According to a resolution filed Friday with the Metro Clerk, Mayor John Cooper is set to deliver the 59th annual State of the Metropolitan Government address at the Southeast Community Center in Antioch, amid the backdrop of the shuttered Global Mall.
The administration is in talks to acquire a portion of the Global Mall site and hopes to lease part of it to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Plans for the remainder of the site are unclear, though Metro Councilmember Joy Styles, who represents the district where the site is located, has alluded to community conversations about shared spaces for nonprofits and other uses potentially beneficial to the community.
Per a charter amendment adopted in 2006, the state of Metro address must be held annually in a public facility at a specially called meeting of the Metro Council. Last year, Cooper delivered the address at the Music City Center. This year will mark the first time since the adoption of the charter amendment that a mayor has chosen a site outside of the downtown core.
The location selection is no accident; Cooper is almost certain to use the occasion to tout his plan for the Global Mall acquisition and redevelopment, which is awaiting approval from the Metro Council before it can proceed.
