Expediting Change with Jefferson Street Leaders
By Veronica Foster, Community Development Director
4 min read Preparing for Civic Design Center’s 15th Annual PARK(ing) Day took a significant amount of help that was pushed to the limits with the intense heat advisory, but the results couldn’t have been more special. Instead of reclaiming public right-of-way for a mini park, we partnered with Kingdom Cafe & Grill to replace 6 private parking spaces with an inviting parklet amidst an oasis of native landscaping. Read on to get the full details.
Civic Design Center has long been eager to bring PARK(ing) Day to Jefferson Street and the closest we have come in recent years was a temporary parklet off Buchanan Street for InnerG Juice & Yoga in North Nashville back in 2021. I remember speaking to Jefferson Street advocate, Monchiere Holmes-Jones, over the phone, trying to figure out a path for a Jefferson Street parklet even though it doesn’t have any street parking.
Since then, critical Metro Council legislation passed that made Kingdom Café & Grill’s parklet possible—removing all parking minimums for business and residential establishments in the Urban Zoning Overlay areas of Nashville. With the support of the owners, Pastor Howard Jones Jr. and Howard Jones III, for this year’s Parklet Design Competition, we removed 6 parking spaces and replaced them with an incredible parklet and landscape oasis designed by CSDG and Anecdote Architectural Experiences. Their winning design was fully built with donated materials and labor by R.C. Mathews Contractor in just over 2 weeks with soil remediation and landscaping materials donated by the Cumberland River Compact. The landscaping work was done completely by Civic Design Center staff with volunteer support by CSDG and a collection of community members!
A Heavy Lift to PermAnence
Civic Design Center is known for not being able to look away from an opportunity that would create the greatest impact. This year’s parklet project was originally inspired by a draft rendering for the Jefferson Street Corridor Study that showed patio seating in place of the parking along the front of Kingdom Café & Grill. We had fully recruited R.C. Mathews to build a parklet on top of the asphalt, but something shifted after a casual meeting with the Cumberland River Compact’s Urban Waters Division Manager, Jason Sprouls. We discovered that the Cumberland River Compact was working on a tight grant timeline in North Nashville to depave over 31,000 sq feet that contributes to the runoff going towards the Tennessee State University wetland. Our team couldn’t resist combining this opportunity with the efforts to create a parklet for Kingdom Café.
Our meeting with Jason was only a meager 2 weeks before we planned to unveil Kingdom Café as our location for the Parklet Design Competition. In that time, we sought additional funding from Kimley-Horn, who has been the lead consultant on the Jefferson Street Corridor Study with Metro Nashville, to support our efforts to remove the asphalt and concrete completely in front of Kingdom Café. R.C. Mathews helped secure a subcontractor to help with the removal and agreed to a more complicated and much more structurally permanent build than we had originally discussed. Our partners were nimble, open-minded, and extremely generous to help move this project forward. In Nashville, these local partnerships are an example of our special culture as a city while everything seems to grow and change before our very eyes.
CSDG and Anecdote team members rolled up their sleeves alongside our staff and Jason, of the Compact, to shovel gravel, sand, and rocks
Once we had chosen our winning design, it took continuous motivation to make sure we had the resources to build it. Civic Design Center Board Member and R.C. Mathews Project Manager, Avinash Palaparthy, sought donated materials for the parklet, Anecdote recruited Genesis Engineering to help get stamped drawings of the permanent pergola structure, our team adapted the proposed mural to allow for simpler installation, and CSDG raised their hands to volunteer with the landscaping installation during an extreme heat advisory. While all this complexity and the sheer scale of the install made this our biggest permanent parklet project we have ever done, the enthusiasm of all involved parties never wavered.
Parklet Designers on NewsChannel5 with Eric Pointer
Celebrating 15 years of PARklets
Every year, PARK(ing) Day takes on a slightly different challenge. Regardless of that challenge, PARK(ing) Day has transformed parking spaces into tiny parks for all to enjoy, whether it is just for one day or for the foreseeable future. It is a day to celebrate joy, beauty, and high quality design. Typically the weather is fairly approachable by Nashville standards, but we once had a year of rain and this year was one of extreme heat. The community still showed up with dedication to support the work, the designers, Kingdom Café, and the hyperlocal vendors. DJ Raiden set the mood outside and a live band cooled everyone down inside the bar. People ate, drank, and tossed some bags for cornhole, but we most enjoyed seeing people enjoy the incredible new shade created by the parklet and its new trees. You could immediately feel the effects of the reduced temperature within the space, even on a day with a heat index of 100°F.
CM Taylor, Monchiere Holmes-Jones and Howard Jones III. Photo by Andrew Keithly Photography
We were proud to see such a big crowd gathered for our special remarks and Golden Cone Awards. Community Ambassador, Poet Williams, delivered an incredible piece just for PARK(ing) Day to set the stage for Jefferson Street’s present and its future. Nashville Department of Transportation’s Justin Cole shared a little bit more about the Jefferson Street Corridor Study and the surrounding community’s alignment on street activation. Councilmember Brandon Taylor delivered our Ronald E. Yearwood Friend of Public Space Award to none other than Monchiere Holmes-Jones, who has done so much for Jefferson Street before and since that effort to bring PARK(ing) Day to the street years ago.
We awarded the Parklet Design Competition Runners Up—Marcus Brooks, and partner group, Bex Interiors + Plant Savvy—before Howard Jones III awarded the official win to CSDG + Anecdote and the ribbon was ceremonially cut. We know that the parklet is going to be the place to grab a seat to watch TSU’s Homecoming Parade next month, so you better scout it out early! Photos below by Andrew Keithly Photography.
Have underutilized parking? You could do this too!
You never have to wait until the next PARK(ing) Day rolls around to make plans for your own parklet or depave project. Any business in the Urban Zoning Overlay area, as shown in the Parcel Viewer overlay, could remove some or all of their parking to be replaced with patio dining space, landscaping, play areas and more. If your business has parking in front with a dangerous curb cut, this effort could be a way to provide a comfortable buffer between the street and your front door. If you are interested in depaving, planting trees and other services related to stormwater runoff management, reach out to the Cumberland River Compact. If you are interested in understanding what your options are when it comes to reclaiming parking in general for the human experience, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the Civic Design Center.