VU rezoning proposal

[Phil Ryan]

On August 4, Metro Council will hold public comment on Vanderbilt’s proposed rezoning. Please plan on attending the meeting, at 6:30 PM at Metro Courthouse to share your thoughts. Hillsboro West End Neighbors will attend and send additional reminders.

Where are we with the Vanderbilt rezoning?

Councilman Cash has filed legislation to rezone 43 acres owned by Vanderbilt, stretching from 31^st Avenue South to West End and Natchez Trace. Vanderbilt Innovation SP bill Vanderbilt has proposed up to 6.1 million square feet of development—about the size of six Green Hills Malls—with multiple buildings as tall as 35 stories and more than 700 feet (taller than the Batman (AT&T) Building).  As filed, the rezoning could allow some of the tallest buildings in Nashville and Tennessee. Vanderbilt’s vision is to create an innovation district by partnering with private investors to develop the property over many years, or even decades. Proposed uses include residential, retail, office, research, hotel, short-term rental, and other mixed-use development. The project would be built in multi-year phases with private investment, the rezoning establishes a long-range framework for building heights, street layout, sidewalks, and land uses through a “regulatory specific plan.”

What has Hillsboro West End Neighbors been doing related to this large rezoning?

Hillsboro West End Neighbors board members have studied university innovation districts across the country, reviewed multiple versions of Vanderbilt’s plan, submitted more than 50 questions to better understand the proposal and its effects, and distributed a newsletter explaining the rezoning. This spring, HWEN worked with Councilman Cash to organize community meetings with Metro Planning, Metro Transportation, and Vanderbilt. Those meetings, public testimony at the April Planning Commission meeting, and advocacy from Councilman Cash led Metro Planning to require traffic calming studies, a parking plan, garage designs that reduce visual impacts on neighbors, and review of historic structures for possible preservation. The Planning Commission also directed Vanderbilt to meet with the Bristol Condo owners, who are surrounded by the proposed rezoning area and would be among the most directly affected.

HWEN board members also formed a team to lead negotiations with Vanderbilt and Councilman Cash. HWEN hired land-use consultants to help develop recommendations that would better protect the neighborhood. Those recommendations include:

·      Show maximum building heights in feet, not stories, to make the plan clearer for neighbors, Metro, and future developers.

·      Reduce building heights and the overall scale of development, especially in subdistricts A and B closest to the neighborhood.

·      Create funding for traffic calming measures needed to address added neighborhood traffic from the development.

·      Adopt a parking plan that addresses the needs of the development, construction workers, medical center and university employees, and game-day demand while limiting neighborhood impacts.

·      Limit certain land uses so neighbors have more certainty about the types of businesses that could operate there.

·      Create an ongoing advisory or design review committee to provide community input on traffic studies, development plans, and issues that may arise during the many years of construction.

·      Preserve as many existing trees as possible and add more green space to the plan.

·      Expand the required pre-blast survey area so neighbors and Vanderbilt have a record of home conditions before blasting begins in case damage occurs.

·      Reduce the size and brightness of signage near the neighborhood.

·      Set strict construction traffic routes away from the neighborhood and prohibit construction workers or equipment parking on neighborhood streets.

HWEN has shared a memo outlining these requested changes with Councilman Cash and Vanderbilt. The first meeting to review them with Vanderbilt took place on June 12, 2026. Additional meetings are planned to discuss Vanderbilt’s response to the neighborhood’s requests. We hope these discussions will lead to a compromise that allows the project to move forward while protecting the community, and that these changes will be incorporated into the zoning bill.

Process

Metro Council will make the final zoning decision. Councilman Cash can file rezoning legislation, hold community meetings, negotiate concessions with the developer, and propose amendments. He has already filed this bill, which includes Vanderbilt’s request and Metro Planning’s requirements. The first reading is scheduled for June 16 and typically passes without discussion. The second reading is set for August 4th and will include a public hearing. At that hearing, community members may briefly speak (2 minutes) in support of or opposition to the proposal, so public attendance and input will be important. The bill may also be amended at that stage to reflect recommendations from Hillsboro West End Neighbors, clarifications from Vanderbilt, or concerns raised by Council members. The earliest possible date for the third and final reading is August 18^th. Changes can still be made at that stage, but there will be no public hearing. 

We will continue to share updates on negotiations, community meetings, and ways to get involved in the weeks ahead. Thank you for your interest in the neighborhood.

-- Ginger Hausser, Rezoning Chair, HWEN

                                       -- Phil Ryan, Co-Chair, HWEN

                                       -- Lee Vinson, Co-Chair. HWEN

 

 

[JT Spangler]

Base zoning allows for these building heights. The SP shifts them from close to the neighborhood to West End. It greatly reduces the building heights next to the neighborhood along 31st/Blakemore. The SP also includes traffic studies in each phase, traffic calming measures, and zoning changes that prevent, for instance, a giant liquor warehouse next to the neighborhood. Or large multifamily developments that are strictly for Airbnb. 

We should all absolutely ask questions and show up to meetings to voice our concerns, but we should first educate ourselves as best we can. Difficult when it comes to zoning but worth doing.  :) 

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[Trey and Susan Harrell]

I wonder if it would be possible to have a neighborhood meeting that might walk us through the architectural details of the SP proposal, particularly the later details regarding block massing, height regulations, tower length and separation, building articulation, etc. I have a sense of what some of these terms mean, but there is a lot of it I don't understand, which makes it difficult for me to have much of an informed opinion.

As an example, my primary interest is what this SP proposal would allow along the edge of 31st Ave (since we live immediately across the street).  My understanding is current zoning allows 12 stories along that edge and with this proposal it would be "only" 10 stories with things like set-backs and facade articulations to "reduce the apparent scale" of those buildings. I don't have a great understanding of what all that looks like and how big of a difference any of it makes when I sit on my back porch and look across the street at it.  It would be incredibly helpful for me, and maybe others, if someone showed us (1) here's what they could build now, (2) here's a generous interpretation of what they're likely imagining, and (3) here's the worst case scenario of what this SP would allow them to do.

I have tried to keep up with all the community meetings, etc. to date, and I have been so grateful for those, but I haven't been a part of this sort of conversation now that we have a "set" (amendable) proposal, and I wonder if it would be helpful for others prior to the August Metro Council meeting.

Thank you,

Trey Harrell

[Earthlink.net]

Trey and Susan,

These are great questions and it is very hard to visualize and complex to understand because this is a regulatory SP and less specific than traditional Specific Plan (SP) zoning plans. HWEN is discussing when it is best to hold a meeting to explain the negotiated plan (when complete) and have asked Vandy to be able to show the visuals in a way for neighbors to understand what it would look like from their houses with examples of similar building heights, signage, set backs to make it easier to visualize.  

Thanks for the questions and the request.

Ginger

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 18, 2026, at 8:42 PM, Trey and Susan Harrell <susan...@gmail.com> wrote:

I wonder if it would be possible to have a neighborhood meeting that might walk us through the architectural details of the SP proposal, particularly the later details regarding block massing, height regulations, tower length and separation, building articulation, etc. I have a sense of what some of these terms mean, but there is a lot of it I don't understand, which makes it difficult for me to have much of an informed opinion.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/hwen/0fced7c7-0b85-431e-8d01-1f154da90883n%40googlegroups.com.

[JT Spangler]

We and several other neighbors have hosted meetings with the Vanderbilt architects and community outreach groups and were able to ask all of those questions directly to them. It was highly informative. I’m happy to put you in touch with them, or even host another meeting at our house to review the plan. 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/hwen/0fced7c7-0b85-431e-8d01-1f154da90883n%40googlegroups.com.