East Ridge's aquarium?

photo A short distance from the area where Jordan's Crossing is to be built, the gates of Camp Jordan are closed to visitors because of flooding in 2010.
photo Site of planned Bass Pro Shops in East Ridge.

East Ridge is hoping Bass Pro Shops will be its Tennessee Aquarium.

Assuming it gets built, the outdoor retailer slated for an area near Camp Jordan off I-75's Exit 1 will have to wait until the first time it rains hard for several days to learn if it has more in common with the aquarium than just being a tourist attraction.

Jordan Crossing, the proposed retail development that would contain Bass Pro Shops, is located along Chickamauga Creek and in largely what is designated a flood plain by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Base elevation levels must be raised and retention areas created before construction can begin.

The 2012 appraisal of the property done by Carter Appraisal Services for East Ridge, which was looking to buy the property from the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), said the property was unusable because of flooding issues. Today, the appraiser stands by his assessment.

However, John Healy, a partner in the development, said only a 10th of the property is unusable.

Time will tell which party is correct.

A former K-Mart, which was built some 45 years ago along I-24 only a short distance away, had periodic problems from flooding, most especially from a 100-year flood in 1973, before closing. Yet, another store occupies the space today.

Camp Jordan, which also lies along the creek, also suffers from periodic flooding issues after heavy rains.

The Jordan Crossing project awaits only Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation permits for dirt work to start.

Aside from potential flooding issues, the project could become for East Ridge what the aquarium did for Chattanooga -- jump start an interest in the city and its potential.

Landlocked East Ridge, on Chattanooga's southern border, grew rapidly between 1950 and 1960 but still has fewer residents than it did in 1970. Exit 1, which once boasted nearly 2,000 hotel rooms, now has far fewer rooms, and the ones there lack the panache of rooms found near Hamilton Place mall, only four miles to the northeast.

But, with Costco at the first exit south of East Ridge in Georgia and a Cabela's scheduled to be built beside Costco, Jordan Crossing could help the area become a central shopping corridor.

And East Ridge could use a victory. It has few major retail shops and numerous partially unoccupied strip malls. A water park promised as a tourist draw in 2007 never materialized.

City officials believe the $4 million they agreed to pay to help with site preparation for the project, as well as what they'll have to lay out for a fire station to replace the 9-year-old one on the site, will be worth it. That's because the city will reap not only property tax revenues but also (for 30 years from 2012) 75 percent of the state's portion of sales tax revenue as provided within a border region retail district.

Once the Tennessee General Assembly passed the Border Region Retail Tourism Development District bill in 2012 to assist cities along state lines that have an interstate passing through, East Ridge was the first city to apply.

Meanwhile, a development group -- with the hopes of securing a Bass Pro Shops -- had been eyeing the area since 2009. In time, East Ridge bought 37 acres of land from TDOT and sold it to the developer.

Since access to the new development off Ringgold Road would be the same as that to Camp Jordan, to a hotel and to three other streets, a new entrance to the area also should be in the works. If not, major traffic headaches are ahead.

East Ridge Mayor Brent Lambert said the city, in coordination with the developer, is looking at the entrance problem and, with the help of TDOT, wants to work something out.

But that's down the way and perhaps only small potatoes as compared to the potential new shot-in-the-arm development for East Ridge.

That is, "Lord willing and the creek don't (ever) rise."

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