Design
Center Revives Rolling Mill Hill Plan
The City Paper
By Colleen Creamer
November 08, 2001
Nearly three years after a $240 million plan to develop the area fell by
the wayside, the Nashville Civic Design Center is making preliminary recommendations
to the Mayor’s Office for downtown’s Rolling Mill Hill The
center is also suggesting a “detailed development master plan” be
created.
Rolling Mill Hill
is the 35 acres of city-owned property that sits on a bluff off Hermitage
Avenue. Because of its location, historic
buildings
and what some think is one of the best vistas in the city, the area
is considered prime property for urban renewal. “
The plan,” Urban Design Center Director Mark Schimmenti said, “would
involve urban design and it would involve economic modeling. In other
words, it would be comprehensive.”
Schimmenti said he recommends the addition of public spaces and that
the city “explore alternative economic models” for the
eventual residential build out. “
There’s a lack of park land, actually all over the city,” Schimmenti
said. “So we recommend – we don’t say where – that
studies for smaller parks in the neighborhoods should be looked at.
We are very strong that the edge along the river be public.”
The plan includes Rutledge Hill, Schimmenti said, which is connected to Rolling Mill Hill by a bridge that has become a point of contention for Rutledge Hill residents who say crime would drop if the bridge to Rolling Mill Hill were closed. He says the bridge is clearly needed but should be upgraded and well lit.
“ We definitely say the bridge stays,” Schimmenti said, “ Perception on one side of the bridge is that’s where all the crime comes from. Perception on the other side of the bridge is that’s how they get to day care and buses and if there’s going to be development on the other side, that’s how they’re going to get there to shop.”
Schimmenti said his
proposal recommends that Hermitage Avenue be developed as the area’s “Main
Street.”
“…
More like what 21st Avenue becomes in Hillsboro Village,” Schimmenti
said. “That’s where you want to put your coffee shops and
things like that and you want to give the street the character of being
a street.”
Of the city-owned historic structures in the area, such as the
old Metro General Hospital and the nurses’ dormitories, Schimmenti
said, “They’re
great. We’re not talking cute little things. We’re
talking about one of the best art deco buildings in the area which
is the 1931
addition to the hospital and the car barns.”
Schimmenti said the car barns, now used as the motor pool area for Metro Police vehicles, should be used eventually as an artists’ venue of some type because of their character. “ They’re just such great inspiring buildings, almost like the back lot of Warner Bros,” he said.
The best additions to cities have elements that come in very quickly and some that come in very slowly, Schimmenti said. “ An economic model that’s been used in the past, which gives a five to seven-year build out, with usually one developer in charge doesn’t meet that standard.”