Davidson East: East Nashville, Inglewood, Madison, Donelson, Hermitage, Old Hickory

[markhollin]

The rehab of the once-Stadium Inn motel into a boutique hotel has been granted a $10.8 million permit.  MTLC Building Group is the contractor.  Pfeffer Torode Architecture is in charge of the redesign. Still no renderings or name of the development.

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/article/21144039/asking-price-lowered-for-burger-joint-property

[markhollin]

The boutique hotel at 916 Main St. (5 stories, 20 units) work continues with foundation and rebar rising.  Looks like they may be expanded into the adjoining lot at SW corner of Mcferrin Ave. Or perhaps they are just renting it for staging purposes. 

Looking SW from intersection of Main St. and Mcferrin Ave:

[markhollin]

East Nashville’s popular Five Points neighborhood will lose its status as one of the county's urban “redevelopment districts” at the end of the year, allowing more mixed-use development to be fast-tracked.

The board of the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency recently decided that the commercial and nightlife hub is no longer blighted or in disrepair as it was when it received the designation 30 years ago.

Developers cheered on the change, but three neighborhood groups in the area balked at the decision.

Reverting to base zoning would simplify development guidelines and allow by-right residential construction that matches surrounding properties. 

The area will remain a state-designated Opportunity Zone — a federal incentive meant for economically distressed areas — and developers can continue to enjoy tax breaks to build there, according to MDHA officials.

But commercial sections of Woodland Street, Fatherland Street, and South 11th and 12th streets, will no longer be governed by MDHA Redevelopment District design guidelines. Those include height limits of roughly four stories and standards for windows, building materials, street setbacks, parking, signs and other design considerations. 

More at The Tennessean here:

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2020/10/22/east-nashville-development-five-points-zoning/5992659002/

[bwithers1]

6 hours ago, markhollin said:

East Nashville’s popular Five Points neighborhood will lose its status as one of the county's urban “redevelopment districts” at the end of the year, allowing more mixed-use development to be fast-tracked.

The board of the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency recently decided that the commercial and nightlife hub is no longer blighted or in disrepair as it was when it received the designation 30 years ago.

Developers cheered on the change, but three neighborhood groups in the area balked at the decision.

Reverting to base zoning would simplify development guidelines and allow by-right residential construction that matches surrounding properties. 

The area will remain a state-designated Opportunity Zone — a federal incentive meant for economically distressed areas — and developers can continue to enjoy tax breaks to build there, according to MDHA officials.

But commercial sections of Woodland Street, Fatherland Street, and South 11th and 12th streets, will no longer be governed by MDHA Redevelopment District design guidelines. Those include height limits of roughly four stories and standards for windows, building materials, street setbacks, parking, signs and other design considerations. 

More at The Tennessean here:

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2020/10/22/east-nashville-development-five-points-zoning/5992659002/

There are some elements of this article that are on-point and some that make me cringe. For instance, the rezoning plan that I have proposed is intentionally trying NOT to revert to the existing CS base zoning that litters the area and that the redevelopment district was intentionally designed to supersede. Instead, the rezoning plan is intended to change the base zoning to more pedestrian-oriented MUN-A, MUL-A and occasionally OR20-A and RM20-A base zoning that does automatically what the redevelopment district required manual overrides and sometimes human judgement calls to do: set build-to standards for sidewalk-oriented building placement, eliminate curb cuts where possible and limit vehicular access to alleys where they are present, in most cases.

It is also not necessarily the case that "developers cheered on this change." Developers would typically like more zoning entitlements than what is proposed in my rezoning plan - or the elimination of restrictions entirely. And one of the folks who wrote in to support closing out the redevelopment district and switching it over to a base zoning change update is a former Lockeland Springs resident who still owns property along tornado-damaged Holly Street, who is a land use attorney by trade, and who is a  Five Points-area small business owner who served on the Metro Historic Zoning Commission. The fact that this base zoning change update has been drafted in consultation with the Metro Historic Zoning staff gets a bit lost in this article.

On the other hand, MDHA Commissioner Ansari's comments are on point: some of the neighborhood representatives have stated that their desire for keeping the redevelopment district in place is specifically to keep development from occurring, even if that development meets most or all of the tenets of the redevelopment district design guidelines that they wish to extend.

