In Chattanooga, downtown neighborhoods once known for poverty and crime, have been given a second chance.

As developers and businesses have taken up residence over the last 20 years, marginalized communities have been given a facelift. And residents expect the areas to continue flourishing.

"This was the worst neighborhood (in Hamilton County)," said Tony Peoples, who lives in Cowart Place on the Southside.

More than $40 million in residential and business development has helped grow the Main Street, Southside, Jefferson Heights and Fort Negley areas and attract new residents, officials say.

In Cowart Place, Mr. Peoples is surrounded by new developments looking to pull in more downtown dwellers. At the same time, art galleries, restaurants and boutiques have opened on the adjacent Main Street.

Residents in Alton Park are looking forward to a $6.7 million development, which will add 52 market-rate houses to the area in the next two years.

The project, Mountain View Homes at the Villages, is the last phase of residential building funded by a $35 million Hope VI federal grant that Chattanooga received in 2000.

The Hope VI grant brought revitalization to the Alton Park neighborhood. It funded the demolition of the largest public housing development in the city, McCallie Homes, where the average yearly household income was about $7,000.

Today, people from all walks of life call Alton Park home. The average household income has increased to between $20,000 and $25,000, said Mark Straub, development officer at Pennrose Properties.

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