Local developer Jimmy White left a Chattanooga city board meeting in early August in a sour mood after the board surprised him by sending him a default notice and adjourning the meeting as he tried to speak.
The default notice caused a headache for White, as he had to explain resulting media headlines to partners who mistakenly believed the notice was a default on a loan, he said in an interview.
White, president of local development group Urban Story Ventures, is attempting to transform an idle industrial site into a mixed-use riverfront neighborhood called The Bend. None of the developments planned or announced for the site are under construction yet, after several previously announced projects did not come to fruition.
Venu, a Colorado-based company, went public in May with plans to build a $300 million, 12,500-seat amphitheater at the site. Other national developers will soon follow with other announcements, White said.