Chattanooga Choo Choo (Terminal Station)
The 1909 station, now a hotel and entertainment complex, and the district's signature adaptive reuse.
Southside · Chattanooga, TN
Industrial-era cottages, adaptive reuse, and form-based infill
The Southside is Chattanooga's rail-and-industry district turned mixed-use neighborhood, with worker cottages in Jefferson Heights beside converted warehouses along Main Street. Part of it is governed by form-based code rather than conventional zoning, which changes how a project gets designed and reviewed.
History & architecture
How Southside was built
The Southside grew up in the late 19th century around Chattanooga's rail yards and manufacturing, with modest worker housing platted tight against the industrial blocks.
Terminal Station opened in 1909 and became the district's landmark; its later conversion into the Chattanooga Choo Choo complex was the first major adaptive reuse here.
Industry declined through the mid and late 20th century, leaving vacant warehouse stock that became the raw material for the district's revival.
The Southside Neighborhoods Plan, a Dover, Kohl & Partners charrette covering Jefferson Heights, Rustville, and Fort Negley, set the framework for the last twenty years of infill, preservation, and mixed-use redevelopment along Main Street.
- Typical era
- Late 1800s–early 1900s cottages, plus 2000s infill
- Dominant styles
- Vernacular worker cottages, shotgun forms, modern urban infill
- Typical lot
- Small, tight urban lots
- Review
- Permit-only; form-based code in part of the district
Landmarks & shared spaces
Places that anchor Southside
Main Street corridor
The spine of the revitalized district — breweries, restaurants, and galleries in former industrial buildings.
Jefferson Heights
The historic residential pocket of small houses within the wider Southside.
Fort Negley and Rustville
Adjoining sub-areas covered by the same Southside Neighborhoods Plan.
Warehouse row adaptive reuse
Converted industrial buildings that set the district's material language of brick, steel, and glass.
Businesses & districts
Where Southside gathers
Main Street dining and brewery district
The city's densest concentration of adaptive-reuse restaurants and taprooms.
Broad Street corridor
Hotels, offices, and retail linking the Southside to downtown.
Design and maker studios
Studios and small-scale production tenants occupying former warehouse bays.
Zoning & overlays
Common zoning codes in Southside
These are the base districts and overlays we see most often on Southside lots. Always confirm your parcel's district and overlays on the Metro zoning map before design decisions get expensive.
Form-Based CodeForm-based zoning (Southside plan area)
Chattanooga runs two parallel systems, and the Southside is one of the named form-based code plan areas. In an FBC area, building placement, frontage type, and street-facing form govern rather than the conventional setback table — confirm whether your parcel is FBC before design starts.
RN-1-5 / RN-2Residential Neighborhood Zones
Residential pockets such as Jefferson Heights sit under conventional RN districts: 5,000 sq ft lots, 15 ft front or the blockface average, 5 ft sides, 25 ft rear, 35 ft height, 60% coverage.
TRN-3Transitional Residential Neighborhood Zone
Where houses meet the mixed-use blocks: 3,000 sq ft single-unit lots, a build-to zone front setback, 5 ft rear for structures 40 ft or less, and a height step-down to 35 ft within 35 ft of an RN or TRN-1/2 zone.
Overlays that apply here
Urban Overlay
Urban Overlay Zone
Applies urban form and frontage standards on top of the base district in Chattanooga's walkable in-town areas.
H
Local historic zoning — not identified
Southside and Jefferson Heights were not found among the neighborhoods with published city Historic District Guidelines, so there is no Certificate of Appropriateness step. Confirm with the city before relying on that for a specific parcel.
F/H
Flood hazard overlay
Low-lying industrial land near the river and creek tributaries can carry flood requirements — check the city's flood risk tool early.
STVR
Short-term vacation rental overlay
Relevant if a new unit is intended for rental income; the STVR rules control where a certificate can be issued.
Permitting path
- 1Determine first whether the parcel is under the form-based code or the conventional Chapter 38 districts. The Southside is a named form-based plan area, and the two systems produce very different drawings.
- 2In the form-based area, the design is driven by building placement, frontage type, and street-facing form, and a major modification requires its own application rather than a standard variance.
- 3In the conventional RN and TRN pockets, verify the current district on the city map — the 2024 rewrite retired the old R districts entirely.
- 4Check the flood risk tool. Much of the Southside is low, flat, former industrial land, and mapped flood hazard changes the lowest-floor strategy.
- 5There is no Certificate of Appropriateness step here, but adaptive reuse of an older building may still involve state historic tax credit review if credits are being claimed.
- 6Then submit through the Land Development Office for zoning plan review alongside the building permit.
Why it matters
Southside's place in Chattanooga
The clearest demonstration in Chattanooga of industrial adaptive reuse producing a working mixed-use neighborhood.
A form-based code testbed where building form, not use separation, sets the rules.
Jefferson Heights preserves the district's original workforce housing scale next to that new density.
Events & festivals
What happens in Southside
Main Street district nightlife and markets
Year-round
The corridor's restaurants, taprooms, and pop-up markets are the district's ongoing draw.
Chattanooga Choo Choo event programming
Year-round
Concerts and events at the Terminal Station complex.
Southside gallery nights
Monthly
Studios and galleries open in the evening along the corridor.
Designing here
What this means for your Southside project
- The first question on any Southside project is which code applies. A form-based parcel is designed from the street frontage inward; a conventional RN parcel is designed from the setback envelope inward.
- In TRN-3, the 3,000 sq ft minimum lot and 5 ft rear setback allow a much tighter footprint than the RN districts — useful for infill, punishing if you assumed suburban clearances.
- The district's material vocabulary is brick, steel, and glass from its industrial stock. New work that borrows that palette sits better here than a suburban traditional elevation.
- Jefferson Heights cottages are small. An addition that doubles the house needs to step down in ridge height at the connection or it overwhelms the original.
- Height steps down near lower-scale zones in TRN-3, so a tall infill building next to houses will get trimmed at the boundary — model that early.
- If short-term rental income is part of the plan, confirm the STVR overlay before committing to a layout with a separate unit.
FAQ
Questions about Southside
Keep exploring
Other Chattanooga neighborhoods
Sources
- City of Chattanooga — Code of Ordinances, Chapter 38 (zoning)
- City of Chattanooga — Zoning maps
- City of Chattanooga — Historic zoning & Certificates of Appropriateness
- City of Chattanooga — Property flood risk tool
- City of Chattanooga — Form-based zoning
- Dover, Kohl & Partners — Southside Neighborhoods Plan, Chattanooga
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