In April, the Metro Council approved $46 million at the request of Mayor John Cooper for the purchase and planning of the former Global Mall site in Antioch.
Legislators were skeptical about the rushed timeline and wary that the city would be left with a stranded asset. Cooper was bullish, even hosting his State of Metro address at the site despite concerns about space and logistics. The council passed the deal partly on the confidence of a letter of intent between the city and Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the site’s prospective anchor tenant, executed in March. Eight months later, the mayor and VUMC are struggling to close a deal.
“Mayor Cooper is negotiating the best deal for residents, and will not concede on core principles for the sake of speed,” says TJ Ducklo, the mayor’s communications adviser, in a written statement to the Scene. “The Mayor continues to believe transforming a dead shopping mall into a hub for world-class health care, new greenspace, dedicated space for the arts, and resources for non-profits and entrepreneurs will be a gamechanger for the Southeast Nashville community.”
Buildout terms, parking lot allocations and rent have emerged as sticking points for both sides, according to sources familiar with negotiations. After the council approved initial general obligation debt of $20 million for the mall and $22 million for an adjacent office building, the mayor has sought to shift as many remaining expenses onto VUMC as possible.
Cooper also sits at the helm of pending negotiations with Speedway Motorsports Inc. (owner-operator of the Bristol Motor Speedway) about NASCAR at the Fairgrounds that were expected to produce an agreement by last January. Since the summer, sources on both sides have told the Scene that a deal is around the corner.
In the meantime, the mayor’s highest-profile negotiations have resulted in a recently released terms sheet that indicates Cooper’s plan to pursue a new $2.1 billion stadium for the Titans. The terms sheet, a nonbinding sketch of mutually satisfactory potential lease terms between the city and the team, will be discussed by the Metro Council on Nov. 1.
