CMA concertgoers coming from the east must first cross the asphalt wasteland of the East Bank this weekend, a patchwork of parking lots and industrial sites dwarfed by Nissan Stadium, which was deemed obsolete by government officials in April.
On most hot weekends in Nashville, tourists can be seen stopping for water and huddling in the sparse shade of the city’s juvenile detention center. Amid the area’s centrally planned real estate boom, former warehouses and garages are cordoned off at the street with chain-link fences designating active construction sites. Such a tourism dystopia so close to Broadway has pained tourism interests and real estate developers, and for years, Mayor John Cooper has tried to solve the area’s jigsaw — a massive redevelopment project that will help fund the new Titans stadium and erect a physical legacy for Cooper.
Six weeks after approving a city agreement for the Titans' new $2.2 billion domed stadium, of which Metro will chip in $760 million, Nashville plans to nearly match its Titans subsidy with $753 million for East Bank infrastructure upgrades. These costs will prepare the ground for mixed-use high rises, glassy office buildings and new bars and restaurants, the social and commercial context for the new stadium’s future neighborhood. Unlike the stadium debt — which will be backed by earmarked tax revenue — the vast majority of the $753 million, like most capital improvements, will come directly from the city’s general fund.
Of that total, the city plans to secure a combined $41.5 million from state and federal sources. The budget cites another $100 million as “miscellaneous funds.” According to Planning Department spokesperson Richel Albright, the city will rely on public-private partnerships to raise the neighborhood.
“We are working through the process of selecting a Master Developer to help oversee the development of a portion of the Metro-owned land, as well as bringing on a Program Manager and a Civil Engineering Firm,” Albright tells the Scene in a written statement. “Currently a Metro team that comprises Planning, NDOT, and Water staff is leading much of the preparation and work going on today. This team may grow in the future as the project moves forward, in addition to the consultants previously mentioned (Master Developer, Program Manager, Civil Engineer).”
A railway bridge on South First Street facing Nissan Stadium
Albright cites the Imagine East Bank plan, which was unanimously approved by the Planning Commission in October, as developers’ guiding document. Cooper’s plan proposes $500 million for “East Bank Infrastructure — Design and Development,” which will include new utilities, utility relocation, environmental remediation, a transit hub, water and sewer infrastructure, and parking, according to budget documents. Additional projects include $138.8 million for a redesigned street grid, $6 million for parks, $4 million to plan affordable housing, $15.1 million for greenways, and $5 million for infrastructure planning. Another $84.9 million will go toward “Neighborhood Mobility Investments” related to the East Bank. The council will consider the 2024 CIB for final passage at its June 20 meetings. Once passed, projects are eligible to be funded by a Capital Spending Plan issued by the mayor’s office.
Vice Mayor Jim Shulman bumped the CIB to the top of the docket at the June 6 Metro Council meeting to get it out of the way before opening the public hearing on the operating budget. The projects moved to the council with unanimous recommendations from both subcommittees — Budget & Finance and Planning & Zoning. During the CIB’s brief public hearing, speakers advocated for accessibility-minded infrastructure and for the conservation of Nashville’s natural space, specifically the Highland Rim Forest, the ecological designation for the city’s linked tree canopy that functions as a massive regional carbon sink. In contrast to the Titans stadium public hearing, which featured an opposition with so much fervor that a member of the public was thrown out of the chamber, $753 million in East Bank spending will move to its third reading (and likely passage) without much scrutiny from citizens. Council will debate the plan at a June 13 special-called meeting.
“This is our wish list of items that go in a big binder of things that we could eventually do in a Capital Spending Plan,” Shulman explained to the room.
Sewer, water, parks, rearranged streets and multimodal transportation networks will help realize the mayor’s vision for a new stadium district surrounding the planned arena that, supporters say, will help drive commerce and tourism in the area. Opponents criticize the stadium as a handout to a billion-dollar franchise that provides limited benefits to residents, who instead call for investment in transportation, education and housing. Based on glossy renderings released by the city’s Planning Department, opponents malign the new neighborhood as a tourism haven that would resemble the Gulch or Capitol View. The new numbers come as Cooper, who leaves office in two months, fights the perception that the city has committed hundreds of millions of dollars to unnecessary, unpopular and incomplete projects across the city. His main selling point for the project has been how a more efficient street grid will help reduce travel times between other neighborhoods.