10 hours ago, markhollin said:

The boutique hotel at 916 Main St. (5 stories, 20 units) work continues with foundation and rebar rising.  Looks like they may be expanded into the adjoining lot at SW corner of Mcferrin Ave. Or perhaps they are just renting it for staging purposes. 

Looking SW from intersection of Main St. and Mcferrin Ave:

I believe that the designs for the building have not changed but that the construction crew is using the corner lot for a staging area, as you have suggested, and that after this building is complete the Molly Green building on the corner will be reconstructed.

[AronG]

1 hour ago, bwithers1 said:

There are some elements of this article that are on-point and some that make me cringe. For instance, the rezoning plan that I have proposed is intentionally trying NOT to revert to the existing CS base zoning that litters the area and that the redevelopment district was intentionally designed to supersede. Instead, the rezoning plan is intended to change the base zoning to more pedestrian-oriented MUN-A, MUL-A and occasionally OR20-A and RM20-A base zoning that does automatically what the redevelopment district required manual overrides and sometimes human judgement calls to do: set build-to standards for sidewalk-oriented building placement, eliminate curb cuts where possible and limit vehicular access to alleys where they are present, in most cases.

It is also not necessarily the case that "developers cheered on this change." Developers would typically like more zoning entitlements than what is proposed in my rezoning plan - or the elimination of restrictions entirely. And one of the folks who wrote in to support closing out the redevelopment district and switching it over to a base zoning change update is a former Lockeland Springs resident who still owns property along tornado-damaged Holly Street, who is a land use attorney by trade, and who is a  Five Points-area small business owner who served on the Metro Historic Zoning Commission. The fact that this base zoning change update has been drafted in consultation with the Metro Historic Zoning staff gets a bit lost in this article.

On the other hand, MDHA Commissioner Ansari's comments are on point: some of the neighborhood representatives have stated that their desire for keeping the redevelopment district in place is specifically to keep development from occurring, even if that development meets most or all of the tenets of the redevelopment district design guidelines that they wish to extend.

The framing of the Tennessean article ("developers cheering", etc.) plays to the worst elements of our public feedback process. We have plenty of people that want to believe there's an option to pause everything and preserve the neighborhood in amber, and this kind of thing tees them up to get blindly angry about the decision in front of us without stopping to understand it at all.

The reality is, as long as Nashville's star continues to rise, demand for this neighborhood is only going to keep growing, and nothing is going to stop developers from pouring money in to meet that demand. Our zoning certainly shapes how and where they apply those resources, but there is no option to stop everything and preserve the neighborhood with no changes. We can incentivize good development that will result in a pleasant neighborhood, or we can incentivize poor development and live with the results. Neither option is going to save Fond Object though.

Right now most residential zoning in the neighborhood is ridiculously restrictive. The result is that developers pour money into gutting & rebuilding the few available houses for the ultra-wealthy, gradually pushing out the middle class, and now the upper middle class. That's why we get to listen to The Promise making us all squirm because the local elementary school is 96% white. When you have to be a millionaire to afford to live within 10 blocks, that's what happens. It's depressing to hear everybody contort themselves trying to come up with ways to plaster over that problem without addressing the root cause. Allow more housing! (Or I guess admit that resegregation is an unfortunate but acceptable consequence of our desired restrictions.)

Now we have to make a decision about Five Points, and it looks like it's getting caught up in the same kneejerk resistance.

What's sad about it is that it's our process that's broken. Taking every single development decision to public meetings for review and assent is an absolute recipe to bring out the cranks and the haters who love to exercise that veto power. 90% of the neighborhood lives here because it's walkable and has local shops and restaurants and great neighbors, and they would love the results of mixed use development of the RM20 variety. But they're leading busy lives, not monitoring every development so they can show up to all these meetings and provide counterweight to the regular protestors. So a small section of loud angry voices dominate the feedback process, and we get a crap result like a dozen bland condos planted smack in the middle of Five Points.

