The Path to Community Building

(Above: Mark Deutschmann stands outside of Village Real Estate’s first office.) Hitchhiking across the country. Juggling for peace in Nicaragua. Planning a new community in Madison. Becoming a change agent. Those were a few of the topics Don Hutcheson and I...

Solutions for Calming Extreme Heat in Our Cities

Nashville’s chicken isn’t the only thing bringing the heat. Our city is experiencing extremely hot temperatures that are lasting longer and coming more frequently. Severe heat is bad for our mental and physical health. It is also an equity issue. Extreme heat is...

A Shipwreck Led to a Life of Community Building

Whale tales and swimming with the sharks. You might say my career has been a fish story. Here’s my journey I shared with Nashville Entrepreneurs’ Organization of how a shipwreck led to a career in real estate and community building....

Let’s Put a Cap on I-40 to Reconnect North Nashville

The interstate highway system built in the 1950-60s connected U.S. cities, but it also cut through and destroyed many predominantly Black neighborhoods. Decades later, planners are looking at “caps” and “stitches” projects to reconnect the neighborhoods once destroyed...

Decades-Old Zoning Paved Way for Downtown Nashville’s Residential Growth

There are 14,000 people living in downtown Nashville today with a housing occupancy that is higher than our peer cities. We have certainly come a long way since the first residents began moving downtown in the early 2000s. Nashville Downtown Partnership’s annual study...