Walgreen's may be coming to Five Points. Developers Margaret Norvell and Carter Murray Dawson plan to bring the ubiquitous drugstore chain to the traditional commercial center of East Nashville, where the historic districts of Edgefield, East End and Lockeland Springs converge at 11th and Woodland streets.
The duo are pursuing options on six parcels totaling roughly 1.6 acres on the oddly shaped block in Five Points and are willing to pay over $2 million for the land—steep by area values. Their architect is Michael Hindman, a local retail specialist who designed the generic brick strip mall perpendicular to Harding Road at Heady Drive. Site planning is by Ragan Smith Associates.
The reaction among neighborhood property owners to the possible advent of Walgreen's is mixed. Some are cautiously optimistic about the investment, but others are wondering if this is the beginning of the end of civilization as the Near East knows it.
"We don't need a Walgreen's and, in fact, I'm terrified to have them so near Five Points," says one neighborhood resident.
The commercial civilization of the Points reflects the diverse character of the residents nearby: Edgefield Diner and Margot Café and Bar, Bongo Java and a barber shop/Laundromat, Edgefield Interiors and Tracey's Hair Impressions, Slow Bar and Cumberland Hardware. And not a franchise among 'em.
But there's a lot of flux in Five Points right now. "For Sale" and "For Lease" signs are plastered on the Family Dollar Store, the former First American Bank and the Woodland Studio. Rumors are circulating that the Texaco station is going Shell and is scheduled for a makeover. And Germantown Partners, the team that brought good urban infill to Germantown, is acquiring a vacant parcel between the Texaco and the post office. Residents are anxious that the inevitable changes enhance the character of the area rather than erode it.
The block Walgreen's is scouting lies within a Metro Development and Housing Agency (MDHA) redevelopment district with extensive design guidelines, but no demolition controls. Currently standing on the prospective site are three small houses facing Clearview. Facing Main Street is a circa- 1910 building once home to the Walnut Exchange of the Cumberland Telephone and Telegraph Company, and most recently the Music City Rod Shop. None of these structures would be incorporated into the new development.
The logic driving Walgreen executives to this site is faultless. The chain is willing to pay higher-than-market value for the land—and entangle itself in guidelines and neighborhood negotiations—because corner sites on the drive-home side of the road mean more business. Walgreen's also likes sitting between their competition and most of their target population. At Main and Forrest, Walgreen's can intercept consumers before they reach the groceries and Eckerd on the way from town.
After several meetings between the developers and representatives of the Rediscover East neighborhood organization, the site plan is still evolving. The current version, which is atypical of the traditional Walgreen's design, includes the Main Street facade pulled to the sidewalk and a one-story retail component to the northeast, replacing what is now E&R Auto Sales. The current site plan also shows a mixed-use structure on the Five Points corner of the block. The developers are exploring mixed-use there in response to suggestions by Rediscover East, although they don't currently control this land.
More problematic is the public art plaza on the corner of Clearview and Main, which screens the parking lot behind. Main Street needs more hard edges, not open space, which is why the design guidelines call for 100 percent of the primary street frontage to be built out. And demolishing the structurally sound old phone exchange is a loss of what little decent architecture remains on Main.
The issue is not whether Walgreen's comes to the Near East, but, if it does, what kind of building houses it. Even though the neighborhood doesn't need another pharmaceutical franchise—who does?—the point is the structure, not the use. What the neighborhood needs is good urban design and good architecture.
According to the guidelines, MDHA's design review committee may allow deviations "for exceptional design concepts or unusual physical constraints." Walgreen's isn't known for exceptional design—only design to which many take exception. And the cartoon-historical style used to gentrify strip malls in the far-flung 'burbs would look especially bastard-like in this old neighborhood, because there's so much of the real thing around. The physical constraints of the site could be accommodated, but not without modifying Walgreen's suburban prototype.
How hard Rediscover is willing to push, and how much Walgreen's is willing to give, is still unclear. MDHA's position, according to development director Phil Ryan, is that the development must meet the guidelines unless the neighborhood supports compromises. The developers assert that if they can't get the support of a majority of the neighborhood, they'll go elsewhere. The developers will meet this week with several Rediscover committees to present a more complete version of their plan and building elevation. The committees will then make a recommendation to the Rediscover East board on whether to support the project.
The stakes are high for the neighborhood. The Walgreen's initiative would represent the first new commercial construction in the area after decades of flying under the developer radar screen.
"If we don't work with them, will anyone else come in?" wonders Nell Levin, a member of Rediscover East.
Torpedoing this project to wait for the dream development could scare off future investment, some area property owners warn, and leave yet more wig shops and nail salons to fill the gap. They reason that if the neighborhood has to swallow Walgreen's to get the accompanying retail and mixed-use, it should make the gulp. But the development is also the first real test of the Five Points design guidelines. Failure to hold the line could lead to an endless series of erosions, say those who want to hang tough.
"It sets a real precedent," says Lindsay Fairbanks, an East End resident.
East Nashville has what Walgreen's wants. The chain should have to work hard—not just pay high—to get it.
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