Civil engineer Ben York will head the East Bank Development Authority as its first chief executive officer. Anna Grider, who previously worked on the city’s East Bank designs within the Metro Planning Department, will join York as chief operating officer. The two will oversee the city’s ongoing efforts to develop a commercial and residential district around the new, $2.1 billion domed stadium built for the Tennessee Titans.
A procedural vote on the East Bank Development Authority turns into Republicans’ punching bag
“ Both Ben and Anna have been working on the East Bank for years now,” O’Connell told reporters Friday morning. “After a rigorous search process, we concluded we already had, within Metro Nashville, the two best people for this important set of jobs.”
State lawmakers set up the East Bank Development Authority last year to aid the city’s real estate ambitions that began under former Mayor John Cooper. The bill was briefly threatened by Republicans who seemingly saw the otherwise mundane legislation as a chance to spite Nashville lawmakers. It ultimately passed, endowing the semi-autonomous body with certain legal rights — like the ability to borrow money and issue bonds — that facilitate the complicated development process.
York joined Metro Public Works in 2011 as an engineer. He has remained with the department, rebranded as the Nashville Department of Transportation in 2021, where he oversees the implementation of various building and infrastructure projects. He shifted to NDOT’s East Bank team in 2022, according to York’s LinkedIn profile.
City, Fallon Company enlist NYC-based firm to create outdoor spaces for future development
Anna Grider, a city planner, has worked on the city’s East Bank vision since its inception under Cooper. Within the Metro Planning Department, Grider oversaw the city’s Imagine East Bank campaign, a multiyear rollout of plans, drafts and public meetings that preceded groundbreaking on the new Titans stadium.
Since O’Connell took office, chief development officer (and former Metro councilmember) Bob Mendes has been the mayor’s primary representative on East Bank matters. In 2023, the city contracted Boston-based developers the Fallon Company to build out its 30-acre site footprint. Yesterday, Fallon announced that a firm in New York would design the site’s public spaces, referred to in official documentation as the “East Bank Public Realm Framework.”
