Coffee and exercise shops to open on first floor of downtown Chattanooga's new River Rock apartments

Contributed photo by The Beach Co. / River Rock is located on a former Unum parking lot in Chattanooga's downtown and when completed in early 2022 will include 163 apartments and 16,000 square feet of first-floor commercial space.
Contributed photo by The Beach Co. / River Rock is located on a former Unum parking lot in Chattanooga's downtown and when completed in early 2022 will include 163 apartments and 16,000 square feet of first-floor commercial space.

One of Chattanooga's biggest new apartment complexes, which opened to residential tenants last month, soon will feature both a coffee shop and exercise facility as the first retail tenants in the five-building complex take shape downtown.

Just Love Coffee Cafe and a Hotworx exercise and fitness facility will open next year on the first floor of the River Rock apartments built at Walnut and Fourth streets in downtown Chattanooga. The Beach Co., a Charleston, South Carolina-based real estate developer, is building 163 apartments on the upper floors of the River Rock mixed-use development, which will also feature 16,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space built on one of the former Unum employee parking lots downtown.

"We know this location will be a delicious addition to the Chattanooga area," said Robb Webb, the chief executive of the Franklin, Tennessee-based Just Love Coffee, which operates 26 locations, including 10 in Tennessee. "Being a Tennessee-based brand, we have been eager to open a location in the Chattanooga area."

The cafe's 2,027-square-foot location is expected to open in summer 2022 and will feature specialty coffee drinks, in addition to breakfast, lunch and dinner options including a chocolate chip cookie dough waffle, a waffle omelet named the "wOmelette" and a quinoa-veggie wrap.

Next fall, Hotworx will open a 1,922-square-foot fitness facility in River Rock that will offer a virtually instructed exercise program created for users to experience the benefits of infrared heat absorption while completing a 30-minute isometric workout or 15-minute, high-intensity interval training sessions. Hotworx franchisee Josh Snyder said Hotworx uses a patented sauna that combines heat, infrared and exercise, dubbed "3D training," to create a workout unlike any other fitness program.

photo Photo by Dave Flessner / The Beach Co., which is developing River Rock at Walnut and Fourth streets in downtown Chattanooga, has begun leasing the first of the 163 apartments. The complex will include commercial space on the first floor and three floors of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments in five buildings.

"Wellness and innovation are driving forces behind Hotworx's brand, and we are excited to help our members achieve their health and fitness goals more efficiently at our new downtown location at River Rock," Snyder said.

Alan McMahon, development manager at The Beach Co., said the new retail tenants - and others the developers hope to entice to the downtown development - are drawn by the location of River Rock within a couple blocks of the Walnut Street bridge and within walking distance of most of the downtown area.

"River Rock's location along Third Street and Fourth Street has added energy to the Riverfront District and is creating a vibrant community with diverse tenants for locals and visitors to enjoy," McMahon said.

The first residential tenants at River Rock began moving into apartments in November, although some of the apartments are still being built. Terri Gizzi, community director for River Rock, said two of the five buildings are now occupied "and there has been a lot of demand already for these apartments."

River Rock features such amenities as a courtyard rooftop pool, a fitness center, a dog park and pet spa and a resident club room.

The 508-square-foot studio apartments start at $1,150 per month; 747-square-foot, one-bedroom units rent for $1,550 a month; 1,127-square-foot, two-bedroom units start at $2,050 a month, and three-bedroom units, which are as big as 2,251 square feet, will rent for up to $3,500 a month.

River Rock is the first project for The Beach Co. in Chattanooga, although the South Carolina developer has built similar projects in 20 other Southeastern cities.

Dan Doyle, senior vice president and chief operating officer for The Beach Co., said he hopes to finish the last of the five buildings in the River Rock complex in February.

Despite a slowdown in some commercial and office demand in downtown Chattanooga after major employers like Unum, TVA and BlueCross shifted to more remote work, Doyle said River Rock "has had great response."

"I think people are attracted to the building type and the variety of unit types that we offer," he said. "This is not just a single building. It is five separate buildings and each one is a little bit different. I think we've really taken great strides to add and contribute to the neighborhood and we think by designing each building a little bit differently we've been able to create a very special place to live, work or shop."

Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6340.

photo Contributed photo by The Beach Co. / River Rock is an apartment and commercial development being built in downtown Chattanooga.

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