Metro Looks for Partner to Guide Global Mall Site Redevelopment

Metro Nashville is looking for a contractor to “guide the redevelopment of the Global Mall and surrounding area,” according to a solicitation issued by the city.

The city is in the process of buying the South Nashville mall, in part so that it can lease some of it back to Vanderbilt University Medical Center as a health center. Other uses are also envisioned at the mostly vacant Antioch site.  

Currently, the Metro Planning Department is reviewing submissions from consulting firms, and a decision will not be made until the end of June, a spokesperson says. After the team is chosen, the study will begin in July of this year and the community will be invited to give input.   

District 32 Metro Councilmember Joy Styles held an in-person community meeting Wednesday to discuss the vision for the shopping center and the surrounding area. Planning staff in attendance said a previous community meeting in April produced a list of amenities desired by neighbors, including a sensory playground, mental health resources and an after-school program.  

“This is a community site, so everything that is on here needs to be accessible to everyone,” Styles said. “When we talk about site planning, that is a main criteria, how do we all work together well? We can see right now it doesn’t work when you’re only focusing on yourself.”  

Other proposals for the site include a charter high school and a performing arts center.  

“I am very excited about it," said Kenisha Foster, a parent attending the meeting. "I’m happy that it gives our youth the opportunity to develop in different ways. For a while, I had to travel to downtown Nashville to participate in a dance or theater program and hopefully this gives them an opportunity to do it here.”   

Planning staffer Katie Kemezis compared the Global Mall proposal to Crosstown Concourse, a mixed-use development in Memphis. The site was once a Sears, Roebuck and Co. distribution center and retail store before it was redeveloped in 2017. The property has a theater, retail stores, education space and wellness center, amongst other amenities.   

“Part of their strategy that was successful was they were able to get a lot of partners to come together as tenants in the building, so this is another dynamic, we're seeing shape up here at the Global Mall,” Kemezis said. “It's what you call an urban vertical village. The whole idea is to cram a bunch of different usages in it that complement each other and achieve that goal of a community hub.” 

This article originally ran via our sister publication, the Nashville Post.