Nashville’s East Bank Megadevelopment Draws Lawmaker Scrutiny

Many cooks are in the kitchen of the Fallon Company’s stadium-adjacent East Bank megaproject, and the state’s top lawmaker tried to nail down who’s really in charge.

Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton questioned the authority of Nashville’s East Bank Development Authority, which is charged with overseeing one of the largest redevelopment efforts in the city’s history, the Nashville Business Journal reported.

“How much authority does this authority have?” he asked in a board meeting this week.

The group was created by the state legislature earlier this year to oversee redevelopment of Metro-owned land near the $2.1 billion Tennessee Titans stadium, which is under construction.

Concerns are rising among state lawmakers over Metro Nashville’s control of the broader East Bank plan, where significant infrastructure work is needed for the 500-acre megadevelopment.

Who ultimately controls land use, zoning, infrastructure and design decisions for East Bank cannot be answered in a word.

The development authority only has power over 30 acres of the land, which Fallon is developing and is subject to a master plan. Metro has not yet transferred the rest of the acreage to the development authority’s control, said Tom Cross, Metro’s legal deputy director.

Fallon has proposed substantial design changes that would fall under the East Bank Development Authority’s approval, and not Metro’s, after the development agreement and properties are transferred, Cross said. The transfer could happen in late summer or early fall.

Until then, the authority can only influence design decisions, the group’s recently appointed CEO Ben York said.

Regarding the necessary infrastructure: “We don’t have the authority to change it, but we do have the authority to make a recommendation based on an overwhelming public comment. We’re here as an oversight committee of sorts,” board member Mona Hodge said.

The murky division of control prompted board vice chair Jimmy Granbery to delay the approval of York’s employment contract. The board approved hiring outside legal help, delaying several key agenda items until August.

Sexton’s public involvement reflects growing state-level scrutiny of East Bank.

That desire for oversight included last-minute legislative efforts to curb Metro’s eminent domain powers on East Bank and grant automatic co-chair roles in the authority to the House and Senate speakers, according to Tennessee Lookout. Those provisions were stripped before the final bill passed creating the authority, but they showed an appetite for deeper state control.

Adding to the complexity, Metro officials recently created a dedicated team to handle Oracle’s $1.35 billion East Bank headquarters project, the largest economic development deal in the history of the city and state. Nashville approved incentives of $175 million, and the state of Tennessee approved $65 million.

The tech giant submitted documents last week to the Metro Planning Department requesting to rezone 9 acres of its River North property from industrial use to mixed-use intensive; a hearing is slated for next month. Construction on Oracle’s project has yet to begin, and a start date hasn’t been announced.

— Judah Duke