Good morning, Nashville! It’s Tuesday, October 20. Reporting today’s newsletter from Benji’s Bagel & Coffee House in East Nashville. New in Nashville’s neighborhoods: a proposed change for a new school over traffic concerns, a restaurant scores a 66, a $50,000-a-year AI-powered school, a library renovation, a crime trend check, and much more.
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🏠 What’s new in Nashville’s neighborhoods
Antioch
Moving school entrance: With concerns about traffic around a new school at the intersection of Rice Road and Bell Road, Metro Council member Joy Styles tells me she filed for funding to move the school’s entrance to Bell Road. Her proposal would amend the mayor’s $544 million capital spending plan. The Metro Council is scheduled to vote on bonds for the plan tonight. Styles urged supporters to sign up for public comment at tonight’s meeting. “Without the funding, [MNPS] will try to leave the entrance on Rice Road,” Styles said. Here’s my previous reporting on which projects are funded.
Germantown
Restaurant scores 66: The health inspector who visited Green Asia at 900 Rosa L. Parks Boulevard flagged food temperature issues, an employee cooking without washing their hands after being outside, and raw meats stored “by and over” fruits and produce in a cooler. You can read the full inspection here, and I link to all restaurant inspections at the end of the newsletter.
Hillsboro Village
AI-powered school: Alpha School, a K-8 private school that says its “mastery-based, AI-driven approach allows students to crush their academics in two hours,” appears to be opening at 1704 Dorothy Place. A building permit says 44 students will be enrolled. Tuition costs $50,000, according to the school’s website. It already has a location listed a few blocks away at 1912 21st Avenue South. More: questions about how the school uses AI, and videos shared by the school to explain what it does.
Detour warning: Vanderbilt University expanded detours on Garland Avenue for vehicles and pedestrians due to “ongoing construction projects.” More details about the changes here. Vanderbilt expects them to be in effect until the beginning of 2027.
Hermitage
Renovating the library: The Hermitage library branch appears to be on track to close for renovations next year, based on a bidding document posted by Metro. Designs will be due in February, and work is supposed to be finished by January 2028. The document, which you can read here, describes gutting the building.
Back to court: Years of complaints about junk and debris outside a home on Luree Lane are heading back to court. A Metro Codes inspector issued the property’s second citation this year. Citations often come when an owner has been warned about a problem, but it still hasn’t been fixed. A judge could order the owner to pay a fine and clean up the property.
Downtown
Trouble at Play Playground: The landlord for 128 2nd Avenue North accused the social game experience Play Playground of failing to pay rent in July, August, September, and October, and not keeping the business open for the “minimum hours” set in its lease. A lawsuit asks for more than $300,000 in damages in addition to about $645,000 in missed rent payments, interest, and other expenses. I reached out to Play Playground for comment by email, and the company’s CEO Phil Royle told me the company is in active discussions with its landlord, and “we’re very happy” with those discussions. You can read the full lawsuit here.
Restaurant closing: Deacon’s New South will close on Saturday after nearly a decade, it announced on Instagram late yesterday. It didn’t explain why it’s closing.
West Nashville
Crime trend check: So far this year, police data says the only crimes up in the Metro Police Department’s West Precinct compared to last year are homicides (from 0 cases to 2) and rapes (from 21 cases to 30). Overall, property crimes are down more than 24%, and violent crimes have dropped nearly 17%. You can map crime in your neighborhood at this link.
East Nashville
Cleaning up Gallatin Pike: Metro Codes is back at a former blood donation center at 3201 Gallatin Pike. This time, Codes is taking the property’s owner to court for allegedly not addressing graffiti, high grass, and junk on the property. An inspector reported some of the same issues in January.
The Nations
Demolition coming: A building permit application indicates a home built in 1919 at 5401 Tennessee Avenue will be torn down to make way for two new homes on the same property. And less than a mile away, a home at 4601 Indiana Avenue got a demolition permit. I haven’t seen what’s planned for that property.
Whites Creek
Whites Creek Mercantile: I hadn’t heard of The Grove at Whites Creek, which describes itself as “a family-owned boutique hotel and event venue,” until I started researching a building permit for a new Whites Creek Mercantile store at 4125 Whites Creek Pike. WSMV reported earlier this year it’s part of the former Fontanel property. The venue’s website says it’s “looking for local artisans, makers and small businesses with unique products to feature in our new retail store.” More details here.
Old Hickory
Short-term rental warning: I recently reported on the top neighborhoods for illegal short-term rentals in Nashville. Old Hickory wasn’t one of them, so I wanted to share one flagged here. Metro Codes told an owner to take down a listing for a home on 22nd Street that advertises enough room for 12 guests. Reviews indicate the property has been operating since at least July. If you think a short-term rental is operating without a permit in your neighborhood, you can submit a complaint to hubNashville. More: a shift in Nashville’s short-term rental market.
📰 A few final headlines…
What I’m monitoring today: Whether the Metro Council will make further changes to a proposed ban on right turns at some red lights in Nashville. A scaled-back version affects 59 intersections, which I mapped here. A vote was delayed from early this month to today after a council member attempted to scale back the ban even further.
Another piece of old Nashville disappearing: The General Jackson Showboat will stop operating on December 15, the Nashville Scene reported.
Hospital expansion: TriStar Centennial Medical Center announced more than $90 million in renovations and expansions to its women’s hospital and children’s hospital. The hospital’s CEO told The Tennessean construction is expected to run through 2028.
Airport traffic warning: The entrance to Nashville International Airport’s Terminal Garage 1 closes today. This post by the airport explains what you need to know if you park in this area.
Are you eligible for a settlement? A lawsuit claimed landlords, including major apartment companies, used a platform called RealPage in a “nationwide conspiracy to fix and inflate the price of multifamily rental housing across the country.” The defendants have denied wrongdoing, but they agreed to a nearly $360 million settlement, which a federal judge approved on Friday. You can check here to see whether a property you rented is eligible. And here’s a link to the form to submit a claim.
🍔 MAP: click here for restaurant inspections across Nashville. And here’s a list version.
Correction, feedback, question? Just reply to this email or email me directly at ryan@nash.news. Talk to you tomorrow! —Ryan