Cloud Hill’s Impact on the Community
The vision for Cloud Hill was born out of feedback gathered from the surrounding communities in a number of one-on-one conversations, culminating in well-advertised public meetings held at the Adventure Science Center in 2016. Our objective from day one has been to create a place that serves the interests and needs of the people who live here and call this neighborhood home.
The Cloud Hill plan does this in a number of ways.
We will create desperately needed affordable and workforce housing options in the urban core. This means creating more housing stock affordable to all Nashvillians, including those who already call this neighborhood home – the Edgehill and Napier communities, artists and makers, young families, and longtime residents – all of whom are feeling the pressures of a rapidly developing Nashville.
Greer Today
We will preserve and enhance the creative character of the existing neighborhood. WeHo gets its funky, vibrant identity from the many makers, crafts persons and pioneering entrepreneurs who call this neighborhood home. That’s why our plan calls for much-needed working space to foster this culture of creativity, providing affordable working spaces for budding entrepreneurs, makers and artists. As a city so proud of its creative classes, we want people to thrive, not struggle to survive.
We will increase the city’s network of urban parks and greenways. Turning parking spaces into active park spaces, we will convert the old Greer Stadium parking lots into over 13 acres of greenspace – creating a safe, family-friendly landscape full of playgrounds, trails, sports fields and beautiful greenspaces accessible to all Nashvillians. These spaces will be anchored by a greenway connecting downtown to the Greer site, providing desperately needed pedestrian-friendly transit options in a time of our worst traffic congestion ever.
Cloud Hill’s Vision
We will preserve and complement the historic importance of nearby Fort Negley. Although this project does not encroach or impact the Fort grounds in any way, we are excited to work with the community – history experts, faith leaders, descendants and neighbors – to create a development that brings more visitors to this site and honors those who built this place. Our intention has never been to sacrifice the history of the Fort for our own plans. That’s why our design doesn’t obstruct any of the views from the Fort and why no building we build will be any taller than the existing baseball stadium.
Lastly, we will create economic opportunities through jobs and subcontracts for our city’s minority workforce and businesses. Our team is passionate about raising Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) participation in projects across Metro and why we are committed to at least 20 percent DBE participation in the creation of Cloud Hill. It is important that the people who help build Cloud Hill reflect our diversity as a city today.
It is clear our plan does more for more communities than any other plan submitted, which is why our team was awarded the contract to partner with Metro on this project. Unlike a park-only plan, a baseball field-only plan or a wave pool – all of which privilege some groups of stakeholders at the expense of others – our plan works hard to bring everyone together in a meaningful way that respects and improves our quality of life as Nashvillians. We worked hard to develop a plan that does this at no cost to you, or to Metro.