Belle Meade Village (nine buildings of 12, 11, 10, 8, 2, and 1 stories, 388 residential units, 78 room hotel, 80,000 sq. ft. of retail, underground garages, and creekside park)

[markhollin]

 

The 10.5 acre Belle Meade Plaza Shopping Center at 4500 Harding Pike is going to be razed to make way for a massive new mixed-use project by AJ Capital.  It will feature residential towers of 15, 14, 12, and 11 stories that will have around 500 luxury residential units and a 120 room hotel. There will be 5 structures of 1 & 2 stories that will feature 75,000 sq. ft. of high-end retail.  There will be substantial underground parking. It appears that most of the structures will be brick. A complete reworking of the currently-ignored Richland Creek and Sugar Tree Creek will run along the northern and western sides of the site with walkways, and a platform park. About 50% of the site will be devoted to green space.

Several architects are involved: Hastings and Hartshorne Plunkard.  Hawkins Partners is in charge of landscape architecture.  Barge Cauthen & Associates will handle the engineering/land planning.

AJ Capital will seek LEED ND certification and Well Building Institute certification for the project, highlighting the environmentally friendly component the company wants to incorporate. If those certifications are landed, the project would represent one of only a handful of such in the state.

Opened in 1961, the two-level modernist building that makes up the current shopping center includes about 205,500 square feet and was one of Nashville’s first mixed-use buildings (retail on level one and office on floor two) oriented in a suburban manner, with the structure separated from the street by surface parking.

Nashville’s May family owns the property, seemingly having paid $14.5 million for it in January 1997, according to Metro records. The property also includes the Kroger structure, with the grocery business to eventually relocate to the former Belle Meade Theater building and, specifically, the space last occupied by a Harris Teeter (read here).

Sources said the property could command a minimum of $80 million.

The property sits within Metro Councilmember Kathleen Murphy’s District 24. A community meeting is slated to be held this week.

"While the project meets the Nashville Next community plan, community input is still very important and should be reflected in the final plan," Murphy emailed the Post. "This has been the best proposal for this area that has been brought to me and I am very impressed with the amount of conservation proposed, restoration of the creek and reduction in the impervious surfaces."

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/belle-meade-kroger-site-eyed-for-project/article_9fb88840-8b78-11ed-954e-1365556287ab.html


And at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2023/01/03/aj-capital-belle-meade-kroger-project.html

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

[dmillsphoto]

Well. Happy New Year Belle Meade...

[MLBrumby]

I wonder how much opposition they'll receive from those uberwealthy neighborhoods behind/across the creek.  These look very nice for a suburban faux dt development.  And yet, I may take that back because of the parking skirt that fronts Harding Road. 

Edited January 3, 2023 by MLBrumby

[henburg]

I really enjoy the look of this, but have a feeling this community will fight tooth and nail to ensure this never comes to fruition

[colemangaines]

That's good that they have Murphy's support for the project but I really don't see the community meetings going well. Hopefully this doesn't become another Skyline East.

[smeagolsfree]

Here's the deal. If she supports the plan, then it will probably pass Planning and then Council. The CBA is pretty nice as they will be getting flood mitigation and a nice park behind the development. This is not to mention a big surface lot going bye bye.

This is also along Harding and not White Bridge where you already have a tall building bookending one side of the road. I think a few will scream like dying banshees, but those are the ones that are always screaming bloody murder at a one-story doghouse with a chandelier and carpeting. Their sacred Kroger is moving across the street and that tells me she has made an agreement of some sort already.

[BnaBreaker]

20 minutes ago, henburg said:

I really enjoy the look of this, but have a feeling this community will fight tooth and nail to ensure this never comes to fruition

Because building height will no doubt attract... *hushed voice* those types... 

21 minutes ago, MLBrumby said:

I wonder how much opposition they'll receive from those uberwealthy neighborhoods behind/across the creek.  These look very nice for a suburban faux dt development.  And yet, I may take that back because of the parking skirt that fronts Harding Road. 

Agreed... very handsome looking development, but the parking skirt drives me nuts.  Was so close to getting it exactly right.  Why do local developers still fall into these old traps from Nashville's past?  It's as if they feel some sort of obligation to still give a nod to past practices that deserve to be left in the dust bin of history.  I suppose they'd justify it by saying they want the retail to front their faux "town center," but leave that fake stuff to places like Spring Hill which actually has no town center.  Belle Meade could actually have the beginnings of a real life town center if you'd just turn your buildings around to face the town itself! 

