Why Northgate Mall's Town Center Has to Wait on What's Underneath It

The Northgate changes you can already see have opened. Culver's opened its first Chattanooga location on Sept. 29, 2025, on what used to be mall parking beside Highway 153. BJ's Wholesale Club opened its gas station on Jan. 14, 2026, and the club itself at 401 Northgate Mall Drive on Jan. 30. The club sits where the old Sears stood. The Times Free Press reported that building cleared in December 2024.

The open-air town center Hixson has been talking about is a separate project, and it waits on something no one will ever see. Both deadlines in the city's Northgate deal cover infrastructure work, and the first one is for sewer and water main lines. How the developer gets paid back for that pipe work will shape what eventually gets built on top of it.

The Deadline in the Deal Is for Pipes

On Dec. 2, 2025, the Chattanooga City Council approved a $15.2 million tax increment financing plan, usually shortened to TIF, to replace aging infrastructure at Northgate Mall. The work is underground. CBL told the council the existing system was at risk of failing and that sewer and water lines at the site break often, which puts the businesses already operating there at risk.

Once rebuilt, the new water line goes to Hixson Utility District, which had told city officials it had no money budgeted to replace it. The new sewer system goes to the city. The project reaches past the mall's own property, too. City Economic Development Director Winston Brooks said it includes new service for 14 parcels that Hixson Mall, LLC does not own, across a 71.43-acre site.

The city's Industrial Development Board gave final approval on March 2, 2026, and the schedule it set looks like this:

If the 15-month design clock started at the March approval, it would run into mid-2027. That fits CBL development director Jon Meshel's comment to WDEF in July that he expects work at Northgate to begin in 2028. WDEF also reported that the town center redevelopment will follow the sewer replacement.

Why the Money Arrives After the Shovels

The financing works in the opposite order from a grant. CBL, which is based in Chattanooga, pays for and builds the infrastructure first. It is then repaid through the TIF from property taxes at the mall above the current baseline, plus a portion of the mall's sales taxes. The baseline year is 2024, and the taxes the city and county already collect keep going to them. The IDB added a sequencing rule. CBL cannot be paid any TIF reimbursement until the main lines are in place.

That 2024 baseline is low. City officials said Northgate paid $1.1 million in taxes in 2017 and that the figure had fallen to $575,000 as of the December 2025 council discussion. Over the same period, the mall's value fell from $50 million to $28 million. Any revenue above that baseline counts toward CBL's repayment, so the deal only pays off if the site produces more taxable value and more sales than it does now.

The council argued over the terms before voting. It cut the amount for construction from the requested $9.2 million to $8.7 million after a third-party review recommended the lower figure. One proposed amendment would have raised the base tax amount each time property taxes went up during the 20-year TIF. City bond counsel Mark Mamantov said CBL objected because the change would "eat into the increment" and make the project harder to finance. That amendment did not go forward. Councilwoman Jenni Berz proposed leaving the water line out of the TIF. She said the goal was to push city officials to seek grants for that cost instead of placing it on taxpayers.

Councilman Dennis Clark opposed any amendments:

"This is not a retail bailout for rich people. We're trying to help people in a very populated area, so give them the money - we're not paying for it."

Councilwoman Raquetta Dotley said Hixson residents had been paying taxes for years and called the project "an investment in Hixson that is well overdue."

The numbers don't all line up. The council approved a $15.2 million plan. The March IDB report gave an approximate project cost of $10.3 million and a maximum city debt obligation of $8.7 million. The coverage of both meetings doesn't explain the difference.

What the Increment Rewards

Because the repayment comes from new property and sales tax at the site, it grows with whatever adds taxable value and sales. Stores, restaurants and other income-producing buildings feed it. A public park or a library branch would serve the community but would add little or nothing to that tax stream.

Brooks said this directly at the March meeting. The developer "is going to build what makes economic sense," he said, while also committing to public listening sessions on what goes into the new Northgate Town Center. CBL has also said the new sewer and water systems will let it develop an additional 11 to 12 acres at the mall. That acreage is what the pipes open up.

The Asks That Are Still Asks

The council knew the TIF covers pipes, not a site plan. When it approved the TIF, Councilman Jeff Davis said he would push for the IDB to require CBL to outline what types of projects would be built. He said Hixson residents strongly support reviving the mall but have concerns about what might go there.

On Jan. 6, 2026, the council adopted a resolution asking the IDB to write four conditions into the development agreement:

• public input on the plan
• land set aside for a public park and a library branch
• a town center design
• a limit on residential use at the site

The resolution was a request to the IDB, and the reporting since then hasn't confirmed which conditions made it into the final agreement. The library is still the clearest open question. City leaders have discussed moving the Hixson branch library into the redeveloped mall footprint. No site, schedule or final decision has been announced.

Most of the public input so far has come through Friends of Hixson. Its July meeting at Valleybrook Golf Club drew residents, business owners and other stakeholders. People there asked for more retail and entertainment, new park and green space, and better pedestrian and vehicle access across the site. A third session, themed "Get Your Voice Heard," was scheduled for Aug. 30 at Burks United Methodist Church. "Northgate Mall has long been an important part of Hixson, and this visioning session gives the community a direct voice in the conversation about its future," said Friends of Hixson president Greg Taylor.

The model local officials keep pointing to is Cambridge Square in Ooltewah, a mixed-use town center that combines homes with retail, entertainment and public green space. Meshel described the goal to WDEF in July: "A place where people can gather. A place where people can walk. A place where people can eat." No tenant list for the town center has been published.

What Stays Put Between Now and 2028

CBL's concept keeps the buildings that already work. The plan is to demolish most of the enclosed mall interior and keep Belk, Old Navy, Ulta, BJ's, Culver's and the former JCPenney building standing. The former JCPenney is a building being kept, not a store reopening. The stores most people in Hixson actually drive to are the ones the plan protects. The two newest, Culver's and BJ's, were built before the infrastructure deal was final.

The next public checkpoints are the listening sessions CBL committed to. Davis has said they will likely take the form of quarterly town halls he hosts. Those sessions are where the park, the library and the town center layout move from requests toward a plan. The first deadline written into the deal is Dec. 31, 2028, when the main lines have to be finished. The whole infrastructure project is due by Dec. 31, 2031.

If you own near Northgate or are weighing a move along the Highway 153 corridor, the 2028-to-2031 timeline belongs in your planning. Dustin Mullins and the team follow the Northgate decisions as they happen and can walk you through how they line up with your timing. Schedule a free consultation and get a clear, direct read on the corridor.