A study provided to elected officials before they approved a special tax district for a 28-block development on Chattanooga’s Westside predicted the site would produce more than $9.5 million of new tax revenue last year, but the site produced none.
The economic impact analysis prepared by Jackson, Tennessee-based advertising and marketing research firm Younger Associates used construction estimates provided by Urban Story Ventures, the local developer of the riverfront mixed-use district called The Bend. Younger released the study in May 2023.
The study predicted construction at the site during a first phase in 2025 would total nearly 1.75 million square feet of office space, retail, apartments, condos and parking. Construction has not yet begun on any of the mixed-use projects, which the study predicted would produce more than $14.7 million of new tax revenue this year.
The City Council and Hamilton County Commission unanimously approved a development plan in late 2023 that allows Urban Story Ventures to be reimbursed for infrastructure investments with new property and sales tax revenue generated at the 120-acre former Alstom site, using the mechanism of a special tax district.
The Younger study was attached with resolutions approved by each body as evidence of the project’s high potential. The Bend is the largest tax incentive of its kind in the city, with a potential reimbursement of up to $115 million for the developer.