Edited January 3, 2023 by BnaBreaker

[Andy20]

I’ve always been confused by Belle Meade Shopping Plaza. One of the least attractive plazas in one of the nicest areas of town. This development is stunning and building density on major corridors is exactly what this lot should be used for. 

[Nash_12South]

I think the heavily residential portion of the development will help sell it. There are limited, "high end" housing options as Belle Meade/Hillwood residents age out of their homes (with large lots and expensive upkeep). I can see the walkability and mixed use aspect being very good selling points.  If it were 90% office space, I'd see it having more issues. 

Edited January 3, 2023 by Nash_12South

[samsonh]

1 hour ago, Nash_12South said:

I think the heavily residential portion of the development will help sell it. There are limited, "high end" housing options as Belle Meade/Hillwood residents age out of their homes (with large lots and expensive upkeep). I can see the walkability and mixed use aspect being very good selling points.  If it were 90% office space, I'd see it having more issues. 

Agreed. For older residents in this area this could be a good option to stay close to an area they are familiar with, but downsizing from a home/yard. Combined with potential redevelopment by HG Hill up the street and the proposed development further up White Bridge and you have the makings of a real walkable neighborhood.

[tragenvol]

4 hours ago, smeagolsfree said:

Their sacred Kroger is moving across the street and that tells me she has made an agreement of some sort already.

And what of the Starbucks...embedded within the new Kroger?

[MLBrumby]

7 minutes ago, tragenvol said:

And what of the Starbucks...embedded within the new Kroger?

3 locations in the new development... 

[bnacincy]

When I was down there in August I drove through this area and the traffic was pretty bad.

Wouldn't this make it so much worse?

Nice concept though.

[go_outside]

6 minutes ago, bnacincy said:

When I was down there in August I drove through this area and the traffic was pretty bad.

Wouldn't this make it so much worse?

Nice concept though.

Development is going to happen, one way or the other. We can either 1) spread things out with more strip malls or 2) build walkable, high density developments along transit corridors.

We've already tried Option 1 all along White Bridge and Harding Pike. It creates terrible traffic because, in order to travel 100 yards, everyone has to drive their cars from one strip mall to the next.

Option 2 is the better option. When you build things closer together and with pedestrians in mind, people don't have to drive everywhere. Instead, they can walk between stores and mass transit becomes viable.  

 

 

[MLBrumby]

1 hour ago, bnacincy said:

When I was down there in August I drove through this area and the traffic was pretty bad.

Wouldn't this make it so much worse?

Nice concept though.

It would certainly bring more vehicular traffic with more people living there, but this is where I get frustrated with the "same-old same-old".  I'm referring to the lack of creative solutions to growth (not just in Nashville).  In this case, the post above mine by go_outside hits the nail on the head. So Nashville (or __________ city) could choose to dismiss the inevitable changes that would come with a new development ('neighborhod") like this and just take the consequences no matter how much worse; or try to figure out how to predict the future traffic demands in an effort to accommodate the growth (or let it just spread further and further out).  So questions that might be asked around this:  How will traffic at this corner change with the supermarket gone (albeit to a block down the street)?  How will the traffic patterns change with more residential and less commercial traffic at this corner?  How will this corner impact the whole intersection?  Where would better exits/entrances be put that don't just pour out onto Harding?  Where would secondary street(s) alleviate traffic from one side of the intersection to the other?  And (of course) where would there be an opportunity for future transit?  Those are just a few of the questions off the top of my (completely and certifiably) unqualified mind in this field.   

Edited January 4, 2023 by MLBrumby

[Binbin98]

I don’t know how to feel about this because while it’s not the prettiest shopping mall, I used to shop there as a kid and also where would the Kroger go? 

[donNdonelson2]

24 minutes ago, Binbin98 said:

I don’t know how to feel about this because while it’s not the prettiest shopping mall, I used to shop there as a kid and also where would the Kroger go? 

Kroger already announced they were moving to the old Belle Meade theatre building.  (Harris Teeter closed the store that once operated out of that nearby space.)

[downtownresident]

2 hours ago, MLBrumby said:

It would certainly bring more vehicular traffic with more people living there, but this is where I get frustrated with the "same-old same-old".  I'm referring to the lack of creative solutions to growth (not just in Nashville).  In this case, the post above mine by go_outside hits the nail on the head. So Nashville (or __________ city) could choose to dismiss the inevitable changes that would come with a new development ('neighborhod") like this and just take the consequences no matter how much worse; or try to figure out how to predict the future traffic demands in an effort to accommodate the growth (or let it just spread further and further out).  So questions that might be asked around this:  How will traffic at this corner change with the supermarket gone (albeit to a block down the street)?  How will the traffic patterns change with more residential and less commercial traffic at this corner?  How will this corner impact the whole intersection?  Where would better exits/entrances be put that don't just pour out onto Harding?  Where would secondary street(s) alleviate traffic from one side of the intersection to the other?  And (of course) where would there be an opportunity for future transit?  Those are just a few of the questions off the top of my (completely and certifiably) unqualified mind in this field.   

