News

Dec 11, 2023

TVA gives initial OK for one of Chattanooga’s biggest riverfront projects

Four years after acquiring Chattanooga's biggest undeveloped site on the

Four years after acquiring Chattanooga's biggest undeveloped site on the Tennessee River, developer John "Thunder" Thornton may soon gain approval to build a waterfront community with more than 300 homes erected around a commercial village center.

Thornton's Riverton development in Lupton City is the biggest master-planned waterfront community proposed in Chattanooga in decades. After years of review, the Riverton project has gained initial approval from the Tennessee Valley Authority, although public comments on the assessment are still being received and additional permits will be required from other agencies before the project may begin.

Thornton acquired 210 acres along the Tennessee River in 2019 and soon after submitted plans for a $300 million residential and commercial development on the site. Last year, Thornton publicly complained to TVA's chairman about how the federal agency was taking so long to review and conduct all of its archeological and environmental analysis of the development required for TVA to issue the required permits for development.

As proposed, Riverton would include 236 single-family home sites, 38 townhomes, 30 live-and-work units, 16 residential floating docks and a 21,617-square-foot commercial center known as the village center with spaces for a restaurant, stores and community gathering place. The development also would include amenities such as a pool, dog park and walking trails, according to plans submitted to TVA.

In a 126-page draft environmental assessment released last week, TVA recommended issuing the required permit for the riverfront project, allowing Thornton's Thunder Enterprises to add fill dirt on 88 acres of the floodplain on the site and to use portions of TVA transmission rights of way. TVA also agreed to allow Thornton to install 75 linear feet of rip-rap stabilization to accommodate 16 residential floating docks along the shoreline.

"This proposed action would accommodate continued population growth in Hamilton County while generating additional property tax revenue," TVA concluded in its environmental report. "There would be additional short- and long-term economic benefits derived from employment income of site contractors for development and homesite build-out, sales tax revenues for building materials and supplies, heavy-equipment rental for site preparation, and enhancement of surrounding property values."

At build-out, Thunder Enterprises estimates the project would generate $3.7 million a year in additional property tax revenue for the city of Chattanooga and Hamilton County and provide more housing options within three miles of Chattanooga's downtown.

While TVA's initial report said the development would not threaten Tennessee River operations, flood control or wildlife, the developers will still need to obtain state and federal permits regarding water discharges, aquatic resources and other matters.

TVA also is still accepting comments on its environmental assessment until June 30 and is not expected to issue the final environmental report and permits until later this year.

TVA said it has consulted with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Tennessee Historical Commission and federally recognized tribes about the Riverton plans.

"This environmental assessment coming out now is certainly a very positive step," Dane Bradshaw, president of Thunder Enterprises, said in a telephone interview Monday. "It took years to get to this point, and we'll see now what public comments, if any, come back."

The Riverton site is just upstream on the Tennessee River from the Champions Tennis Club near the abandoned Lupton mill site where Dixie Yarns and later R.L. Stowe once operated a thread mill.

The project area is adjacent to Rivermont Park to the west and the Dupont Parkway bridge to the east and includes the site of the Lupton City Golf Club. Thornton has leased the nine-hole course for use over the past three years, but the golf course is expected to soon close as the project moves ahead.

Riverton is across the Tennessee River from where Fletcher Bright Co. is planning to build a $400 million residential development on the site of the former Central Soya mill.

Thornton and his investment group acquired the site from Riverton LLC, which bought 210 acres for $8.1 million from BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee in January 2018.

BlueCross once planned to build its headquarters complex on the site. But at the urging of then-Mayor Bob Corker, the Chattanooga-based health insurer abandoned those plans in favor of ultimately making its home atop Cameron Hill.

Becky Cope English, who was part of the original Riverton LLC development group, said plans for residential homes around a commercial village drew praise and interest from neighbors and investors, even before any construction plans had been released.

The site is near where both Thornton and Bradshaw live in North Chattanooga and offers Thunder Enterprises the opportunity to undertake a more urban master-planned community at a site that is only a 10-minute drive to downtown Chattanooga.

Thornton has previously developed luxury residential communities in Wyoming, Utah, Hawaii and Tennessee. Thunder Enterprises is currently selling lots atop both Jasper and Aetna mountains in Marion County, just west of Chattanooga.

Contact Dave Flessner at [email protected] or 423-757-6340.