're trying to do it well," said John Argo, manager of the SE Capital Partners development group that's proposing the $20 million mixed-use village center in Walden.
Argo's group is planning a community meeting from 5:30-7 p.m. Monday at St. Augustine Catholic Church to gain input into the project that he's calling Walden View.
A website seeking support for the proposal doesn't identify the grocer but said it's not Food City, Walmart, Ingles, Save A Lot, Fresh Market, Aldi or Trader Joe's. Publix, with seven stores in the Chattanooga area, is noticeably absent from the list. The website said the store would be "high end" and "full service."
Argo said he's under an agreement to not reveal the 29,365-square-foot store's name at this time, but he has "a steady relationship" building units for the grocer.
"They make their own comments," he said in an interview. "I've got to do my job first."
The project is proposed for Taft Highway and Timesville Road on a 25-acre tract that for many years held the Lines Orchids Greenhouse.
A prior proposal by another development group called for a 43,000-square-foot grocery store at the site along with commercial space. While initially approved by the town board, the panel later reversed course even as some citizens filed a lawsuit objecting to the earlier project. A judge ruled for the citizens, and the earlier plan was withdrawn.
Argo said that, along with the grocery store as anchor, his project includes five retail buildings featuring small-shop space, including restaurants with outdoor seating, equaling about 18,000 square feet. Also, there's 3,700 square feet of mixed-use space that will likely accommodate offices, he said, and there's "a small pod" for a coffee shop.
Staff photo / The Lines Orchids property in Walden is seen in May. The property is the proposed site of a grocery store and mixed-use village center.In addition, the Alabama developer said, plans call for seven single-family homes or townhouses along Timesville Road.
He said the site plan has a village green area that is to include amenities such as an outdoor performance stage and splash pad.
Colin Johnson, vice president of RaganSmith Engineers, said in an interview the development group also is looking at how the proposed project would connect with adjacent property on Taft Highway.
"We closely studied Walden's new land use plan to ensure the design is in step with what the citizens of Walden want," he said.
The rear portion of the old Lines Orchids site, or nearly half of the property, would remain green space, Johnson said.
Argo said a parking lot for the grocer and other businesses "is not a sea of asphalt." Rather, he said, there will be a green linear park stretching from a plaza courtyard at the corner of Taft and Timesville to the grocery store that separates parking into two areas.
Wastewater will be handled by a decentralized treatment system on site designed to Hamilton County Water & Wastewater Treatment Authority standards, Johnson said.
The proposed new project will need Walden's approval, said town attorney Sam Elliott in a telephone interview.
He said the town's ultimate interest is for development in that area to meet a land-use plan on which officials have worked for two years. Elliott said to implement the plan, changes in the town's zoning ordinance require vetting by the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission, which is underway.
Rendering by RaganSmith / A conceptual master plan of the Walden View mixed-use village town center shows a proposed grocery store in the center with retail, restaurant and housing. The development, if approved, would go in Walden at Taft Highway and Timesville Road.Also, a rezoning application for the property has been filed by the development group to the commission's staff.
Chattanooga attorney Kirby Yost, representing Argo's group, said in an interview the "solution is for the developer and the town to work together" and find a viable plan.
The development group said an online petition for the project has garnered 1,222 names of support.
Earlier this year, the existing owner of the Walden tract, LOP LLC, moved past the previous controversial proposal for the grocery store project.
That move came after a Bradley County Circuit Court judge last year ruled, after all Hamilton County judges recused themselves, against the landowner, saying an ordinance passed earlier by the town to permit the grocery store project on the tract was illegal.
Elliott said there was an appeal of the ruling. But Chattanooga attorney John Anderson, who was a major stakeholder in the property, later died and the appeal was dropped, he said.
Community meeting
A community meeting is set for Monday, Sept. 26, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at St. Augustine Catholic Church, 1716 Anderson Pike.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.