Nashville Riverfront
Proposed Design for Nashville Riverfront Adventure Park
The Concept
The Nashville Riverfront Concept Plan is a 20 year vision for the dramatic transformation of the downtown riverfront and the east banks of Nashville. The plan calls for expanded parks, trails, water recreation, and environmental preservation, and provides for both residential and commercial opportunities in the heart of Nashville. The vision for the riverfront plans was greatly enhanced by the diverse views expressed in public meetings by residents from all over the county with an interest in the environmental quality and quality of life for local citizens and visitors to Nashville.
The History
The plan is the result of 16 months of development, design workshops, community advisory groups, 6 public input meetings, and the expertise of internationally recognized consultants in the field of urban design, engineering and economic development.
In February 2007, Hargreaves Associates, the consultants who designed Chattanooga’s waterfront, presented the Nashville Riverfront Concept Plan detailing new proposed public recreational developments along the downtown corridor of the Cumberland River. This project was jointly funded by the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Nashville Board of Parks and Recreation in partnership with the Nashville Civic Design Center. The vision is to emphasize the importance of the river as an environmental, recreational and economic development asset.
The Benefits
This project has value for everyone. It gives Nashville a world class waterfront and enhances the quality of life for residents. It creates promising opportunities for new mixed-use economic development with the potential to generate over $1.4 billion in private investment in the area. Over 190 acres of environmentally degraded land would be rehabilitated and made available for development and public amenities providing new places for Nashville residents to recreate and celebrate. The plan outlines a series of phases to achieve the vision estimating a public investment to include $50 million in Phase I, $200 million in Phase II and $150 million in Phase III. The economic consultants estimate that for every dollar spent of public funds, Nashville gets three to four back in private investment and would generate an additional 1 million visitors per year.
20 Year Plan
The 20 year concept envisions the engineering of a new diversionary waterway close to the interstate loop on the east side of the river. Unlocking new riverfront accessible property, the waterway would be about 7,689 linear feet long and 190 feet wide framed by new mixed development. The current plan estimates the potential development along the waterway:
-Over 2,200 new residential units-1 million square feet of new retail, restaurant, entertainment, office and hotel
-3,200 structural parking spaces lined by retail uses
The New Nashville Riverfront Park Plan
Phase I of the Nashville Riverfront Concept Plan is designed to provide new public attractions, parkland and waterfront access giving locals and tourists a reason to come and enjoy both sides of the riverfront. The emphasis is on the immediately attainable public projects proposed to cost $50 million. When implemented it would double the size of current parkland to 120 acres. It would include such public features as a river fountain, an adventure play park, boardwalks, overlooks, piers, performance spaces, wetlands, fountains, plazas, new docking facilities, open play space and an urban forest replacing asphalt lots surrounding LP field. Phase I can serve as either a jumping off point for later phases or could stand completely on its own.
A restructured and expanded riverfront should prove to be an astounding recreational and visual attraction for locals and draw more people to downtown and to the river. The possibilities of adding hundreds of acres of park land and public features, recreational opportunities, and improving the environmental quality of the land and water allows us to turn and face our river once again, to give it back to the people and attain its full potential for all future generations.
The concept plan states that: “Cities with great waterfronts can offer a better quality of life to retain and attract citizens and capital. Nashville has the potential to create a great waterfront that is truly world class.” The Nashville Riverfront Concept Plan is a bold vision for restoring and activating the waterfront, and can shape how the city relates to the river and how Nashville will be viewed and enjoyed by residents and visitors for decades to come.
For more information contact Chris Koster Riverfront Development Director- Metro Parks.