Northgate Mall's original center court had a fountain, planted areas, indoor trees, benches, and rotating "NG" cubes in royal blue, black, and white.
A major renovation around 1990-91 removed the fountain and cube signs while retaining some indoor greenery.
These features gave the early mall a recognizable center and connected shops, restaurants, services, and department stores along one enclosed route.
Northgate opened in several stages in March 1972. Miller Brothers opened on March 2.
The mall and J.C. Penney followed on March 15, and the first movie theater opened on March 23.
Sears joined the mall on February 27, 1974.
After Sears opened, Northgate had about 800,000 square feet of leasable space and around 70 stores and services.
Visitors could buy clothing and food, eat meals, use banking services, watch movies, arrange car care, and complete several errands in one car-oriented location.
An indoor main street for a growing suburb
Northgate was built near State Route 153 and Hixson Pike as northern Chattanooga expanded.
Its layout followed the enclosed-mall model of the period.
A one-level indoor corridor connected two-level department stores, while large parking areas, service buildings, a shopping strip with a supermarket, and later several restaurants surrounded the main building.
Most visitors arrived by car, entered through several doors, and moved through an air-conditioned interior.
The department stores drew customers past the smaller shops that lined the corridor.
The early tenant mix covered shopping, meals, medicine, banking, personal services, and entertainment.
Businesses included Piccadilly Cafeteria, Baskin-Robbins, Record Bar, Waldenbooks, Eckerd Drugs, G.C. Murphy, shoe stores, jewelry stores, clothing shops, a bank, beauty salons, and cafes inside the department stores.
The property concentrated many routine activities in one place.
Visitors could eat, fill prescriptions, buy school clothes, use bank services, arrange car maintenance, and see a movie without leaving the site.
The corridor looked and operated like a public space, although the mall remained privately owned and managed.
Northgate's role in Hixson grew from this combination of retail and everyday use.
The mall organized errands and leisure around an enclosed route that remained active in hot, cold, or wet weather.
The building changed before the business model did
After G.C. Murphy closed in the early 1980s, part of the mall's southeast section was enlarged and redesigned.
The renovation around 1990-91 removed much of the original interior character, including the center fountain and the cubes near the entrances.
Another renovation followed in 1997.
The movie theaters changed several times.
The original theater was divided into smaller auditoriums, and larger movie complexes later opened elsewhere on the property.
In 2005, a separate 14-screen Carmike theater opened in the eastern parking area.
It now operates as AMC Northgate 14.
The department-store names changed while the buildings remained in use.
Miller Brothers became Miller's, then Hess's, Proffitt's, and finally Belk.
Belk still occupies the original north anchor and carries the only surviving department-store lineage from Northgate's first group of major stores.
CBL Properties bought Northgate for $11.5 million in September 2011 and announced a large renovation program the following year.
Construction began in early 2013.
The work updated interior surfaces, lighting, seating, entrances, and exterior building fronts.
Across from the main entrance, an older shopping strip was rebuilt as the Shops at Northgate.
The rebuilt center kept T.J. Maxx and added Michaels and Ross Dress for Less.
Old Navy and Burlington later opened in other large spaces.
Many newer stores used entrances from the parking areas.
Their operations depended less on the indoor corridor than the original anchor-and-inline-store model had.
Northgate was beginning to divide into separate retail buildings grouped around the same parking fields.
When the anchor system broke down
J.C. Penney closed on May 3, 2014, after more than 42 years.
Sears closed in early 2019 after almost 45 years at Northgate.
Hallmark and many smaller national chains also left, and Burlington moved away in 2023.
Belk remained the only traditional department-store anchor.
The two anchor closures likely reduced foot traffic through the indoor corridor.
Department stores had drawn shoppers past smaller tenants on the way to and from the anchors.
Their departure removed two major destinations from the mall's internal route.
Northgate also faced competition from Hamilton Place, large stores along Route 153, online shopping, and changes in the plans of national retailers.
Aging infrastructure and divided ownership across parts of the property complicated large-scale changes.
In 2020, Hamilton County Schools considered converting the former Sears building into a new home for the Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts.
The proposal did not move forward. It added a public-school use to the redevelopment discussion.
The Sears building was later demolished.
BJ's Wholesale Club opened on the site on January 30, 2026.
BJ's restored business activity and jobs to the former anchor parcel.
Its customers enter from the parking lot, and the store has no connection to the indoor corridor.
Northgate now has a growing number of adjacent businesses with separate entrances.
