The Metro Council Tuesday night voted to advance a specific plan rezoning request related to a high-profile development proposed for the Belle Meade Plaza shopping center.
The vote on second reading came after about three hours of debate and citizen feedback, with the project having previously spurred significant community opinion — both positive and negative. Prior to the vote, a motion to defer voting on the rezoning bill failed by a 23-9 count.
The vote follows the Metro Planning Commission having voted unanimously (8-0) in late March to approve the rezoning. With the commission having approved, a simple majority vote of approval from council was needed. The body will need to finalize approval on third reading.
Nashville-based Adventurous Journeys (AJ) Capital Partners plans to acquire the property, which includes a retail and office building hugging the White Bridge Road viaduct and recognized as the home of Agave’s Mexican Restaurant and Belle Meade Premium Cigars, among other businesses and the Kroger structure. The address is 4500 Harding Pike. (For more on the Belle Meade Plaza saga, and Belle Meade itself, read Scene staffer Eli Motycka's March 9 cover story.)
The future of Belle Meade Plaza rankles a city that cares about the past
The property sits within Metro Councilmember Kathleen Murphy’s District 24, with Murphy having previously noted the project proposal offers numerous favorable elements. Murphy is sponsoring the rezoning bill.
Tuesday night's meeting drew both proponents and opponents of the plan. Many of the people who have concerns about the future project live in Belle Meade, with the property to be reinvented not located within that satellite city.
AJ Capital officials declined to comment after the vote.
As Scene sister publication the Nashville Post recently reported, and according to a multi-page Metro Planning Department document, the heights of all the planned buildings have been reduced. In addition, a Nashville Department of Transportation study shows multiple findings that AJ Capital said it plans to incorporate. These include the widening of a portion of Harding Pike and the alteration of signal light placements to improve traffic flow.
The document shows maximum building heights of approximately 100 feet, 130 feet, 140 feet and 150 feet. Previously as envisioned, the buildings could have stood of 210 feet (12 stories), 140 feet (11 stories), 160 feet (14 stories) and 170 feet (15 stories).
Each building planned for the site would stand shorter than the nearby 1 Belle Meade Place, which rises more than 150 feet and sits at 4400 Harding Pike.
The original concept considered 60,000 square feet of retail space, with the proposal now at 80,000 square feet. The number of parking spaces, originally about 680, was upped to 950 and then reduced to 920. One of the proposed buildings will include 78 hotel rooms (down from 120) and 388 residential units (down from 500).
As previously reported, extensive landscaping and full incorporation of Richland Creek as a water feature and river walk are planned. The plan will involve a partial rerouting and restoration of the creek, with flood mitigation to be undertaken. A platform rising above Richland Creek will be part of the effort. About 60 percent of the site's 10.5 acres will be devoted to green and open space.
Opened in 1961, the two-level modernist Belle Meade Plaza sits on roughly 10.57 acres. The building includes about 205,500 square feet and was one of Nashville’s first mixed-use buildings (retail on level one and office on floor two) oriented in a suburban manner, with the structure separated from the street by surface parking.
Nashville’s May family owns the property, seemingly having paid $14.5 million for it in January 1997, according to Metro records. The property also includes the Kroger structure, with the grocery business to eventually relocate to the former Belle Meade Theater building, the space last occupied by a Harris Teeter.
Sources say the property could command a minimum of $80 million. Tenants include Wells Fargo Bank, Ninki, Pho Ann, CVS, Starbucks, Office Depot and Katy’s Hallmark Shop.
See additional images and read more here.
This article first ran via our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
