With its hulking, old factory buildings, the U.S. Pipe and Wheland Foundry site is so eye-catching that country superstar Tim McGraw filmed the video there for his song "Truck, Yeah."
Now, the former industrial site's longtime owners want to see if they can attract some retail and commercial tenants to the property off Interstate 24 at Chattanooga's western gateway.
The U.S. Pipe and Wheland Foundry property is being advertised by WRS, Inc. Real Estate Investments in Mount Pleasant, S.C., a company that says it's helped develop more than 30 retail shopping centers since 2001 that cover some seven million square feet.
The company's ad for the Chattanooga property uses drawings from a 2008 conceptual plan that shows shoppers milling around tree-lined streets and describes the site as a "super regional center." It says there's space for an "anchor" tenant, restaurants, street retail - even a theme or festival center.
But new retail isn't imminent at the site. The property is still zoned for industrial use, said Mike Mallen, one of the partners in Perimeter Properties, the local, lead developer of the 141-acre former industrial site.
"There are no definitive tenants," said Mallen, an attorney at Miller & Martin who serves on the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport Authority board. "We're engaged in nonbinding, limited discussions with WRS which are calculated to consider the possibility of WRS developing a portion of the site."
"They're trying to put together a scenario and bring it to us," Mallen said.
The site has become more desirable, Mallen said, because the Riverwalk has been extended through it, new housing is being built nearby, and the state plans to build a new exit on Interstate 24 onto South Broad Street for drivers coming in from the west.
Perimeter Properties isn't in a hurry to develop, though. The Wheland site was acquired 17 years ago, followed by the purchase of the U.S. Pipe site a decade ago. Perimeter Properties wants to create a grand entrance to Chattanooga from the west while maintaining the site's industrial heritage. The concept is similar to the First Tennessee Pavilion, the site of the popular Chattanooga Market farmer's market, which uses the superstructure from the old Ross-Meehan Foundry.
Mallen said there's been talk in the past of installing a huge piece of public art, something along the lines of St. Louis' Gateway Arch, at the U.S. Pipe and Wheland Foundry site.
"We've been very patient," Mallen said of the property, which he said is "going to grow into something that's going to matter in 100 years."
Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/MeetsForBusiness or on Twitter @meetforbusiness or 423-757-6651.