Nov. 21, 2024
In 2022, Nashville planners were well into studying how to turn hundreds of acres of a once-flooded industrial site into a new downtown neighborhood on the east bank of the Cumberland River when the Tennessee Titans called a time-out. Instead of updating their 25-year-old Nissan Stadium, the NFL team approached the city about building a new venue as part of the city's Imagine East Bank development plan. The Nissan Stadium footprint would then revert to the city and could be redeveloped into a park on the river's edge.
The city had been working since late 2020 to create a neighborhood across the river from downtown that would include affordable housing, a multimodal transportation system, cultural attractions, waterfront greenways, and park land — all within some 350 acres dotted with industrial buildings and parking lots.
The city felt it could score big when the Titans' new game plan arrived in March 2022. "The success of the city and team can go hand in hand," says Anna Grider, a senior urban planner and project director of the Imagine East Bank plan. "We have the opportunity to do something very unique, which for us is placing a brand-new stadium within our downtown and building a neighborhood around it."
Nashville's efforts are akin to the Carolina Hurricanes' $1 billion plan to create an entertainment district in Raleigh, North Carolina. The city and the NHL team hope to pair the renovated arena with new apartments, offices, retail shops, and a pedestrian plaza in a mixed-use district. Baseball teams in Boston, Baltimore, and Chicago have used this concept for years, but it's unique for football and hockey teams, as those larger stadiums are typically surrounded by acres of parking lots.
For urban planners navigating the complexities of building or updating professional sports venues, Nashville's playbook shows how thoughtful community engagement and strategic planning can achieve "the greater goal of creating a gift for the city," Grider says.
Reshaping Nashville's East Bank
In April 2023, the city council approved the Titans' plan to build a new 1.75-million-square-foot domed stadium that would seat about 60,000 fans. The city is now working to build the first 30 acres of the East Bank development plan through an agreement with the Fallon Company, a Boston-based real estate developer, while the Titans build a new stadium set to open in 2027.
The East Bank development plan's vision is to create new parks, affordable housing, a mobility hub, and potentially a new performing arts center. Plan courtesy of Imagine East Bank.
The East Bank plan came about in part in response to rezoning requests from separate applicants. Developers sent in plans for about $2.2 billion worth of projects that included everything from an updated truck stop to a mixed-income housing development, as well as the Titans' stadium renovation and Oracle's request to build a modern technology campus for 8,500 employees. This was a wake-up call for the city's planning department, Grider says.
"With those new developments coming, the pressure was there," she says. "We knew that the area floods. We wanted to be able to tackle that comprehensively. We have a history — as many cities do — of trying to get infrastructure and [then] claw things back after the entitlements are already there." Creating a vision for the East Bank enables the city to shape and guide new developments — and build resiliency — so it doesn't become a hodgepodge of one-off projects or create disconnected streets, she adds.
"That flood of 2010 was brutal and is still very fresh in people's memories," says Grider. "Having the opportunity to go from asphalt parking lots to park space and green space — and the ability to manage our stormwater much more effectively — is a great opportunity."
The park replacing the current football stadium will include a district-wide stormwater treatment area. In heavy rain, it will be a floodable landscape. When it's dry, it will be an accessible riverscape that will incorporate piers and overlooks.
The city also hopes to solve a transportation problem that makes the East Bank inaccessible: There is no public thoroughfare running north–south to connect with the many east–west streets. The city hopes to include bus transfers, bike storage, bike repair stations, and grade-separated protected bike lanes on East Bank streets. "This will really help Nashville create a more robust transit, biking, and pedestrian greenway network, particularly in the center of our city," Grider says.
Public input guides the project
Nashville's journey benefited from an "unprecedented level of public, community, and neighborhood engagement," notes city council member Antoinette Lee, who represents the 33rd District, an area where nearly half the residents are people of color. The city held three dozen public events attended by more than 1,000 people and online surveys that drew more than 600 responses. Planners asked a cross-section of residents to provide their thoughts about public space, authenticity to Nashville culture, circulation and mobility, river access, land use, and planning and design principles. The online survey validated the city's assumptions about how residents viewed the East Bank area, calling it an underused space that is inaccessible to the public.
The new riverfront East Bank Park will increase flood resiliency, manage stormwater, and support vital community recreational needs that over 1,600 Nashville citizens identified during 30 public meetings and online surveys, such as access to nature trails and event space along the Cumberland River. Rendering courtesy of Imagine East Bank.
One of the more unique methods to gauge public opinion was the use of "Metro Money," fake bills given to workshop attendees in $1, $5, $10, and $20 increments. Participants distributed their money to fund public amenities they wanted as part of the redevelopment. Nature trails, a marina, and event space topped the list based on the money spent.
The Metro Planning Commission adopted the final vision plan in October 2022. It requires a certain amount of affordable housing, open space, and day care. The agreement also prohibits short-term rentals.
"We are aiming to create a neighborhood that locals are comfortable with and proud of," Grider says.
A 21st-century civic hub
Janet Marie Smith, the executive vice president of planning and development for the Los Angeles Dodgers, wants planners to think about sports venues as today's version of the civic center. During a webcast for the American Planning Association's (APA) Urban Design and Preservation Division, Smith highlighted the renovations at Fenway Park in Boston that enabled the stadium and surrounding buildings to be used for concerts, conventions, public voting, and other community activities throughout the year.
Marcel C. Acosta, the executive director of the National Capital Planning Commission and chair of APA's Urban Design and Preservation Division, agrees that opportunities abound for planners to think "beyond the boundaries" of the building when evaluating stadium plans. "Don't just look inside the stadium but look outside of it and look for ways to engage the public on a more day-to-day basis," he says.
In Nashville, the overall goal is to reclaim the banks of the Cumberland River in the heart of downtown and turn it into a thriving, accessible, and diverse neighborhood for all residents to enjoy that reflects Nashville's culture. By incorporating a new football stadium into a plan that advances equity and resiliency, the city aims to create an affordable, beautiful, and cohesive neighborhood along the river for people to live, work, and play.
"So that when you come to the East Bank in 10 years or 20 years, you won't know which came first," says Grider of the stadium and its surroundings. "It all seamlessly fits together."
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