Downtown Revitalization: Nashville

[Metro Jacksonville]

Downtown Revitalization: Nashville



From consolidation and sprawl to urban population density and being NFL youngsters, Nashville and Jacksonville have many things in common.  However, figuring out how to stimulate and enhance a vibrant downtown area isn't one of them.


Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2012-oct-downtown-revitalization-nashville

[JaxByDefault]

...and this didn't even cover the awesome in-town neighborhoods of 8th Street, 12 South, Hillsboro Village, Belmont, Sylvan Park, and East Nashville.

Nashville did a lot while I lived there between 2000-2003. It's done even more (almost all of the new construction in these photos) since. Their urban planning and vision far exceeds what's going on here in JAX, and trust me when I say they fight the same suburbs that don't care about downtown mentality.

We were looking at buying a historic house at the top of the Gulch before we left. Wish we had.

Here are some things from a resident's perspective that Nashville did right:

1.) They connected the stadium to downtown (Shelby St. Bridge project) and provided discounted game day parking on the downtown side of the bridge to get people to walk through The District before and after the game. Now, a pre-game drink or meal and the walk across the bridge is many fans' gameday tradition.

2.) They invested in the arts. The Shimmerhorn is sublime and the Frist Center is an excellent reuse of the old post office. They have a performing arts center and new opera house (the Liff Center) as well.

3.) They know how to use urban park space. The riverside used to be dead space, but now features walkways and amphitheater seating. The park near the city and court buildings has a fountain and benches.

4). There is always a free place to park nights or weekends.

5.)They promoted a new Nashville brand along with their existing rep, letting people know they offered more than country music. However, they knew they couldn't promote their way out of downtown issues -- so they fixed them.

6.) It made amends with Vanderbilt. Town wasn't always friendly to Vandy, and Vandy was isolationist in return. The thaw brought students downtown for work and play and led the city to make smarter planning decisions about the West End side of campus (the Hillsboro village side is an area much like Riverside.) The city has been better about working with Belmont University nearby as the school has undergone a significant refocus and expansion in the past decade.

7.) They didn't tear down as much of the historic fabric in the urban neighborhoods. That said, the area between Vandy and Downtown was haphazard anything-goes infill a la La Villa. The urban neighborhoods, in turn, seem to have attracted a population of business owners and residents who worked well together. (I remember not one single fight about any business opening in 12 South while we were there.)

8.) They knew how to promote business development -- and got help from the state luring industry to both downtown and the burbs. It also invested in growing as a creative class city, understanding that the big label music industry could help attract and would best be served by local law firms, talent agencies, indie labels,  promotions companies, production companies, and designers--the presence of which would attract more artists in diverse fields.

There's a lot more, but I can honestly say that Nashville's downtown in the 1980s-early 1990s had less going on than Jacksonville's
downtown today. When we left, it looked like Nashville's downtown may have been heading for another downturn -- then it all just reversed and boomed.

Yes, Nashville spent a lot of money in its urban core. However, it made wise investments that increased both tourism and the quality life for residents. It sports a similar cost of living to JAX (we remember it being slightly lower except for housing) but offers better salaries for young professionals.

Like JAX, it has an abundance of suburban sprawl. Unlike JAX, I very rarely had a reason to deal with it unless going to the airport.

Nashville does not, however, have Florida beaches and nearly year-round good weather (except for June-August). Those are two assets that any city would kill for and that make it inexcusable for JAX to be so underwhelming.

[JaxByDefault]

I also think this sends a clear message about historic preservation goals in Nashville:



"The offices of the Metropolitan Historical Commission and Metropolitan Historic Zoning Commission are located at Sunnyside in Sevier Park, 3000 Granny White Pike."

Sevier Park was always one of my favorites, but it was formerly in desperate need of work. The house was mothballed and unoccupied for two decades. Now, anyone going to ask for a tear down, renovation, or HD development permit heads to Sunnyside.

[vicupstate]

The pictures were taken during my vist there last August.  It was my first time there and the Nashville urban core and surrounding environs are clearly doing very well. 

  Nashville has done a top notch job in terms of connectivity and clustering.  'The District' is right in the heart of DT and forms an L shape.  Broadway is the longer, vertical part of the 'L'. In the middle section of Broadway begins a linear multiple block area. It contains the Arena, old convention center, new convention center, Country Music Hall of Fame/Walk of Fame, and the Performing Arts Center.  Everything I just listed is immediately adjacent to the others.   You can walk to ALL of those, in no time at all.  There are hotels right in that mix too, plus two more under construction.   The Music City Center is both massive and impressive.   No picture i took of it, could really capture the size or uniqueness of the architecture.  It's hard to see in the picture but a street runs under it in the middle.   To put some perspective on it, the center will cost $600 million.

