The nonprofit organizations behind the renovation of Shelby Park's ship-shaped building are moving forward with their plan to make it an arts-focused campus. But first, they’ll have to clean out the space, which has accumulated a substantial amount of trash and vandalism over the past 15 years.
Friends of Shelby Park and Bottoms and the Arts and Business Council of Greater Nashville, which are teaming up on the project, have received their first $1 million gift from the Nashville-based Dettwiller Foundation. They have about $14 million more to raise. It will take an estimated $18 million to convert the former U.S. Naval Reserve Training Center at 1515 Davidson Ave. to Shelby Commons.
With the recent gift, a February lease approval by Metro Council and $2.5 million from the Mayor John Cooper administration in the bank, a crew will begin gutting and securing the building, which was constructed in 1948 and has sat vacant since 2009. In 2011, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places for its architectural significance and military significance as a former U.S. Navy training center.
“In a city like Nashville that’s growing like wildfire, we really need to preserve some of the history,” says Rebecca Ratz, executive director of Friends of Shelby Park and Bottoms. "And this is a great opportunity to do that."
Ratz tells Scene sister publication the Nashville Post she would like to raise at least 60 percent of the funds by the end of the year and see the renovation completed in 2026. The building would offer a restaurant, event space, bike and kayak rental, office spaces for Friends of Shelby Park and the Arts and Business Council, and affordable artist studios for short-term and long-term rental. Centric Architecture will serve as architect, with Solomon Builders to be the general contractor for the project.
Raising money for such a project is a departure from the Arts and Business Council of Greater Nashville’s modus operandi. The organization was founded in 2006 and is best known for its legal service offerings and business education for artists.
Jill McMillan Palm, ABC executive director, said according to the organization’s annual creative economy survey, the percentage of artists who do not see themselves living and working in Nashville long-term is growing. She hopes adding accessible spaces for artists could help change that.
“We're really interested in how we create spaces that are collaborative and also accessible so people aren't having to spend membership fees to work at a place or buy a coffee,” Palm says.
She adds, “The community ownership and love for the building and the excitement for the space has been really energizing that this is a project that is so desperately needed that people are rallying behind.”
Ratz surmises that if there is a place like Shelby Commons along the Cumberland River Greenway, people may be more likely to take what would be a longer bike trek to work.
“I think to promote commuting, you want to make sure you have places of respite along the way, and this building will be able to provide that in the center of the greenway system,” she says.
The pair will be looking for big money to bring the vision to life, but want to emphasize the small community feel of such a space.
“A lot of new development — while it's open to the public, it's very privatized," says Ratz. "It's for private for-profit businesses. And with two nonprofits at the helm of this, it will always be a place that is for Nashvillians first."
This article was first published by our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
