In 2018, when OMR was published, the surge of development in Wedgewood Houston was just beginning. Core Development was working on two developments in what had been an underutilized industrial zone at Merritt and Martin. The bigger developers had not yet entered the scene. Here is an excerpt from One-Mile Radius, to set some context. A lot has happened in a few short years.
“As the final Werthan Mills Lofts were sold, Core Development was looking for the next big thing. In 2014 we decided to focus its efforts on the Wedgewood Houston, an up-and-coming neighborhood within Nashville’s urban revitalization narrative. Inspired by Wedgewood Houston’s prevailing ‘maker’ movement and art scene, Core announced plans to develop Nashville’s first live/make community, calling our project The Finery.
Prior to rezoning the property, we held a charette. We invited neighborhood leaders, business owners, and members from the Nashville Metro planning Department to help us with a master plan. What resulted was interesting, and the live/make community concept evolved. The Planning Department and neighbors asked us to consider creating more density with our projects and felt that buildings of four to six stories were the appropriate height, given that our project sat in a bowl, twenty to thirty feet lower than the surrounding streets. This density and height, and our location just one mile from the Music City Center, allowed us to consider skyline views.
The neighbors had a vision for their community and were very pointed in their recommendations. They wanted affordable housing, mixed-use zoning, and walkable services. They wanted our project to serve the makers and artists in the community. All of this became a part of our Special Plan (SP) which now guides are series of developments. With over nine acres of land secured in the heart of this neighborhood,
Core Development ultimately had the property rezoned for 490 residential units, eighty thousand square feet of commercial space, and twenty-five thousand square feet for restaurants. Our hope was that the retail and light industrial/artisanal spaces would complement existing enterprises within the neighborhood that included music production studios, organic roasting facilities, furniture builders, and more. Fast forward now to 2024; the development environment is supercharged. With the Opportunity Zone overlay, a designation conveyed at the end of 2018 on what then was determined to be an economically distressed community, larger development companies like Hines, AJ Capital, and Somera Road entered the fray, taking advantage of the economic benefits offered for capital gains treatment with longer term investments. With the support of John Ingram, and development of the Nashville SC soccer stadium, the neighborhood has expanded its bounds to include the Fairgrounds, with Market Street Equity taking a significant role.
Core Development is now finishing up our 4th project, Maslow, a 32-unit condo project at the corner of Merritt and Pillow. We have completed Six10 Merritt, Twelve60 Martin, both live/work projects with commercial retail at the base, and Segment. Our favored development product is ‘for sale’, striving to convey home ownership and ‘the American dream’ (which does not necessarily lend itself to the Opportunity Zone investment criteria) and we aimed to create attainable housing with our mix. Can you believe that our first units at Six10 Merritt were priced at $139,900!
We have partnered with Hines to do additional intensive development on our original site, helping them to refine the zoning to include a sustainable mixed use laminated timber office space, and the Finery is now nearing completion. https://rejournals.com/hines-begins-construction-of-30000-square-foot-mixed-use-development-in-nashville/ And, we sold a piece with a great building reusable building to Diskin Cidery, to add to the retail/maker/restaurant space. After just 10 years, this neighborhood is certainly taking on characteristics and is quickly becoming what I like to call a One-Mile Radius neighborhood! It is amazing to be part of the development narrative!