Finally Friday, Nashville! It’s September 18th. New in Nashville’s neighborhoods: a “serious safety concern” with food delivery drivers, post-tornado gentrification, two restaurant scores in the 50s, and a fall festival.
⚡ Top stories
☀️ Weather
Yet another heat advisory — and it’s on repeat tomorrow. High: 100 with a heat index as high as 108, Low: 75.
🦇 New threat to Nashville’s endangered species
When Lenox Village was being built more than two decades ago, it had to apply for what’s known as an “incidental take permit” because endangered Nashville crayfish lived in a pond on the property. Developers needed to drain the pond, so they agreed to move the crayfish and reconstruct a stream channel as a new habitat in exchange for a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to move forward with the project.
That protection from future new development by the Endangered Species Act appears to be going away. An internal memo from the Fish and Wildlife Service “reinterprets the law so that only the intentional killing of animals, not collateral harm, is illegal,” The New York Times reported.
In the Nashville area, we have three species of endangered bats, two species of clams, and several plants, in addition to the Nashville crayfish, according to this federal website.
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🏠 What’s new in Nashville’s neighborhoods
Downtown (and nearby)
A “serious safety concern” with food delivery: I see this happen often on 8th Avenue South just outside of downtown — a food delivery driver stops their car in a lane of traffic, turns on their flashers, and goes into a restaurant to pick food for a customer while traffic backs up. A Metro traffic and parking commissioner called it a “serious safety concern” this week. She said police won’t respond to it “because of the gone on arrival issue,” and an NDOT representative told her “it’s really an issue of [enforcement] staffing and just not being able to address such a large area.” The NDOT representative said he’d like to have a conversation about expanding staffing with the department’s new director.
Antioch
59 restaurant score: A wet cloth towel was “submerged inside container of sauce,” according to a new health inspection for El Perez Mexican Restaurant at 2427 Antioch Pike. The inspector also noted brown buildup inside the ice machine, cooked foods with date markings, “numerous cockroaches,” and more. Here’s a link to the full inspection.
169 new townhomes: Mostly open land sandwiched between Murfreesboro Pike and Hamilton Church Road will be turned into 169 new townhomes. Developers just filed their final plans with Metro.
North Nashville
Post-tornado gentrification: Metro hopes to use much of a nearly $11 million federal grant to “stabilize neighborhoods that were in the path of the [2020] tornado, because usually when a disaster comes through, we see developers from out of town purchasing homes or properties, and those tenants are dislocated from their neighborhood.” Part of the money would be used to buy properties, rehab them, and sell them to people with lower incomes — with a restriction so the home couldn’t be immediately flipped to someone with a high income. About $7 million would pay for building new income-restricted homes.
What’s next for former Family Dollar: Citi Trends clothing store plans to take over the property at 2600 Jefferson Street, according to a new permit application. Their website didn’t list an opening date.
Donelson
What’s going on with Donelson Station bus transit center: “I was told infrastructure work on the new Donelson Station project would be … this past June. To my knowledge, that hasn’t started. Any update on Donelson Station,” Metro Council member Jeff Gregg asked WeGo Transit this week. A representative responded, “Yes, Donelson Station is moving forward. We should have some more information in the next month or so on infrastructure improvements there.”
Wedgewood-Houston
Petition deadline: Let the counting (and verification) begin. Today’s the last day to sign a petition in support of a referendum on eliminating racing at the Nashville Fairgrounds. If 10% of Nashville’s registered voters sign the petition, voters could decide the Fairgrounds’ future next year. It’s been a bitter fight getting to this point with anti-racing canvassers telling WKRN they had to file police reports for assault and harassment, and the pro-racing crowd claiming billionaire-funded canvassers are misleading people so they’ll sign the petition. “Decline to Sign” even created a website so you can remove your name. They told WSMV last week that 1,700 people had done so.
New pilates studio: More new in a neighborhood that’s changing fast. BODYBAR Pilates applied for a building permit to open at 620 Merritt Avenue. The studio already has a location in Franklin. “BODYBAR is designed for every fitness level – from true beginners to seasoned athletes – and no prior Pilates experience is needed,” its website says.
Near Brentwood
51 restaurant score: The health inspector who visited Fulins Asian Cuisine at 782 Old Hickory Boulevard flagged multiple food temperature issues and an employee washing gloved hands, among other violations. You can read the full inspection here.
South Nashville
New life for closed store: The former CVS Pharmacy at 4709 Nolensville Pike will become a Dollar Tree, a new building permit indicates.
Near Berry Hill
18 new townhomes: Developers just got their building permits for construction to start on 18 new town homes around 2122 and 2204 Elliott Avenue. They’ll be three stories tall, according to the permit.
Bellevue
Fall festival: The Nashville Fall Festival starts today at 8687 Old Harding Pike. “A massive corn maze, a 7-acre sunflower field, a pumpkin patch, a petting zoo, hayrides, and live music — on 70 acres along the South Harpeth River,” the event’s website says. Tickets are $23 for adults, $11 for children ages 7-13, and free for younger kids. The festival runs through November 1. It’s open on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
📰 A few final headlines…
Paramount to Nashville? A spokesperson for Nashville’s mayor said there’s “nothing new to share” about Paramount considering a move from California to Nashville. I asked because a report from Politico this week said “Paramount Skydance is actively looking for office space in Nashville” and the company reached out to developers about building offices when it couldn’t find 400,000 square feet of space. Paramount threatened to leave California after the state sued over the company’s merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.
Community meeting for “No Right on Red”: I reported on Wednesday that the second of three votes on legislation to ban right turns at 59 red lights in Nashville had been delayed to allow community input. Now, I have details on when you can give input. Metro Council member Jacob Kupin announced a community meeting will be held Tuesday at 5 p.m. More information here.
Taking corporate money out of Tennessee politics: Nashville state Senator Charlane Oliver plans to file a bill that would “ban corporations from political spending,” the Tennessee Lookout reported. Curious about which companies (and their employees) are donating the most money to Tennessee politicians? Check out this website.
Nashville housing market signals: Nashville ranked #1 nationwide for its 15% increase in new home listings since last year, according to new research from Redfin. Despite that, Greater Nashville Realtors said the median home sales price in August increased by about $10,000 from August 2025 to $515,725. One more trend: Nashville also ranked fourth nationwide for how often apartment renters are getting concessions like several months free for a new lease. Realtor.com reports 69% of new leases got a concession last month. That’s more than 20 points higher than the national average!
🧠 Today’s quiz
Test your memory of yesterday’s newsletter. Which police precinct saw the biggest percentage increase in home burglaries compared to last year?
Madison
Hermitage
South
Central
🍔 MAP: click here for restaurant inspections across Nashville
Correction, feedback, question? Just reply to this email or email me directly at ryan@nash.news. I’ll be back in your inbox on Monday! —Ryan