Metro Council will consider legislation Tuesday night that may seal the future of the former RiverChase Apartments site in East Nashville's McFerrin Park. After five deferrals, District 5 Councilmember Sean Parker has received a gambit from developer Cypress Real Estate Advisors, the Austin, Texas-based firm that bought the site in 2021 for $30.1 million.
Since it was filed in February, the rezoning bill has been deferred five times. Councilmembers are expected to take their cues from Parker, who represents the area.
The bill would rezone CREA’s 14.4-acre property near where Ellington Parkway meets Dickerson Road, allowing for mixed-use development and 1,150 housing units. A community benefits agreement signed between CREA and The Urban League of Middle Tennessee lays out additional terms, including conditions on 200 units at or below Nashville’s area median income. If today’s rezoning doesn’t pass the council, CREA has indicated it will move forward without community conditions and develop 245 market-rate units on the site. The site is adjacent to the East Bank, where an ongoing city overhaul has promised increasingly lucrative development potential.
Residents and community groups began organizing around a CBA early last year when it became apparent that RiverChase residents would be displaced by developers. RiverChase was one of the few areas near the urban core that honored Section 8 housing vouchers. Over the summer, negotiations between CREA and nonprofit groups Stand Up Nashville, Nashville Organized for Action and Hope and the Equity Alliance fell apart. The CBA between CREA and the Urban League represents a compromise with developers and a rebuke to fellow community organizations holding out for additional concessions. Stand Up Nashville has criticized the CBA, saying the "developer that wanted a press release, not an actual agreement that benefited the people of Nashville."
In February, CREA and SUN signed a memorandum of understanding outlining a potential CBA. At various points in the past nine months, Stand Up Nashville had sought 220 units at or below AMI, $2,200 in housing assistance for RiverChase residents, union labor guarantees, and a $250,000 penalty for breach of contract, among other conditions.
In exchange for signing the CBA, the Urban League will offer local support and assistance to the ongoing development. Cypress will pay the Urban League $65,000 a year for 10 years. The agreement was executed in July.
The Scene reached out to Parker and the Urban League of Middle Tennessee, but did not receive an immediate comment from either.
