Change is inevitable, but it’s not always fun. Never fear, though, because we have some developments you can get excited about. If you’re not careful, the anticipation may get you. 🤪
The new year is bringing another soccer team, changes to existing restaurant favorites and new eateries. 😋
We are aware this list isn’t comprehensive, so please reply with suggestions and we may add to it. You can respond to this email or let us know via Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. 📱
But first, we did get a couple of funny responses when we asked for feedback on this topic.
We asked: #Cha, what’s scheduled to open in 2019 that you’re pumped for? Feedback, please! Ready, steady...GO!
And, these two responses made us giggle. 🤣
“My heart to love and understanding, dead inside circa 2016.”
“Our breakroom refrigerator door!” — @newschannelnine
And now for the real openings, although we do hope the heart and refrigerator door manage to unlock. 🔓
🇲🇽 Taqueria Jalisco
This Chattanooga favorite currently has two locations — one in Miller Plaza and one on the Southside’s Rossville Avenue, just off Main Street. Next year, the Southside location will move across the street to another space, which will include everything customers have grown to love about the eatery + tequila. 🎉
The daily food menu will be the same, and special features will rotate monthly, owner Jorge Parra said via text.
There is a separate bar space, called Ania, where customers can get drinks. This has been in the works for a while and we’ve gotten questions about it recently, so it’s definitely one to anticipate.
Jorge said the goal is to open by January, so you don’t have to wait much longer.
⚽ Pro soccer
A new pro soccer team, Chattanooga Red Wolves FC, will play its inaugural season in 2019 at David Stanton Field at Chattanooga Christian School while a new stadium is being built. We have more information here from the evening of the stadium unveiling.
Meanwhile, the Chattanooga Football Club is part of 11 teams across the U.S. that are launching a pro soccer league in connection with the National Premier Soccer League.
CFC’s last season as an amateur team will be from May through August 2019. That will be followed by the first-ever competition — the NPSL Founders Cup — which will happen from August to November 2019. The full league season will take place in the spring of 2020.
🕹️ Dave & Busters (+ more)
The Hamilton Place Sears is closing after the holidays. But, plans are underway to redevelop the old Hamilton Place department store.
Entertainment complex (read: adult video game arcade) and restaurant Dave & Busters will take up part of the space. Food? ✅ Games? ✅ Drinks? ✅ Sports-viewing? ✅ Time without the kids? ✅
Retail stores, office space and a 145-room boutique-style hotel are also slated for the former Sears space. The Chattanooga Times Free Press has more on all of that.
🍸 London Calling
As far as hype goes, it doesn’t get much better than awaiting Chattanooga’s first London-themed speakeasy.
Owner James Heeley was shooting for an earlier opening, but 2019 isn’t far, and when London Calling opens, customers will enter through one of those large, red, iconic telephone booths.
The new establishment will be a blend of old and new, of Chattanooga and London, of high-quality drinks and a dive-bar feel. Read more here.
🌯 Mojo Burrito
Chattanooga favorite Mojo Burrito is moving its Red Bank location into the former Shoney’s building at 1800 Dayton Blvd. This is good news for anyone who has ever had a Mojo craving at the same time as 20 other people, who take up the entire front part of the current building and make for a long line.
🏨 Hotel Indigo
Chattanooga company ViaNova Development has plans to convert The 300 apartment building, which is located at Pine and Sixth streets, into Hotel Indigo. It’s slated to open in the third or fourth quarter of 2019, ViaNova partner Vic Desai said via email.
🚚 Haul of Fame
Transportation and logistics tech company FreightWaves is moving to Market Street with plans to add jobs + open a trucking industry museum downtown.
While you may not be anticipating this opening with the same fervor as Dave & Busters or London Calling, Chattanooga is a trucking and logistics hub. It’s a source of innovation and jobs here. Having a dedicated space to highlight that is a big deal.
🐠 The Tennessee Aquarium’s Island Life Exhibit
This new gallery, located inside the Ocean Journey Building, is set to open March 15, 2019. Guests will take an “island hopping tour around the world” to see creatures that have not been available at the local attraction before.
There will be a new Indo-Pacific tank that will feature colorful fish that inhabit tropical waters of Coral Triangle, as well as species that live in the Flower Garden Banks Marine Sanctuary.
Ever heard of a Flashlight Fish? At the new exhibit, you’ll get to see these creatures, which migrate from the depths of the ocean at night and use bacteria-infused, glowing cheeks to attract prey. What?! Nature is amazing.