Metered parking in Nashville seemed to be everywhere in the DT core.  Unlike Jax it is not cheap (15 minutes is 25 cent) and there is only one pricing level (unlike Jax with silver, green and red meters all with different rates).  Even the Gulch, which is newly redeveloped and somewhat removed from true core had meters and the same pricing. Obviously it is not preventing progress.   I did notice that meters extended to the very farthest reaches of DT.  Sort of like if Jax put meters in 5 points and San Marco.   

The Homeless issue that seems to cause Jax so much heartburn, is just as prevalent in Nashville.  It seemed any corner of DT and even beyond had homeless men around.  I noted in particular that a small pocket park next to the library was serving as homeless central (sound familiar).  Yet, just a block away on the same street was Morton's Steakhouse and a historic boutique hotel (shown in the picture of two mid-rise Deco buildings), and there was no noticeable change in vitality in that immediate area.

Nashville does not mind a little grit either.  Oklahoma City is very clean and polished, but Nashville is much grittier. It has a funky, gritty,eclectic, laid-back atmosphere whereas OKC is more clean, business-oriented and conservative.  Both 'personalities' are obviously successful in achieving a great core, but they are clearly different.

[vicupstate]

BTW, if you make a trip to Nashville, I highly recommend visiting the Farmer's market.  In addition to the expected produce and such, there is a food court of prepared food choices.  I hestitate to say "Food Court", because that gives a shopping mall image.  It is not like that at all.  There are lots of really unique, fresh, yet quite reasonable options.  It also is one of the very few places you can park and not have to deal with parking meters.

Leave some time for the Bicentennial Mall park, which is right next to it (more good clustering on Nashville's part).  It showcases the state's history in a really cool way.   

[Ocklawaha]

Ah, the magic of rails...

Nashville's mass transit ridership soars   
   

by Duane W. Gang on 7/17/2012

Bus and train ridership in the region has hit an all-time high, the Nashville Metropolitan Transit Authority announced Monday.

The agency reported that combined ridership on MTA routes -- and those operated by the Regional Transportation Authority of Middle Tennessee, including the Music City Star train service -- surpassed 10 million passenger trips in fiscal 2011-12.

In a news release, the MTA said topping the 10 million-trip mark was a first.

"This is a tremendous accomplishment not only for the Nashville MTA but also for the city of Nashville," MTA Board Chairman Thomas O'Connell said in a statement. "Public transportation offers a choice that ensures freedom of mobility. We're committed to making it the smart, comfortable, convenient choice for more people."

In the fiscal year ending June 30, the MTA had 9.6 million passenger trips; the RTA had 562,943 trips. Passenger trips do not mean individual riders, as a person could make more than one trip a day.

The MTA's 2012 ridership figures represent a 14 percent increase from fiscal 2011 and a 42 percent increase since 2003, according to agency figures.

The MTA is looking to expand. It has new routes planned for Nashville this year. And officials are gathering public input on the proposed East-West Connector, a 7.5-mile bus rapid transit route that would run from Five Points in East Nashville to the White Bridge Road area of West Nashville.

SOURCE: http://www.healthynashville.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=20254

[tufsu1]

BTW, if you make a trip to Nashville, I highly recommend visiting the Farmer's market.  In addition to the expected produce and such, there is a food court of prepared food choices.  I hestitate to say "Food Court", because that gives a shopping mall image.  It is not like that at all.  There are lots of really unique, fresh, yet quite reasonable options.  It also is one of the very few places you can park and not have to deal with parking meters.

Lakelander and I met with some folks from the Jax. Farmers Market today....their expansion plans include something similar.

[thelakelander]

...and this didn't even cover the awesome in-town neighborhoods of 8th Street, 12 South, Hillsboro Village, Belmont, Sylvan Park, and East Nashville.

After going through Vicupstate's images, I decided it was best to split the Nashville photos into separate articles.  One focusing on downtown and the other on urban neighborhoods.

[simms3]

I love Nashville and think it's great.  I have plenty of pictures I could share as well and will try and get around to doing so.  I have the pleasure of working on a large mixed-use tower there (hint it's on the cover of the article).  I like Nashville more than Charlotte.

[reednavy]

Just FYI, the picture for the discription of Union Station is actually the US Customs House. Union Station is 3 blocks further west on Broadway. Take it from a local that now lives back in Nashville, we got the urban redevelopment game on lock. ;-)

[fieldafm]

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20121026/NEWS01/310260114/Mass-transit-needed-compete-Mayor-Dean-says?nclick_check=1

Mass transit needed to compete, Mayor Dean says
Nashville will put itself at an economic disadvantage in the years ahead if it doesn’t invest in mass transit, Mayor Karl Dean told a group of elected officials from across Middle Tennessee on Thursday.

