Aerial Development Group vs. East Nashville: The Push to Rebrand, Develop, and The Push Against

For the last two weeks, Aerial Development Group has been the subject of heated debate among folks who aren’t in the real estate business and who aren’t necessarily in the market for a place to live — though some are concerned that they might soon be, as property values continue to skyrocket in convenient, attractive areas like East Nashville (not to mention the rest of Davidson County).

Among its portfolio of projects sprinkled across Metro, Aerial has made considerable investments in a neighborhood called Shelby Hills, a riverside pocket of East Nashville bordered on the east by Shelby Park and on the west by the James A. Cayce Homes (as marked on the Planning Department's 2012 map of self-defined Nashville neighborhoods). These projects involve new construction that resulted in not-so-subtle changes; compare a stretch of Electric Ave. with several Aerial properties as photographed by Google in October 2012 and June 2015.

On Oct. 29, Aerial published a promotional video for its Shelby Hills properties (embedding has been disabled) that sparked the tinder of East Side residents' unease over the presence of developers all across their area.

The video's portrayal of the neighborhood is, while not exclusively white, exceedingly vanilla. Mostly clean-cut, well-to-do ladies and gents enjoy a relaxing day that concludes with a dinner party on a rooftop patio. Presenting your product to appeal to your target market may be the backbone of advertising, but representing the area and all of its residents in a way that feels like a brochure for a lifestyle brand rubbed some locals the wrong way, and they vented across the web. 

Parody videos were made, featuring the video in its entirety set to Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" and Rihanna's "Bitch Better Have My Money." Aerial's attorneys issued cease and desist letters, and the creators complied by removing the videos; the substantial amount of the original video used would have made the parodies difficult to defend under the Fair Use provisions of copyright law, anyway.

Critical comments were made on social media outlets, some of which were pointed, polite and nuanced — asking the company to address concerns about how development affects low-income families — others were less so.

Aerial responded to some comments, but scrubbed most. The company disabled comments on its YouTube channel, blocked users from its Facebook profile and eventually made its Instagram account private, though not before the post at right was screencapped.

Giving Aerial the benefit of the doubt, this is a fumbled attempt to be on-brand while addressing potential clients who value security and exclusivity. At the very least, the language regarding the former tenants is reductive and disparaging, and somewhat at odds with their philanthropic mission, which involves using the profits from home sales to sponsor Kenyan orphans.

Coupled with the company's success, that mission is part of why the Council on Workforce Innovation named Aerial CEO Britnie Turner its Woman to Watch in 2014, citing the then-25-year-old as "a woman in the workplace under the age of 35 making significant contributions to professionally [sic] and in the community" and "a role model for other young female leaders."

Aerial's annual revenue last year exceeded $10 million, qualifying Turner to attend a week-long retreat on Richard Branson's private island, about which she spoke to the Nashville Business Journal earlier this year. That's a revenue mark that Turner and Aerial have built up to over the last six years through a variety of renovation, redevelopment and infill projects across Nashville, including Salemtown Cottages, the first major construction project to break ground in the area after plans for nearby First Tennessee Park were announced. 

Salemtown Cottages was developed in a partnership between three entities. Aerial's relationship with HR Properties and Michael Kenner's MiKen (currently active on a mixed-use development and an apartment complex fabricated from shipping containers in The Nations) dissolved, and ultimately turned into a brief legal battle at the end of last year. MiKen filed a $2.27 million suit related to a profit-sharing agreement they claimed was unfulfilled, and Aerial countersued for $90,000, alleging that MiKen sold properties the two companies had agreed to develop together. 

All of which is to say that Turner and her Aerial team have considerable resources and skills, as well as the will to use them — a great thing if you're an investor or a client, maybe less so if you find yourself at cross purposes with them. 

Shelby Hills is just one fire in which Aerial currently has an iron; other projects include two developments in Wedgewood-Houston (1, 2), recent multi-family acquisitions in Knoxville and Savannah, Ga. — and closest to home for Eastsiders, they've broken ground on a 62-home facility called East Greenway Park at the intersection of Eastland and Rosebank.

So reads the latest chapter in an ongoing story about the changing landscape of Music City under the influence of "It." You may remember our cover story on the teardown phenomenon, written by Bobby Allyn; it's worth noting that he acknowledged the role his presence in Edgehill played in the demolition of his own apartment.

Change is inevitable, but the recent kerfuffle shows larger segments of the public making their voices heard. Following a June directive from the Metro Council, the Metro Planning Department is drafting a policy related to inclusionary zoning to secure more affordable housing; the final policy would include input from a 50-citizen committee, though any such policy might face opposition at the state level. William Williams has more at our sister publication, The Nashville Post.