This update is, in my opinion, a conservative effort to update a small area of our zoning into something that makes more sense. But it will 100% result in a wildly better Five Points in 10 or 20 years than reversion to crappy 80s-style commercial zoning, if it happens. So here's hoping you get it through Brett. I'm sure you'll be exhausted if you do, but we have many other neighborhood centers that are crying out for something similar.

[MLBrumby]

I believe only about 17.337 % of what appears in The Tennessean... it's an awful rag. 

[smeagolsfree]

Make the Tennessean go back and clarify the article Brett. Pretty sad they continue to screw things up by not reporting things correctly. I have seen the same thing with the TV stations too. They all have a slant for some reason. I just do not understand why the information can't just be reported accurately. 

[CandyAisles]

The Neighborhood: “Let’s extend the overlay so we can do this rezoning right. There is A LOT to digest here and tons of things to consider on rezones of this magnitude.”

Brett: “No.”

There may very well be unintended consequences to this plan that will need to be worked out now by December. And if it doesn’t get worked out, we’re hosed because we have nothing to fall back on.

From the article:

"This (Redevelopment District) document needs to go ahead and expire. I will oppose any extension of it," Withers said. "It creates ambiguity and does not help the neighborhoods in any meaningful way. I have not seen anything that these neighborhoods were concerned about stopping that this document stopped in the last 10 years."

[markhollin]

Davidson County Sheriff's Office (2, 3 & 4 stories) update: Brick work complete, cladding being set.

Looking NW from South 5th St., 1/2 block south of Summer Place:
 

Looking SW from intersection of South 5th St. and Summer Place:

Looking SE from Summer Place, 1/4 block east of South 4th St:

Looking south from Summer Place, 1/4 block east of South 4th St:

[smeagolsfree]

As far as MDHA goes and the redevelopment districts being Five Points, SoBro, or other areas of town, I am for getting them out of the overseeing role they have played over the last 2 or 3 decades.

With that being said, Planning and Historic should take up the slack with the overlays and zoning, but MDHA should have never had the power to oversee those areas as it was an over reach of their power and what they were designed to do. It should have always been Planning and Historic. Nashville has always done things ass backwards and for that matter still does. Nashville missed the ball on Historic preservation by 60 years as that should have started in the 70's but I do realize that hind site is 20/20. 

I will be a critic of Planning as well and the plans Rick Bernhardt had for Nashville when he was the director of Planning. If his vision had stayed in place all of the buildings would have been stair stepped from the river into town. That works well in SimCity but not in a market driven economy. He was also the main reason for what has become known as the problem of the tall and skinnies. Should never have happened. I do remember reading this and it was under his leadership that this was allowed.

If Nashville had only looked to cities like Denver a lot of problems would have been avoided.

[CandyAisles]

MDHA won’t approve anything unless Planning and Public Works says it’s ok. I do agree that the whole process is antiquated but it does provide East Nashville with some design accountability and an opportunity for Public discourse...which is what has made East Nashville a special neighborhood among other things. I’m rooting for Brett to get it done, I just don’t think there’s enough time to do it...at least in East Nashville.

[bwithers1]

8 minutes ago, CandyAisles said:

MDHA won’t approve anything unless Planning and Public Works says it’s ok. I do agree that the whole process is antiquated but it does provide East Nashville with some design accountability and an opportunity for Public discourse...which is what has made East Nashville a special neighborhood among other things. I’m rooting for Brett to get it done, I just don’t think there’s enough time to do it...at least in East Nashville.

Unfortunately, MDHA's approval process has created ambiguities that "clever" developers have been able to manipulate or litigate. MDHA has approved buildings that did not meet their own design guidelines or the bulk zoning regulations. There are places where uses were permitted that are expressly prohibited by the land use plan. And yet there they are.  In 2015, a land use attorney found an "archived version" of the land use plan and took it to Metro Council, where an At Large Council Member brought legislation to terminate the Five Points Redevelopment District, then also submitted an unfriendly amendment to the Land Use Plan update, got enough Council Members to vote to overturn the ruling of the Vice Mayor that the vote was closed so that the vote was reopened and then the unfriendly amendment was applied over the objections of the District Council Member at the time.  That is what we are talking about.

