Areas to address

• Plateaued occupancy levels
• Supporting hotel challenges (nearby hotels not having enough available rooms to host impactful conventions)
• Disconnect from key downtown areas
• Improving competition
• Ballroom falling short in the marketplace

Proposed improvements

• Leveraging Chattanooga’s world-leading 25-gig capacity to provide cutting-edge digital amenities.
• Enhancing shared spaces + incorporating outdoor spaces.
• Providing extensive improvement and directions to the pedestrian experience between the convention center + key areas of downtown.
• Surrounding the outdoor space with lighting + light-up installations to improve perception.
• Providing a new multi-purpose space (ways to use the current ballroom).
• Constructing a new headquarters hotel on an adjacent site (with the potential to create an up-to-standard ballroom).

• Photography Walk & Talk | Tuesday, Sept. 5 | 6:30-8 p.m. | Lula Lake Land Trust, 5000 Lula Lake Rd., Lookout Mountain | $30 | Learn basic techniques of creating or composing a great photo while walking around Lula Lake.

• Gladys Knight | Wednesday, Sept. 6 | 7:30 p.m. | Memorial Auditorium, 399 McCallie Ave., Chattanooga | $80.10-$101 | Spend a night with the “Empress of Soul” during her live performance in Chattanooga.

• Gentle Fitness Class for All Beginners | Thursday, Sept. 7 | 5-6 p.m. | Chattanooga Fitness Center, 1254 E. 3rd St., Chattanooga | Free | Build a community in a low-stress environment whether you’re working out for the first time or you’re getting back into a fitness routine.

• Noontunes | Friday, Sept. 8 | 11 a.m.-1 p.m. | Broad Street, Chattanooga | Free+ | Come out for the first concert of the season featuring a performance by Zowie + Sól Parade.
• Night Market | Friday, Sept. 8 | 6-9 p.m. | The Chattery, 1800 Rossville Ave., Chattanooga | Free+ | Enjoy the first-ever night market featuring a live DJ + several local vendors to shop from.

• The Tennessee Aquarium will offer half-price admission to college students + faculty during its bi-annual College Days celebration. The discounted tickets will be available Sunday-Friday from Sunday, Sept. 10 through Friday, Sept. 29. Bonus: The offer also applies to the IMAX theater.

• After a short hiatus, local jewelry store Bela Co. will reopen its doors at 3803 Dayton Blvd. on Friday, Sept. 8. The reopening comes just in time for the store’s two-year anniversary celebration.

• Nominations are open for the Dr. Charlotte Boatwright Advocate of the Year Award presented at the Family Justice Center’s Advocacy Awards. The award is given to someone who “goes above and beyond in serving Chattanooga’s most vulnerable populations.” Nominate by 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 8.

• The Chatt High Center for Creative Arts was recently ranked No. 9 on the best high schools in Tennessee list by U.S. News & World Report. The schools were ranked on their “performance on state-required test, graduation + how well they prepare students for college.”

• Thanks to a $10,000 grant from the American Water Charitable Foundation, Tennessee American Water was able to provide Whitwell High School with new water bottle-filling stations. The stations replaced outdated water fountains + offer clean tap water in an environmentally sustainable way.

• Guitar lessons for middle + high school-aged children will return to Songbirds beginning Monday, Sept. 18. All skills are welcome to join the eight-week long course. Learn more + register.

• Kids spending too much time on their screens? EPB’s Smart Net Plus comes with the HomePass app — a helpful tool for managing all the devices in your home, including seeing bandwidth use, controlling guest access, and limiting child screen time + setting child-proof filters. See it in action.*