Exodus
With the departure of Blue Cross Blue Shield out of the downtown to their new headquarters on Cameron Hill, and with TVA considering a move to an as-yet-to-be-built facility at Chickamauga Dam, I'm worried that downtown is going to be a ghost town from 9 to 5 (JG and 3HD holdin' down the fort notwithstanding).
While I'm all for a "silver bullet" big manufacturer out at Enterprise South, a Toyota Plant does not make for an economy of half a million people, certainly not a dynamic, growing, and progressive one, and certainly not for one that needs to fill the hundreds of thousands of empty office space soon to be available in the heart of our downtown.
What are we doing to attract businesses to fill those spaces?
Further, I'd love to believe that some of the space "problem" could be offset by small to medium sized businesses moving into those locations, but I've yet to see our Mayor show any interest (at least in public) in attracting more of those kinds of businesses to the area. This is disappointing, given that small and medium sized businesses represent the majority of both current employment and future workforce growth.
Mayor? Chamber of Commerce?
I love, absolutely love, the urban renewal that's occurring all around our City, but my fear is that we're rapidly approaching the limit of what we can sustain, through real businesses, in commercial and residential real estate.
Perhaps it goes like this: I know what cool buildings are being renovated and built. The question is (hey Chamber!), who's gonna fill them?
Chattanooga News | By Josiah Roe | 10:24 PM
Comments
All i know is i left.
With BCBSt and CIGNA and frankly Unum being here there needs to be a heavier broker/consultant presence in Chatt. The only broker is Huffaker and Trimble and they're local yokles for the most part.
BCBST needed to move their offices were trash and scattered all over the city. This will help Chatty's sky line too. Maybe now they can tear down the gold building as it is a monstrosity.
TVA wanting to move is yet another one of their boondoggles. you love them b/c they keep the lights on at incredibly cheap rates, but you hate them because man o man do they know how to waste money. When a janitor at a nuke plant makes 50K+... you know that the company is wasting money.
Posted by: holton at April 27, 2007 12:06 PM
I'm with you on the Toyota plant. People are still talking about it and simply need to get over it.
For example, just today they said on KZ that the REAL reason Toyota went with Tupelo, MS had to do more with a greater number of displaced workers there, not the bad air quality as previously mentioned.
Posted by: Chris T. at April 27, 2007 01:48 PM
There is some good stuff on this issue at the RiverCity Company's site. If you click through on the link to the Downtown CBD Economic Plan in the lower right-hand corner, you can read some of the reports that are serving as the basis for an economic development plan for the city. You're right that the evacuation of downtown space (350,000 sq. ft. is the estimate I've heard) ought to be of concern to city leaders; fortunately, there are some folks who have been working on addressing that problem. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing the final plan.
Posted by: Derek at April 28, 2007 04:32 PM
Holton, I decided to go for that 50K janitor job but they only pay 8 bucks an hour. But I bet they have sweet benefits. You should go for it. You may have to work on your "physical strength, neat appearance, politeness, and willingness to work with others; display an overall cooperative attitude." though.
Posted by: Joe at May 2, 2007 02:37 PM
oh burn!
Posted by: Josiah at May 2, 2007 02:49 PM
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