There are some glaringly obvious examples of buildings being approved that did not clearly meet the design guidelines and that were approved by MDHA's Design Review Committee over my and the neighborhoods' objections. We were told that MDHA DRCs are not public hearings and no public input opportunities are required as part of the MDHA process. So when the same neighborhood leaders write a letter stating that the redevelopment district provides the three neighborhoods with "a voice" in decisions, I kind of have to scratch my head.

The reality is that almost all of the Five Points Redevelopment District is already covered by the Lockeland Springs-East End Conservation Overlay with Metro Historic Zoning Commission public hearing opportunities for new infill buildings. There are about 20 parcels that would have no Overlay projection when the redevelopment district expires. They include:

-901 Woodland/WeWork, which is not going anywhere

-Basement East, which is finishing up repairs and is not going anywhere

-Attaboy/Lakeside Lounge/Pfeffer Torode Architecture

-A cinderblock warehouse surrounded by chain link fencing owned by the County Music Hall of Fame, which is not going anywhere

-The Nashville Fireman's Credit Union, which was approved in a car-centered layout that did not meet the redevelopment district design guidelines and that also did not meet base zoning bulk zoning regulations and required BZA variances

-Hosse & Hosse locksmith, Backfield In Motion, the Meadery, Altria Salon

-East End Lofts, which has the much more intense MUG-A zoning and isn't going anywhere

-DRC, which is built with a parking lot in front

-Park Center, which is built with a parking lot in front and isn't planning on going anywhere

-Hill Center Five Points, and Jimmy Granbery sent a letter of support for the rezoning plan

-First Tennessee/First Horizon, which is finishing up repairs and isn't going anywhere

-Noble's Kitchen & Beer Hall, which finished up repairs and isn't going anywhere

My point is that the "exposure" of the neighborhood is so slight that one of these handful of buildings is going to be replaced with something worse that I feel that the perceived "risk" to the neighborhood is greatly outweighed by the benefits of replacing the base zoning with pedestrian-oriented versions of Mixed Use Districts that the property owners themselves appear to support. To date I have heard no serious objections from property owners, just from some of our neighbors whom I know and respect but who need to let this document that isn't serving them well anymore go. I need them to stop stonewalling for a redevelopment district extension under a false pretense of blight and get on board with supporting the base zoning change.

[markhollin]

From NBJ: Charleston, South Carolina-based Middle Street Partners LLC is under contract to buy about 13 acres at 2820 Dickerson Pike, where the Cauble Group had been proposing 326 townhomes and retail. Earlier in the year, Embrey Partners Ltd. had a contract to buy the same land, but has since dropped that deal. No word on what Middle Street's plans are for the site. 

This screen shot from Smeagolfree's excellent development map shows the site highlighted in teal at the center of the frame.
 

[AronG]

6 hours ago, CandyAisles said:

MDHA won’t approve anything unless Planning and Public Works says it’s ok. I do agree that the whole process is antiquated but it does provide East Nashville with some design accountability and an opportunity for Public discourse...which is what has made East Nashville a special neighborhood among other things. I’m rooting for Brett to get it done, I just don’t think there’s enough time to do it...at least in East Nashville.

Rooting for Brett on this one too, but I have to respectfully disagree that "design accountability and an opportunity for Public discourse" have anything to do with what made East Nashville special. At least as it pertains to the built environment, almost everything that's great about East Nashville pre-dates the era when it became normal for John Q Public to weigh in on every decision that somebody makes before they build on their property.

Neighborhoods like Five Points, McFerrin, Lockeland, Cleveland Park, etc. are special, and are highly sought-after because they were built out in the old style, before our urban design was reworked around cars. They're built in walkable street grids with sidewalks (mostly), and various types of residential and commercial uses interspersed together so that you don't have to walk a mile to get to a restaurant or market, and people can interact easily with less friction. I love reading about the old neighborhood; here's a great history (https://lockelandsprings.org/lockeland-history/) from an early resident of Lockeland mentioning a broom factory at 16th & Boscobel, and a cigar factory at 19th & Lillian. It was a blue collar neighborhood then, friendly to people experimenting with what they could fund and build on their property.

