Metro Buys First East Bank Boulevard Parcel for $18.97M

Metro Nashville is proposing East Bank Boulevard, a roughly 1-mile multimodal north-south arterial between Jefferson Street/Spring Street and Korean Veterans Boulevard. NDOT leads the project. The first segment, Jefferson Street to the Korean Veterans Bridge, opens in 2036.

Metro closed on its first right-of-way acquisition, paying $18.97 million to Dallas-based Stillwater Capital for the 2.07-acre site at 186 N. First St. Stillwater had eyed a 370-unit apartment project, seemingly to be called The George, for the portion of the site it still owns; it acquired the property and an adjacent site in March 2022 for $21.5 million. Metro said the deal does not affect ongoing litigation with Stillwater.

The project appears in the Transportation Improvement Program as #2022-11-146, the East Bank Spine/North-South Arterial Boulevard, at a $50 million total cost. Funding includes $25 million in state Local Interstate Connector funds matched by Metro. Phase one construction starts in 2030.

Design remains unsettled: a six-lane highway configuration versus a four-lane, people-first alternative. No final decision appears in the project record.