Good morning, Nashville! It’s Thursday, August 27th. Today’s edition of what’s new in Nashville’s neighborhoods includes an eyesore hospital and a surge in home break-ins.
⚡ Top stories
Weather: 🌦️ High: 93, Low: 68. Chance of thunderstorms.
A local vote on data centers: Nashville State Senator Heidi Campbell just launched a new website and petition for a bill that would require local approval of data center projects. “From water, to traffic, to sound, to the electrical grid — the impact of data centers is all local. So the decision should be, too,” Campbell said. Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn, who leads the governor’s race by a wide margin in polls, has said data centers “are going to be a local decision” but also a “good and important part of Tennessee’s economic growth.” Her gubernatorial campaign received more than $100,000 from employees of artificial intelligence and data center companies as of July.
ICE call center in Nashville: the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) will hold a “mass meeting” tonight to organize against a proposed ICE call center in Donelson. Mayor Freddie O’Connell said on Friday city officials “don’t know much” about the proposal. His spokesperson did not respond yesterday when I asked for any updates.
Renaming Nashville’s airport for Dolly: Senator Marsha Blackburn and Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton tell me (via representatives) they’ll work with Dolly Parton’s family to find the best ways to honor her. A petition to rename Nashville International Airport has grown to more than 120,000 signatures. Representative Todd Warner commented on the petition website, saying, “I will definitely introduce legislation to rename the BNA airport Dolly Parton International Airport!” You can read Blackburn’s full statement here.
NES’s board approved policies yesterday that it hopes will protect us from higher electricity bills due to data centers, including signing on to the Ratepayer Protection Pledge.
🏠 What’s new in Nashville’s neighborhoods
Madison
Eyesore hospital property: Metro Codes sent a notice to the owners of a former hospital at 500 Hospital Drive after someone complained about broken windows and issues with the roof. The notice asked the owners to address “accumulation of motor vehicles,” a broken window, and the “open storage” of what reads to me like junk.
“Affordable housing” project: a 280-unit, five-story apartment project called “Skyline Apartments” is planned behind TriStar Skyline Medical Center at 915 Skyline Ridge Drive. Developers applied for a permit this week for Metro to review the project. Here’s a copy of the plans.
Antioch
KFC property’s second (familiar) act: Bojangles received a building permit to open at the former KFC at 2634 Murfreesboro Pike.
Hermitage
Crime trend I’m following in the Hermitage precinct: new police data released this week shows a 25.9% increase in residential burglaries — from 81 cases at this point last year to 102 cases so far this year. Cases also increased in the South, Central, Madison, and Midtown Hills precincts, but the raw number of cases increased most in Hermitage.
Green Hills
E+ROSE’s website teases a new cafe in Green Hills, and I found a new building permit that reveals where. The permit gives an address of 2115 Crestmoor Road.
Downtown (and nearby)
Another residential project is coming to an area that has been more commercial until recently. Developers applied for permits to build condos at 1020 3rd Avenue South. Last week, I reported on plans to turn a former strip club property a few blocks away into a 16-story residential tower.
Second Avenue’s comeback after Christmas bombing: for at least the third time this month, developers have filed for permission to move forward with a project on Second Avenue. The latest would turn 127 Second Avenue North into a restaurant and bar while making the building two stories taller. You can see the plans here. I reported on demolition plans for multiple buildings down the street last week.
Wedgewood-Houston
The restaurant boom continues in this neighborhood. A restaurant is moving in next to SUSHI ROW at 1234 Martin Street, based on a building permit issued this month. nashvilleguru says it’ll be an “elevated Turkish restaurant” called Ayva.
📰 A few final headlines…
Nashville State Senator Charlane Oliver said she will sue Tennessee’s lieutenant governor over her punishment for standing on her desk with a banner. She was protesting this year’s special session to redraw congressional districts at the urging of President Trump. Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally removed Oliver from committee assignments and limited her per diem and travel reimbursements. A spokesperson for McNally previously told the Williamson Scene the punishment was “measured, appropriate and entirely legal.” Oliver called the punishment “an attempt to silence any senator who dares to speak up for their constituents.”
Nearly 113,000 people are experiencing food insecurity in Nashville, according to new data shared by Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee. The food bank said the level of food insecurity in Middle and West Tennessee hit the highest level in six years.
With a trial underway in Nashville, Meta agreed to pay more than $750 million and implement new safety features instead of leaving its fate in a jury’s hands. That settles Tennessee’s lawsuit alleging Meta “designed Instagram with addictive features, knowingly exposed young users to serious mental harms, and intentionally misled the public about the safety of its platforms, among other things,” the state’s attorney general said. The settlement money will go to the state’s new Children’s Digital Protection Fund. It pays for mental health treatment and suicide prevention, among other things. Including Tennessee, Meta will pay $17 billion to settle lawsuits from nearly every state.
🧠 Today’s puzzle: Odd One Out
How closely did you read yesterday’s newsletter? Three of the four in each round have something in common. Pick the one that doesn’t belong.
Round 1: Marine Drive · Dickerson Pike · Cowan Street · Whites Creek Pike
Round 2: Mariposa Park · River North · The Park at Glencliff · Percy Priest Elementary
🍔 MAP: click here for restaurant inspections across Nashville
Correction, feedback, question? Just reply to this email or email me directly at ryan@nash.news. -Ryan