Authored By Staff Report

Officials with River City Company are encouraging locals to help choose the name for a new permanent alleyway in the heart of Chattanooga. In conjunction with the Passageways 2.0 program, community members get the opportunity to vote on the name of the alley where the new permanent installation called City Thread will be installed in Oct. of this year.

The alley name has been narrowed down to four options which were sourced from building and business owners surrounding the alley. The options include:

The 700 — the alley is located between the 700 block of Market and the 700 block of Cherry Streets.
Cooper's Alley — in homage to the historic Cooper’s Office Supply buildings that front Cherry Street and back onto the alley.
Kress Alley — in homage to the S.H. Kress & Co. department store which was located from 1905-1954 at 706 Market Street.
Market Alley — the alley is in close proximity to Market Street (our highest trafficked north/south street in Downtown Chattanooga) and hearkens to its accessibility through the arcade at Market City Center.

The selected name will be used in signage for the area and in marketing the alley for subsequent events happening in the space once the installation is in place this fall.

As of this article, Cooper's Alley was leading the votes. Community members will be able to submit one vote for one option through Sept. 21 at this link.

“Nashville has Printer’s Alley; Seattle has Post Alley. And, we know the new Passageways installation is going to be a destination alley right here in the Scenic City,” Amy Donahue, Director of Marketing and Communication at River City Company said. “We want the community to help us pick the name of this linear spot and brand it as the fantastic new space it will be in Downtown Chattanooga.”

Located in between the 700 blocks of Market and Cherry Streets, the 6200 square foot alley accessible from Cherry, Market and 7th Streets will house City Thread, a concept from SPORTS, the architecture and design collaborative of Molly Hunker and Greg Corso in Syracuse, New York, which was selected as the Passageways 2.0 winner.

City Thread is an art-as-urban-infrastructure installation that uses a continuous sculpture through the alley that allows for a multitude of uses including informal lounging/sitting, mini-stages, framing community murals or art, large gatherings, farmers’ market, move screenings and more.

More information will be released soon about the debut of the space.