More than retail, less than a town
Northgate remains open.
Belk, Old Navy, Ulta Beauty, AMC, the Shops at Northgate, restaurants, local stores, salons, secondhand businesses, and service companies continue to operate.
Siskin Outpatient Therapy provides medical services on the property.
The Northgate branch of the Chattanooga Public Library gives the site a public use, and seasonal events continue inside the mall.
Vacant storefronts and a closed anchor area sit beside active retail, entertainment, medical, library, restaurant, and service uses.
The property now supports a broader range of activities while the indoor retail corridor carries fewer national chains.
A major redevelopment problem lies beneath the parking lots.
Private water, wastewater, and stormwater systems dating from the mall's early years serve Northgate and nearby properties.
The aging systems and high replacement costs threaten daily operations and make larger construction projects harder to plan.
The large parking areas also create long walking routes between buildings and increase stormwater demands.
CARTA's Route 16 and park-and-ride service connect Northgate to public transport.
Pedestrians still cross a site designed mainly for cars.
Chattanooga approved an economic impact plan in late 2025.
In April 2026, Chattanooga's Industrial Development Board authorized execution of a development and tax incentive agreement intended to replace the old utility systems.
The agreement permits financing of up to $8.7 million, plus interest.
Repayment will depend on future increases in property-tax revenue and certain sales-tax payments.
The first stage must be finished by the end of 2028, and the full utility project must be completed by the end of 2031.
Public debate over the agreement has focused on the use of public money for private redevelopment, guaranteed public benefits, housing, traffic, green space, and the future of the library.
Northgate's future remains unsettled
The long-term concept calls for rebuilding the property in stages as a mixed-use town center.
Possible elements include streets built to public standards, sidewalks, bicycle routes, green space, and stronger links to nearby properties.
Public planning discussions have included requests for restaurants, new shops, outdoor entertainment, a park, and space for a future library branch.
The same discussions have raised possible limits on housing and demands for a formal public-engagement process.
As of July 2026, officials had not approved a final master plan or a firm date for closing or demolishing the indoor mall.
BJ's is complete; the larger town-center plan remains a proposal.
Its street network, public spaces, housing mix, community services, and building schedule will depend on the final site plan and later approvals.
Northgate's history combines suburban growth, decades of daily use, anchor decline, and piecemeal redevelopment.
The original mall gave Hixson a central indoor commercial place during a period of outward growth.
It provided jobs, errands, meals, entertainment, and services in one property.
Its design depended on cars, private control, and a department-store system that later weakened.
Today, the fountain is gone. Sears has been replaced by BJ's.
Future construction depends as much on underground pipes as it does on stores.
Northgate's surviving parts now occupy separate areas of the property.
Belk remains in the original north anchor.
Movies continue at the edge of the parking area.
The library and therapy center bring non-retail uses to the site.
BJ's stands where Sears once stood.
Belk, the theater, and the indoor corridor still connect the property to the mall that opened in 1972.
Decisions about the street layout, public access, the library, and surviving mall structures will determine what remains in use.
The utility project will set the timetable for larger redevelopment.
Sources and further reading
- Industrial Development Board Agenda and Northgate Mall Development and Tax Incentive Agreement - City of Chattanooga, March 2, 2026. Details the utility infrastructure project, financing structure, public engagement provisions, and completion deadlines.
- Industrial Development Board Agenda and Northgate Mall Economic Impact Plan - City of Chattanooga, November 3, 2025. Provides the public record for the infrastructure conditions, tax increment plan, and conceptual mixed-use redevelopment framework.
- Chattanooga Families Can Save at BJ's Wholesale Club Starting January 30 - BJ's Wholesale Club, January 22, 2026. Confirms the January 30, 2026 opening date and Northgate Mall Drive location.
- Northgate Mall Property Profile - CBL Properties, accessed July 24, 2026. Lists the mall's current anchors, featured stores, operating profile, and recent property information.
- Northgate Mall at 40 - Chattanoogan.com, March 13, 2012. Summarizes the 1972 opening sequence, early local context, the 1990 remodel, and the 2011 ownership change.
- Hixson Outpatient Center - Siskin Hospital for Physical Rehabilitation, accessed July 24, 2026. Confirms active outpatient rehabilitation use at 360 Northgate Mall Drive.
- Route 16: Northgate - Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority, effective May 10, 2026. Confirms current fixed-route transit service to Northgate Mall and Hixson Pike.
