Wary neighbors have already prepared a multipronged defense against the proposed development of 746 Benton Ave., a stately brick mansion a block from Eighth Avenue, into a members-only social club. Metro Councilmember Terry Vo will convene the parties involved on Tuesday evening to discuss the proposal, which includes rezoning the site from residential to commercial.
In an exhaustive Substack post circulated Saturday, the Woodland-in-Waverly neighborhood board spun readers against the proposal from a variety of angles.Â
“One commercial zoning opens the door to additional commercial zoning within our neighborhood and will change the character of our neighborhood,” reads the post, in part.
The post compares the proposed business to Soho House, a members-only club in nearby Wedgewood-Houston. Vo has not taken a position on the proposed rezoning, according to the group. She did not immediately respond to the Scene’s request for comment.
There is little online information about the proposed club besides a website meant to drive support to this week's meeting.
Angry flyers and a tense community meeting kick off rezone fight for a new 16-story tower
In July, the same neighborhood board unsuccessfully contested a 16-story tower slated for 2209 and 2211 Eighth Ave.
Richard Demonbreun, a descendant of the French Canadian fur trader credited as Nashville’s first European settler, previously operated 746 Benton Ave. as the Timothy Demonbreun House Bed and Breakfast. For the past few years, the property was a private residence.
Twelve years ago, George Gruhn relocated his guitar business to the area from Lower Broadway. Downtown Nashville’s constant, growing cacophony blaring through open honky-tonk windows had made business untenable; clients stumbled in, he says, unserious about the world-class selection of instruments at his store. He chose Woodland-in-Waverly in part because of the quiet residential district nearby.
Weeks ago, the Benton House developers tried to secure a deal with Gruhn to use the store’s ample parking after business hours.Â
“They came to us like they had everything in order and this was going to happen no matter what,” Gruhn tells the Scene Tuesday afternoon. “They reported that we had agreed to it, but we didn’t agree to anything, and that did rub us the wrong way. The only reason we would be interested in renting our parking is if neighbors were having trouble with all these people parking on the street in front of their house. If we were doing a service to the neighborhood, we would consider it. We just want to be good neighbors."