“We have a decision to make: Do we come together now and find real mass transit solutions or do we do nothing?” Dean said.

“If we do nothing, if we choose not to move forward with advancing mass transit in Nashville, we will be consciously choosing to put ourselves at an economic disadvantage to our peer cities,” he said.

Dean made his comments on the first day of a two-day transit conference hosted by the Nashville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, which prioritizes federal transportation funding for the region.

Dean touted the proposed East-West Connector, a 71/2-mile bus rapid transit route that would run from East Nashville to West Nashville.

“The East-West Connector is a game changer, and I think it will transform the way people travel around our city and our region,” Dean said. “It will serve as a backbone of our regional mass-transit efforts.”

Bus rapid transit operates much like a streetcar or light rail system, with buses traveling in dedicated lanes and riders boarding at permanent stations.

The East-West Connector, along with related work such as streetscaping, could cost as much as $175 million. The city is expected to apply for federal money, but a local funding source has not yet been publicly identified.

To that end, Thursday’s conference included a discussion on the ways communities can pay for transportation projects.

It included federal funding options and views from transit advocates in St. Louis and Atlanta, cities that had success and failure, respectively, in the past two years on ballot measures increasing the local sales tax to pay for transportation improvements.

In July, Atlanta-area voters rejected a 1-cent sales tax that would have generated more than $6 billion for transportation projects. Dave Williams, vice president for transportation at the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, said backers ran into a strong anti-tax electorate. Plus, the issue was complex and supporters didn’t do enough to link transit to job creation, he said.

“If you are going to move forward (with a ballot measure), make it simple,” he said. “Make it a one-breath explanation.”

St. Louis County voters in 2010 backed a half-cent sales tax increase to help fund that region’s transit agency. The win came two years after voters rejected a similar measure.

Thomas Shrout Jr., executive director of the Greater St. Louis Transit Alliance, said a key to the win was a strong education campaign. He said backers pitched the advantage of transit, not the transit agency, which had a negative view among residents.

[thelakelander]

$175 million for 7.5 miles of BRT?  Did I read that right?  $23.3 million a mile?  They must be planning a dedicated busway system instead of the mixed traffic system proposed here.  Nevertheless, their mayor is right.  They could really use some mass transit connectivity in their urban core.

[fieldafm]

That's about the cost ($25mm/mile) of LA's Orange Line BRT which has probably one of the biggest dedicated right of ways of all BRT systems across the country. 

[thelakelander]

Yes, that's a dedicated busway.  They typically cost just as much as rail because you have to construct a complete new roadway for them. 



^This (subtract the bike trails) is basically what JTA wanted to build along the CSX (in Riverside) and FEC (south of San Marco) corridors for our BRT project a few years back.

[ariesjow]

Thanks for sharing the Nashville photos and write up! Would you guys mind if I shared a link with the Nashville posters on Urban Planet? That seems to be where the highest concentration of Nashville urban enthusiasts post.

Unfortunately, I have yet to visit Jacksonville and most of the big FL cities.  So I cannot really say what's working in Nashville that would work well for Jacksonville and vice versa. I will say that this city has evolved drastically in the last decade with great leadership. I was away for eight years, but I am happy I decided to move back to Nashville from metro Detroit dragging my partner with me. He was scared of the move initially, but I think he's still surprised at how much better our quality of life has been here. The "boom" the Nashville metro is currently experiencing is really unlike anything any city in Tennessee has ever witnessed.

I can't stress enough how recent the downtown Nashville improvements have been particularly the residential which was close to non-existent over a decade ago. I still think most locals spend more "play time" in areas like Midtown, 12South , East Nashville, Germantown, Green Hills, etc. than downtown. But years of being under-built has sort of placed Nashville in an interesting position where we seemingly can't build residential units fast enough in the popular urban areas now. I think Nashville has been sort of quietly infilling for a while as cities like Austin and Charlotte have been getting a great deal of attention from their "booms." People seem to be just now starting to see Nashville as something other than merely the epicenter of country music.

Again, I really appreciate you guys sharing these and I look forward to seeing the photos of the other 'hoods outside of downtown.

- James

$175 million for 7.5 miles of BRT?  Did I read that right?  $23.3 million a mile?  They must be planning a dedicated busway system instead of the mixed traffic system proposed here.  Nevertheless, their mayor is right.  They could really use some mass transit connectivity in their urban core.

The East-West Connector will have a dedicated lane all the way through from Five Points in East Nashville to White Bridge Pike in West Nashville. They will take out the center turn lane and street parking along West End Avenue. I think many of the Nashville enthusiasts wanted light rail like Charlotte, but Mayor Dean really expended most of his energy on the Music City Center and other big projects. Mayor Dean has been very committed to making Nashville competitive so I have faith that he'll do all he can to make sure the Connector is a top notch BRT line.