Dec. 3--Chattanooga downtown boosters thought they had a plan to revitalize a core block of the central city.

But a decade after the RiverCity Co. bought part of the 700 block of Market Street -- and three years after transferring the site to a private developer -- the downtown development group still is waiting for the development, dubbed Mayfair on Market, on the fenced-off construction site.

In the current economic slowdown, even government-backed projects such as Mayfair on Market are struggling to get enough financing to move forward.

Three blocks away from the stalled Mayfair on Market, another condo project, Renaissance Square on M.L. King Boulevard, has only one tenant, although it opened more than a year ago. Three blocks to the south, what was once Chattanooga's biggest downtown retail development -- Warehouse Row -- is half empty and still trying to land new tenants even with a parking boost coming from the city.

"It's a very difficult time right now and very hard to get financing for new projects," RiverCity President Paul Brock said. "In the past few months, the environment has really turned down on just about every front. Fortunately, Chattanooga is doing better than most cities and our downtown is still showing signs of growth."

Next year, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee will open a $299 million corporate campus atop Cameron Hill. Downtown, construction is slated to begin on a 12-screen movie theater and another hotel near the current location of the Bijou Theatre.

But in the meantime, the slowing economy has thwarted the building or leasing of the three government-aided projects in the central city, including $18.7 million of current or proposed condominium projects and a $10 million hotel once envisioned for Warehouse Row.

Developers blame tight credit markets and the faltering economy and insist that eventually their projects will bear fruit.

help from city hall

During better times over the past couple of years, such assurances led the city and agencies it supports -- the Chattanooga Housing Authority and the 28th Legislative District Community Development Corp. -- to collectively lend or invest more than $5 million in projects that are now waiting for more money or new tenants.

Tim Price, a Chattanooga businessman who helps lead the anti-tax group known as Tennessee Town Hall, questions why local governments backed the now stalled projects.

"Any public official who would spend that kind of public money downtown in this economy is crazy and irresponsible," he said.