This is connecting to Kenner Ave on the other side of White Bridge Road, which has a good right-turn access to White Bridge heading toward I-40.  

[BnaBreaker]

3 hours ago, go_outside said:

Development is going to happen, one way or the other. We can either 1) spread things out with more strip malls or 2) build walkable, high density developments along transit corridors.

We've already tried Option 1 all along White Bridge and Harding Pike. It creates terrible traffic because, in order to travel 100 yards, everyone has to drive their cars from one strip mall to the next.

Option 2 is the better option. When you build things closer together and with pedestrians in mind, people don't have to drive everywhere. Instead, they can walk between stores and mass transit becomes viable.  

 

 

Bravo.  Couldn't have said it better myself.  I just don't understand the 'traffic sucks so let's just stop building stuff' mentality.  As you alluded to, part of the reason traffic sucks, is because of the way this city was being developed!   But also, development is going to happen.  TRAFFIC is going to happen.  The answer isn't to just put a freeze on growth, the answer is to change how we grow and to give people alternatives to sitting in traffic.  

[AsianintheNations]

If this project actually happens, I hope there will be a better way to get from the new riverwalk to the existing Richland Creek greenway than walking under the adjacent parking garage along the "Truck Exit" as it is currently configured. This seems much more important than the stub "future trail connection" on the western end.

[dxfret]

Excellent news. This is ultra prime real estate and replacement of the aging strip mall shopping center is long overdue. 

[Luvemtall]

Reading the comments above, especially those of MLB and BnaBreaker . Brings me to some of my past post , throughout this forum. And in no way am I trying to offend anyone, but the OLD NASHVILLE IS GONE!! People need to stop thinking in the past, stop thinking of Nashville as a sleepy ole southern town ! It’s rapidly become the new Mecca of the south, a cosmopolitan city in the making. The time has come to start thinking like a “MAJOR “ city, put the big pants on , your all grown up. Leave the strip malls and SFH to the ring counties, develop people centric clusters and connect them all with some form of transit ( monorail is my personal favorite) to lessen the amount of cars in the central city. Think of all the projects coming along in the pipeline , and it’s amazing! My friends you are right, you can’t stop development , nor should we try! Nashville is the envy of so many other cities, the growth is phenomenal and it should be embraced! 

[smeagolsfree]

14 hours ago, bnacincy said:

When I was down there in August I drove through this area and the traffic was pretty bad.

Wouldn't this make it so much worse?

Nice concept though.

It is hard to say what makes traffic worse, A Kroger that has constant traffic or residential buildings that has traffic sporadic during the day. Yes, this will have retail, but it looks to be smaller retail shops and they do not generate the traffic that one grocery store will generate. That is what the folks could not understand in the opposition to the residential tower at the Steinmart location. That stupid little Raising Cains will probably generate just as much traffic as that residential tower would have and they still will not get a light at that entrance. The folks over there are as dense as led as far as understanding what can generate traffic. Fast food w/ drive thru, coffee shops w/ drive thru, and gas stations are about the highest traffic generators at peak hour there are.

 

 

[sambo]

1 hour ago, smeagolsfree said:

It is hard to say what makes traffic worse, A Kroger that has constant traffic or residential buildings that has traffic sporadic during the day. Yes, this will have retail, but it looks to be smaller retail shops and they do not generate the traffic that one grocery store will generate. That is what the folks could not understand in the opposition to the residential tower at the Steinmart location. That stupid little Raising Cains will probably generate just as much traffic as that residential tower would have and they still will not get a light at that entrance. The folks over there are as dense as led as far as understanding what can generate traffic. Fast food w/ drive thru, coffee shops w/ drive thru, and gas stations are about the highest traffic generators at peak hour there are.

 

 

It's impossible to take a left out of the Trader Joe's parking lot already. I can't wait for Cane's to add to the madness lol

 

I also don't see how the Kroger Belle Meade Theater will have any parking because it's already a hassle just going to the Fedex over there.

Edited January 4, 2023 by sambo

[Nash_12South]

Kroger has no other options, if it wants to maintain a presence in the area, other than this former Harris Teeter location. It will have have parking issues. It's a tight garage. It was a pain, when I (rarely) shopped there. Really nice store though.