The Bijou Theatre - Chattanooga, TN
Completed in 1994
Scope
$7,000,000 Multiplex movie theatre below a 650-car parking garage
Carmike Cinema's Bijou was the first movie theatre built in downtown Chattanooga in over fifty years. The parking garage serves as the northern terminus for the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority's free electric shuttle system and serves as the main parking facility for the Ross's Landing district, which includes the Tennessee Aquarium.
Significance
The Bijou provided an essential ingredient for a vibrant downtown: after-hours entertainment. The theatres have helped to revive the downtown dining scene and provide an important supplementary revenue source for the garage, which furnishes badly-needed parking for the city's riverfront tourist district.