Tennessee foundry city seeks to recast itself as high-tech hub
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — A city once infamous for the smoke-belching foundries that blanketed its buildings and streets with a heavy layer of soot is turning to lightning-fast Internet speeds to try to transform itself into a vibrant tech hub.
Through a combination of political will and federal stimulus money, 175-year-old Chattanooga became the first U.S. city to broadly offer a gigabit per second Internet speeds — nearly 50 times the national broadband average.
Whether that’s enough to turn a modest southern city into a mini Silicon Valley remains to be seen, but local leaders are betting they’ve positioned themselves well for what lies ahead in the global economy.
“This is an old town with a new vision,” said Aaron Welch, who became a hero of the emerging tech scene when he sold his app that reserves specific tables at restaurants to a rival for $11.5 million.
Other startups migrating to so-called Gig City to tap into the government-owned broadband network include 3D Ops, which converts MRI or CT scans into anatomical replicas to help doctors prepare for surgeries; shoemaker Feetz, which makes custom footwear using 3-D printing technology; and moving service Bellhops, which coordinates the logistics of managing 8,000 college student contractors nationwide.
The nascent tech scene is the latest development in Chattanooga’s decades-long effort to reinvent itself after a 1969 federal study called it the most polluted U.S. city.
A downtown revival over the last two decades was anchored by the Tennessee Aquarium and a $120 million redevelopment of the Tennessee River waterfront. German automaker Volkswagen in 2008 cited the city’s turnaround in its decision to build a $1 billion assembly plant.
The city inaugurated its fiber optic network — with a $111 million boost from the 2009 federal stimulus package — even as larger cities like Atlanta and Nashville wait for private providers like AT&T and Google to roll out comparable service.
The municipal network has been criticized for unfairly crowding out private providers, but Mayor Andy Berke says the city had no other option.
“No one was begging to come to Chattanooga to put up a fiber optic network,” he said.
Welch said developers still struggle to lure financial back- ers in a city long associated with heavy industry, though there are signs that venture capitalists in cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles might finally be paying attention.
“Now, it’s like ‘Oh, yeah, they have that really forward-looking, advanced infrastructure,’ ” Grizzle said.