Nashville - what's missing? (Columbia, Ethridge: home, buying, theater)

[Anony-Momma]

I can't imagine a Trader Joe's w/o a wine section.

[groovamos]

Originally Posted by JMT

I think once Nordstrom is opened, other high-end retailers will take notice of Nashville. I mean good grief, if Birmingham can have a Saks, why can't Nashville?

Birmingham's situation with The Summit is very unique, they had a site on a hill near where I-459 crosses US 280, and the site was grabbed by the developer long before the development explosion spread far down 280. On the other side of 459 is the wonderful community of Mountain Brook and their significant wealth (and a giant Whole Foods to boot, check it out if you ever go down).

The developer didn't build a mall, they built a shopping district, or as they term it a "Lifestyle Center". It's not a mystery that Saks jumped on the bandwagon: The Summit Birmingham - Home

In other words a real confluence of factors, none the least of which are geography, topography, and timing, are among the reasons Birmingham hit it big on the shopping map at US 280. It means not much that a similar series of factors didn't converge in Nashville, just as the confluence of factors resulting in the stupendous Houston Galleria didn't happen to bring about something of similar scale to Atlanta.

BTW we have 4 Whole Foods in Houston, 2 medium sized and 2 small ones, all smaller than the Green Hills version. Ground breaking on a new one is just now starting, to be equivalent to Birmingham and Atlanta Buckhead units.

[aaronmidnight]

As others have said, more sidewalks, more bike lanes, more greenways, better public transit would be nice. In addition to public transit WITHIN Nashville, the metro governments should collaborate on transit BETWEEN Nashville and surrounding communities - light rail, streetcars, bus rapid transit etc.

Mayor Dean is trying to move forward with making the city walkable and bikeable, but there is a long way to go.

In Brentwood, they are about to complete a 10-ft wide bike lane along Concord Road from near 65 all the way out to Nolensville Pike. I think Brentwood is way ahead of the curve on bike/pedestrian issues...although of course resources are probably less of a constraint here. Still it's nice to see that it's a priority.

I think a NBA team would be awesome.

And how about a few great high-end restaurants? I love all the wonderful Southern food, meat-and-threes, etc. but wish there was some better high-end dining. Hard to believe we can't support it with all the Country Music and Healthcare money in town.

Oh and is it too much to ask for just one great, authentic sushi restaurant that doesn't deep-fry its rolls or add cream cheese and jalapenos? I know we're far from the coasts, but still... a man can dream.

[Lamplight]

Originally Posted by soulful

Walkability is the biggest missing factor. It is very hard to find a neighborhood where one can actually be totally self sufficient without a car (by walking). The one area that sort of matches this criteria is Hillsboro Village near Vanderbilt.

Nashville simply has few places where you can live and walk to coffee houses, grocery stores, drugstores, restaurants, etc within your neighborhood.

This^

Originally Posted by aaronmidnight

As others have said, more sidewalks, more bike lanes, more greenways, better public transit would be nice. In addition to public transit WITHIN Nashville, the metro governments should collaborate on transit BETWEEN Nashville and surrounding communities - light rail, streetcars, bus rapid transit etc.

And definitely this!^

Living in Murfreesboro, I hardly ever go to Nashville because it's just not worth the hassle of driving there (to me). Maybe if I could just hop on a train I would go (and could get around carless once I got there), or if the city had some incredible feature I might not mind the drive. But as it is, it's mostly not worth it to me. I'd say in the last year I've been to Nashville maybe three or four times, and I have no plans to go anytime soon.

Also, why is there no real science museum in Nashville? I know there's the Cumberland Science museum (is it still called that?) but it's geared toward children. That's great, but it would probably look a bit strange for me to go there by myself as an adult. In fact, for Nashville's size it doesn't seem to have many museums in general. There's the state history museum, which is pretty nice, and the war memorial museum, but as far as I know that's it. Unless you count the Lane Motor Museum, which in my opinion is by far the most interesting.

[brentwoodgirl]

The Parathon has a museum inside it. The Frist is a fairly small art museum, but it gets some good exhibits. If you have never been to the Country Music Hall of Fame, you should go. It has a lot of things that would interest even non-country fans, including Elvis's car and some great sections on how music has been made over the years. Cheekwood did a wonderful Chihuly exhibit last year, that was the best thing I have ever seen there. They currently have a Modern Masters exhibit from the Smithsonian.

Downtown Presbyterian Church, while not a museum, is a must see. Not only is it beautiful, it's one of only 2 Egyptian Revival style buildings left in the entire country. It's on the national registry of historic places.

Also, there is tons of history in this area in general: The Hermitage, Polk's parents house in Columbia, Nashville walking tour (the one that starts at Fort Nashboro and ends at the capitol) is really interesting and covers a lot national history also, Amish Country in Ethridge, Traveler's Rest, Sam Davis house, etc. The Upper Room has a small museum and Dec-Jan, it exhibits its collection of nativity scenes, with over one hundred renditions from cultures around the world- which is a really interesting exhibit.

I'm always looking for places to take my children to learn about art, history, etc. You can get on the mailing list of most of these places and learn what exhibits are coming next. I would love to see some bigger museums here like the Field Museum in Chicago. But in the meantime, there are things to see and do, it just takes more work to discover them.

[moving_on_south]

Did someone say you are getting a Nordstroms??? I have to be honest in considering our move there one of the first recreational things I checked for was a Nordstroms and was so sad not to see a single one in the whole state!!! Being from Boston I live on Nordstroms and wouldn't even know where to buy jeans or handbags without one! Its silly but this is super exciting to me!

[nashvols]

Originally Posted by moving_on_south

Did someone say you are getting a Nordstroms??? I have to be honest in considering our move there one of the first recreational things I checked for was a Nordstroms and was so sad not to see a single one in the whole state!!! Being from Boston I live on Nordstroms and wouldn't even know where to buy jeans or handbags without one! Its silly but this is super exciting to me!

I think Nordstrom has been looking to locate here for a while now...there was a proposal a while back to have a second mall in Cool Springs (outdoor mall, smaller, with Nordstrom as the anchor)...but that was around the time that Opry Mills was being built, and I think the general thought was that Nashville had too many malls...

I guess they have to "settle" for Green Hills...lol. It's definitely the right spot for them, because of the concentration of upscale and high end retailers in the area.

I'm glad you're excited, but I think you would've still been able to buy jeans and handbags regardless of whether or not there is a Nordstrom here.

[NY2TN]

Originally Posted by mlp206

I am a veteran at this ( Autism ) I am also a native Nashvillian. Vandy or The Kennedy Center is a great resource but they are the only resource and quite frankly are not able to provide services to everyone. If you have insurance your in great shape. If not your out of luck. Even with insurance the wait is sometimes a year for testing, early diagnosis or interention, there are no Psychologist, Pyschiatrist that specialize in Autism taking new patients at present. It does not matter it the child is 3 or 16. I am sure that this is true in other parts of the country as well.

Vandy also offers studies that are free of charge for special needs children....

[moving_on_south]

Originally Posted by nashvols

I'm glad you're excited, but I think you would've still been able to buy jeans and handbags regardless of whether or not there is a Nordstrom here.

I suppose I could have found a way to survive!! LOL After all they do have a website! j/k!

[Crakaveli]

men's clothing stores.