Good morning, Nashville! It’s Wednesday, September 9th. New in Nashville’s neighborhoods: removing a homeless camp, a beloved restaurant’s comeback, movement on a stalled transportation project, Oracle’s 82-acre plan for River North, and construction starting soon to raise the road near a controversial project.
⚡ Top stories
Weather: ☀️ Heat advisory! High: 96 with heat index as high as 105, Low: 75. Daily chances of rain and storms return tomorrow through the weekend.
The path to renaming BNA revealed: when Tennessee’s governor announced plans to rename Nashville International Airport in honor of Dolly Parton, he didn’t directly address the airport’s policy that seemed to be a roadblock. WPLN explained the policy here. A newly released proposal up for a vote by Nashville’s airport board on Friday essentially says the board has the power to honor Dolly anyway. It directs the airport’s CEO to start the renaming process immediately with her estate’s approval. Assuming the resolution passes, the CEO will create a timeline and “implementation plan for all necessary approvals” and determine costs. When Tennessee Republicans considered earlier this year whether to rename the airport in honor of President Donald Trump, the airport estimated the name change would cost more than $10 million. I’ll let you know what happens with Friday’s vote. One more note: Dolly’s new hotel and museum in Downtown Nashville will open on September 29.
“Inappropriate” OnlyFans images at school: the executive principal at Stanford Elementary School in Donelson is appealing her punishment after students reported seeing “inappropriate images” on a teacher’s laptop during an after-school program last May, according to a new petition filed in Davidson County Chancery Court. The school board suspended Olivia Travis for two days without pay for “neglect of duty,” the petition says, because of delayed notification to parents and not filing a report with Tennessee’s Department of Children’s Services. The appeal essentially says Travis followed instructions from district leadership and DCS.
Nashville’s first Wawa gas station: It’s popular enough to have a 32,000-member Facebook fan club, and it has recently opened locations just outside of Nashville. Now we have an idea of when Nashville will get its first Wawa at Highway 100 and Temple Road. A grand opening hasn’t been announced, but Metro Council member Jason Spain said he expects it to happen in mid-November. I shared last month that this location was the only one in Nashville to get a building permit despite applications for other locations. You can read about those other locations and what delayed Antioch’s store here.
🏠 What’s new in Nashville’s neighborhoods
Priest Lake
Homeless camp near the lake: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers tells me it’s working with Metro Police to “remove what appears to be a small surface area of encampment from public property” along Anderson Road. “During recent visits, no individuals were present, although some items appeared to have been moved. If individuals return to the site during this process, appropriate enforcement action may be taken for unauthorized occupation of federal property,” a spokesperson said. You can read their full statement here.
West Nashville
Dalts American Grill’s comeback: it suddenly closed after more than four decades, and Strategic Hospitality, the company that stepped up to save Dalts, just took a step toward reopening the restaurant. A building permit application shows the old restaurant will be demolished so a new one can be built in its place. The restaurant’s website title indicates it’s reopening this year. I reached out to Strategic Hospitality yesterday for an update on its plans, but I didn’t hear back.
Downtown (and nearby)
Creating Nashville’s River North neighborhood: Oracle just submitted to Metro the most detailed plans I’ve seen for the 82-acre project. You can see the plans for yourself here. The company’s new campus includes five clusters of buildings behind a greenway on the East Bank, a hotel, a two-acre park, an amphitheater, and retail. Oracle started early site work on its new headquarters in February. More: status of Oracle’s pedestrian bridge and a forecast of how many people will eventually live in the River North neighborhood.
East Nashville
Movement with stalled traffic project: East Nashville Spokes, a traffic plan that includes protected bike lanes and better pedestrian crossings, appears to be getting back on track. I reported last month that the project was stuck in the federal approval process. NDOT blamed cuts to federal staffing and “changing attitudes” under the Trump administration. Metro Council member Clay Capp just shared “the money is now starting to make its way back to us.” Next up with the project: designs, and the councilman says you’ll have an opportunity to give feedback. I’ll let you know when that happens.