If you tried to build out an area like Five Points today with our public feedback as it is, you wouldn't get the good stuff like 3 Crow, Cumberland Hardware, 5P Pizza, etc. in a dense row (possible because they were built for people, not cars). You'd get big parking lots with tiny buildings. You'd get lots of lanes to allow traffic to move quickly, and correspondingly dangerous crosswalks. With enough funding you might be able to push for a very restricted amount of hotel/residential units, which would necessarily target the very top of the market.

I get that people like to be heard, but almost every public feedback meeting I've been to devolves into the same predictable complaints, and they are objectively terrible criteria for urban design. Why does anything have to change? What are you going to do to make sure there's enough parking? Are the roads even big enough to handle this much traffic? Why don't you just build something with much lower density? None of these are beneficial or contribute to the special-ness of East Nashville in the slightest. On the contrary, every time developers update their plans based on those criteria (or cancel them), we get less special. We get more Cool Springs suburban-style development: soul-destroying wastelands of car-centric strip malls, fast food chains, and income-stratified residential developments.

Maybe I've just been to the wrong meetings, but I would love to know there are examples of actual constructive public feedback that resulted in a better end product. Instead it's almost all depressingly unconstructive sniping, which our politicians hear and respond to, and developers factor into their plans and price tags, and we're all worse off for.

[markhollin]

Edison of Riverwood (2, 3 & 4 stories, 352 units) update: Most of the dozen or so structures are topped out.

Looking west from Dodson Chapel Rd., just north of I-40:
 

Looking north from Dodson Chapel Rd., just north of I-40:




Looking west from Dodson Chapel Rd. 1/2 block south of Riverwood Village Blvd:

[markhollin]

Gallatin Townhomes (3 stories, 12 units) update: Foundation work underway.

Looking west from intersection of Gallatin Pike and Kenwood Drive:
 

[markhollin]

Envision Cayce, Red Oak Townhomes (2 & 3 stories, 44 units) update: First units underway; continued grading on hillside.

Looking NW from Lenore St., 1/2 block east of South 7th St:

[markhollin]

Ramsey Row Townhomes (3 stories? 8 units) update: Land cleared and prep underway.

Looking west from intersection of Myrtle St. and Ramsey St:

[markhollin]

The Skyliner  (4 stories, 147 units)  at 2996 Dickerson Pike near Hart Lane has been granted a $10 million construction permit via Urban Housing Solutions.

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/construction/article/21144092/permit-patrol-26-october-2020

[markhollin]

1700 Fatherland (conversion of church to office/commercial space) update.

Looking SE from intersection of Fatherland St. and South 17th St:

[bwithers1]

7 hours ago, markhollin said:

1700 Fatherland (conversion of church to office/commercial space) update.

Looking SE from intersection of Fatherland St. and South 17th St:

The bell tower roof is supposed to be installed tomorrow (Wednesday). It is a close replica of the original that was removed decades ago. This bell tower roof installation requires that NES re-route all of the surrounding neighborhood electrical supply and de-energize those lines adjacent to the building. This is such a great project. Architect Gina Emmanuel, who is an East Nashville neighbor, has been great for this project. I can't wait to see it completed!

[markhollin]

TriStar Summit Medical Center  expansion (2-story addition 0n top of existing 6 stories) update: Complete and open.

Looking north from Central Pike at Frist Blvd: 

[markhollin]

Eastwood Village (conversion of former church into apartments, office space, and retail) update: Digging up northeastern quadrant for additional structures.

Looking north from Chapel Ave. at Roberts Ave:

 

Looking SW from Greenwood Ave., 1/2 block east of Chapel Ave:

[markhollin]

Braden Memorial Chapel repair work from March tornado.

Looking NW from Main St., 1/4 block east of North 8th St:

[WebberThomas4]

On 10/27/2020 at 12:01 PM, bwithers1 said:

The bell tower roof is supposed to be installed tomorrow (Wednesday). It is a close replica of the original that was removed decades ago. This bell tower roof installation requires that NES re-route all of the surrounding neighborhood electrical supply and de-energize those lines adjacent to the building. This is such a great project. Architect Gina Emmanuel, who is an East Nashville neighbor, has been great for this project. I can't wait to see it completed!