Affordable housing will be a part of a major riverfront development on Chattanooga’s Westside, according to developers, although their agreement with local government allows them to pay a fee if they choose not to incorporate affordable rentals.
“We win either way,” Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly said in a statement, explaining that if a fee is collected it will be used by the city to subsidize affordable housing elsewhere.
The development, marketed as The Bend, is planned as a mixed-use urban oasis including residential, retail and industrial development along the Tennessee River. It was awarded a special tax district after both Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly and Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp endorsed the deal last year.
The publicly funded tax increment financing, or TIF, will direct $135 million in future tax revenue generated by the private development away from the general fund and into the special tax district for 20 years. Proponents say the incentive could catalyze more than $2 billion in private investment, adding jobs, boosting long-term tax revenue and creating a new downtown neighborhood.
The agreement was also uniquely structured to provide funding for the Westside Evolves plan, which includes the preservation and creation of over 1,000 units of affordable and workforce housing within the Chattanooga Housing Authority’s footprint on the westside, as well as a new fire station and an education center at a former BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee building once known as the Golden Gateway.