City Officials Bank On Riverfront Redevelopment

"Developers and city officials are focusing on both shores of the river and trying to attract year-round crowds."

"On the river’s south bank, they are busy transforming 750 acres of vacant or underused industrial land into a mixed-use district of homes, office buildings, hotels, stores and riverside parks, linked by a three-mile river walk. On the north side of the Tennessee River, where the university and the central business district are situated, hundreds of rental apartments and condominiums are under construction."

"City leaders say they hope that within a generation, the South Waterfront will become the city’s hippest neighborhood. A market study paid for by the city predicts that within five years the South Waterfront will have 600 units of housing, 15,000 square feet of retail space and 15,000 square feet of office space."