ZOOLUMINATION
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MARK GREEN
JANUARY 12, 2023 | VOLUME 35 | NUMBER 2
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Republicans propose cutting Metro Council in half BY STEPHEN ELLIOTT
PHOTO COURTESY OF METRO NASHVILLE
Belle Meade Kroger site eyed for project BY WILLIAM WILLIAMS
A multi-building mixed-use project is being eyed for Belle Meade Plaza Shopping Center and its accompanying Kroger. According to a document submitted to the Metro Planning Department, the future development would include nine buildings, ranging in height from one story to 15 floors. The buildings would offer retail, residential and hotel space. Nashville-based Adventurous Journeys (AJ) Capital Partners seeks 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 document references up to 120 for-purchase residential condominiums and up to 380 for-rent apartments. The project also could offer a mixed-use building with 120 hotel rooms, with the multiple buildings featuring about 75,000 square feet
collectively of retail. According to the document, three buildings will front Harding Pike, with four buildings ranging from 11 to 13 floors and two buildings (neither more than two stories) set back from the street. The document suggests minimal surface parking will be included and that all garage parking will be underground — thus maximizing the urban form and function of the future development. In addition, the images reference extensive landscaping and full incorporation of Richland Creek as a water feature and river walk. The plan will involve a partial rerouting and restoriation of the creek, with flood mitigation to be undertaken. A platform rising above Richland Creek will be part of the effort. About 50 percent of the site’s 10.5 acres will be devoted to green space. According to the document, AJ Capital (which also offers an office in Chicago) will
ask the Metro Planning Commission to rezone the property to specific plan (which will also require Metro Council approval). A Feb. 9 planning commission meeting is scheduled. Of note, AJ Capital will seek LEED ND certification and Well Building Institute certification for the project, highlighting the environmentally friendly component the company wants to incorporate. If those certifications are landed, the project would represent one of only a handful of such in the state. AJ Capital officials declined to comment. Opened in 1961, the two-level modernist building offers a main address of 4544 Harding Pike and 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. >> PAGE 2
Tennessee Republican leaders are seeking to cut the size of the Metro Council in half in a move seen as retribution for Nashville’s rejection of a push to host the 2024 Republican National Convention in the city. House Majority Leader William Lamberth and Senate Finance Committee Chair Bo Watson, both Republicans, filed the so-called Small Government Efficiency Act on Monday. It would cap the size of metropolitan and municipal legislative bodies in Tennessee at 20 members. Though Nashville is not mentioned in the announcement, the Metro Council is the only such body in the state larger than the new maximum. The bill as written does not prescribe how the city would reduce the size of the council, currently made up of 35 district representatives and five at-large representatives. “When government grows beyond a certain size, it hinders economic growth, taxes are inevitably raised and the standard of living for the average citizen is diminished,” Lamberth said. “Government functions best closer to the people. This legislation will strengthen local democracy and competency by improving the ability of local elected leaders to effectively represent their communities.” Some people around Metro have pushed for a smaller council before, and in 2015 Nashville voters rejected a proposal to shrink the body. A smaller council, some argue, could result in a more professionalized body made up of members with bigger-picture instincts. Fewer councilmembers would also mean, despite Lamberth’s claim about government functioning “best closer to the people,” that each councilmember would represent more constituents. Vice Mayor Jim Shulman, who runs Metro Council meetings, is opposed to >> PAGE 4 the reduction and is seeking
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