Could Chattanooga, TN be a headquarters city?

In case you missed it, NOOGAtoday is now on LinkedIn, and we recently stumbled across a cool post by the Chattanooga Chamber’s VP of Economic Development, Charles Wood.

Wood shared that Chattanooga has potential to be “the next Austin” in terms of business, based on a recent Wall Street Journal article sharing what companies are looking for in a “headquarters city.”

What is a headquarters city?

Pretty much what it sounds like — a city in which major corporations want their headquarters to be located. Thanks to the pandemic, many of these corporations are rethinking what type of city they want for an HQ, and Austin recently made headlines for becoming a social media hub with companies like TikTok and Meta setting up shop.

What are they looking for + which boxes do we check?

Urban resorts
Company apartments
Tunnels
Self-driving cars welcome
Ultrafast internet | This one’s a gimme. EPB has long-served Chattanooga with the world’s fastest internet.
Nightlife | And this one’s… not as much of a gimme, but just take a look at our monthly Plan Ahead to see that our nightlife isn’t something to sneeze at.
Clean energy | TVA’s largest hydroelectric facility is located right here in Chattanooga at Raccoon Mountain.
Nature parks | Chattanooga has no shortage of outdoor space + recreation. According to the article, “being able to take a lunch-break hike in the mountains is already a big reason why cities like Boulder are attracting big companies.”
Disaster protections | According to the former head of the US Green Building Council, disaster-proofing the electricity grid is “the first task.” Chattanooga’s connected power grid allows EPB to monitor + respond to demand and outages in real time.
E-bike + e-scooter lanes | Chattanooga is currently a silver-level bicycle friendly community + Bike Chattanooga currently has 55 e-bikes for rent in its system.

And as an added bonus, as Wood points out in his LinkedIn post, we also have “easy access to two of the South’s most dynamic metros – #atlanta and #nashville.”