Wheland Foundry Planning Process Begins
Jeff Pfitzer, Director of Special Projects at RiverCity Company (and fellow Saint of Elmo) gave a presentation last Thursday at the DRC on developments with the development of the Wheland Foundry property off South Broad.
Before I go any further, if anyone has photos of the old Wheland factory/furnace, I'd love to have a look at them. All I'm aware of (that's online, at least) is Andy's photo here. Onwards.
So, RiverCity is running the planning process for the property on behalf of the owners: Perimeter Properties who holds about 100 acres, and the Lyndhurst Foundation who owns the 40 acre undeveloped/green slice up against the river to the NW of the interstate.
Jeff was pleased (as were most everyone else in the room) that the owners are very committed to putting together a master plan for the property, something where people will be able to "live, work, and play". They're also shooting for / hoping for the cost of the residential units/homes/etc. to be appropriately less than that found in the Southside north of the interstate, and most certainly cheaper than all the downtown / northshore development. This is great news I think.
Zimmerman / Volk & Associates has been retained to provide the housing study.
Urban Design Associates has been retained to do some cool stuff that I can't remember but has something to do with being like Pittsburgh. I tried to explain Chattanooga attempted being "The Pittsburgh of the South" back at the turn of the 20th century, but our local iron ore wasn't any good for making steel, so all of that industry went south to Birmingham. OTOH I do wholeheartedly support the hating of Cleveland, Ohio.
The legendary traffic engineer/planner Walter Kulash will be doing the traffic analysis.
ZHA will be doing the retail/commercial analysis.
Finally, leader-in-his-chosen-field, Robert T. Nash has been retained to not know what he's talking about.
Addendum: mentioned was some kind of greenway connecting to downtown and into the Riverwalk. My hope (and it's been suggested) is that the planners will keep in mind the possibility of connecting the greenway to St. Elmo and even up to the Hawkins Ridge trail. The possibility of having a walking/running/riding trail all the way to the downtown riverfront is very exciting!
chattanooga development | By Josiah Roe | 11:10 PM
Comments
This is great news! But what's with the indiscriminate rip on Cleveland, Ohio?! Chattanooga should be so lucky to be considered the Cleveland of the South!!
What's Hawkin's Ridge Trail? Could find no reference to it. Is that another name for one of the trails extending from Guild?
Posted by: Jay Green at April 29, 2007 11:24 PM
When they say the "Pittsburgh of the South" that's actually a good thing. Pittsburgh took a huge hit when the steel industry collapsed, and as recently as twenty years ago, the city was in a major economic downturn. Since then, savvy urban planning and economic policies have really turned the place around. Downtown is actually a really nice place to be - remember Wilco, June of '04?
Posted by: ryan at April 29, 2007 11:26 PM
indiscriminate? My hatred of the entire state of Ohio is well documented.
I curse under my breath every time I drive by your house and see that flag.
And yes, the Pittsburgh angle is very cool. I really enjoyed my visit in '04.
Posted by: Josiah at April 29, 2007 11:27 PM
How long is this supposed to take? I already think I want to move there.
Posted by: Heather Leonard at April 30, 2007 10:20 AM
I'm guessing a couple of years.
Posted by: Josiah at April 30, 2007 10:24 AM
Michigan/ Ohio... what's the difference? That whole argument's about which one's MORE second-rate anyway.
Posted by: DWord at April 30, 2007 11:02 AM
Wheeland: Good to see the momentum picking up. I've been in several meetings and hopefully some of the ecouraging things discussed then could come about.
Football: Ohio is annoying like Florida... you only hate the one's you envy.
Posted by: stelmodad at April 30, 2007 12:47 PM
recent pictures of abandoned uspipe site here and more loaded frequently. stay tuned for public exhibit and much more.
www.acmecatalyst.blogspot.com
Posted by: mary at April 30, 2007 01:35 PM
We just took down an art show at AVA of Gay Arthurs work which was all about abandoned warehouses, she had some Wheland images. I think she moved her work to Intown Gallery now.
Posted by: katiek at April 30, 2007 03:32 PM
Too bad they won't be doing something like Baltimore's Tide Point or Germany's Duisburg-Nord.
Posted by: rob at April 30, 2007 05:29 PM
hey man. im looking to join the covblog network and I have a blogspot account.
Posted by: michael kendall at April 30, 2007 07:07 PM
Note Pittsburgh's recent admiration of Chattanooga.
http://www.pghdesigncoalition.org/
Posted by: Urban George at May 8, 2007 04:49 PM
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