51st Deli plans to open a location here next year. It’ll be in The Jesse, a new short-term rental development, at 730 Main Street. I’m a big fan of the caesar wrap, but here’s their menu if you’ve never been.
Bellevue
Road work starting soon: Construction to raise a section of Coley Davis Road near the controversial Ariza apartment development will start next Tuesday, the developer said in a statement shared by Metro Council member Sheri Weiner. Temporary lanes will need to be installed for the elevation work, according to the developer, but two-way traffic will stay open at all times. “One side of the roadway will be elevated at a time. This will require multiple phases using different traffic control alignments,” the developer said.
The Nations
Nearly 300 new apartments: developers applied for a permit to start building the new Alta apartment complex at 5901 California Avenue. The six apartment buildings range in height from three to four stories. You can see the plans here.
Donelson
Bank to Hattie B’s: Demolition has begun on the old Truist bank at 2725 Old Lebanon Pike, and Hattie B’s Hot Chicken hopes to open early next spring, Metro Council member Jeff Gregg said. The Nashville Business Journal reported last month that the chain plans to double in size from 19 restaurants over the next two years.
Hermitage
Overgrown grass on Old Hickory Boulevard: Metro Council member Jordan Huffman called “the overgrown grass and lack of maintenance” on this state route unacceptable. “TDOT recently shifted much of this work to outside contractors, and unfortunately the level and frequency of maintenance has not been where it needs to be,” Huffman wrote. He said he’s working with TDOT to address the problem. I reached out to TDOT for comment, but I haven’t heard back.
Old Hickory
Trees to apartments: 124 multi-family units (the plans look like townhomes) are coming to the corner of Robinson Road and Industrial Drive, according to a building permit application.
South Nashville
Tonight at 6 p.m.: virtual traffic calming meeting for Wimpole Drive. Click here for details about the meeting.
📰 A few final headlines…
492 “guardians” needed: a group of attorneys wants volunteers to help monitor Nashville’s polling places in the November 3rd election, the Nashville Banner reported. “When threats to our democratic process emerged — from federal overreach, outside interference, or any other actor — a group of local election lawyers and longtime community organizers decided to act,” Nashville Guardians of Democracy’s website says. I reported last month that Nashville sued the Trump administration for allegedly threatening to withhold some anti-terrorism funding if election changes are not implemented.
Toll lanes on I-24: today’s the last scheduled community meeting for you to speak with the team that will build toll lanes stretching from roughly I-440 to Murfreesboro. It’s from 12:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Smyrna Event Center. Catch up: the $9 billion winning proposal, why a Nashville lawmaker is calling for Tennessee’s attorney general to investigate, and people getting notices they could lose their property.
Major League Baseball in Nashville: with MLB expected to pick two expansion cities by January 2029, ESPN explains what could hold back Nashville from winning a team, including a lack of “an owner, public financing or a site.”
Super Bowl in Nashville: 83% of Tennessee’s registered voters think bringing the Super Bowl to Nashville in 2030 is a “good thing” for the city, according to a new poll released by the conservative-leaning Beacon Center. 62% of those polled also support spending “approximately $60 million” to host the game “with much of the public portion expected to come from tourism-related tax revenue.”
🧠 Today’s quiz: Neighborhood Match
Test your memory of last Thursday’s newsletter. Match the story to the following neighborhoods: Bellevue, Antioch, East Nashville, Hermitage, The Nations.
117-child daycare
Escape room
Fallbrook Apartments renovation
Sustainability education center at former landfill
Emergency communications center
🍔 MAP: click here for restaurant inspections across Nashville
One more thing… I want to say thank you to the more than 3,000 people who have signed up for nash.news since I launched a month ago. I’m grateful for each subscription, opened email, comment, and clicked link. All of it helps turn my (still feels kind of crazy) decision to leave TV news after 13 years into a sustainable, new way to cover my hometown.
I’m thrilled to be back after a few days away in the mountains with our dogs. Talk to you tomorrow. -Ryan
Cute pups!