Briley Says Demolish Baseball Stadium to Redevelop Fort Negley Park

Nashville Mayor David Briley has made his first major announcement on the job — a proposal to demolish Greer Stadium and restore the land for reintegration into Fort Negley Park. The Tennessean reported the story Tuesday, adding the new mayor needs to ask Metro Council for $1 million to demolish the old stadium and begin restoring the property as a park. Briley’s predecessor, Megan Barry, had made a controversial push to redevelop Greer Stadium into a mixed-use project called Cloud Hill. Barry abandoned those plans in January amid strong resistance. The funds “would come from the city’s 4% reserve fund through a request to the Metro Council in April,” according to a statement on the city’s website. “Following the demolition, the property will be seeded with grass while the Metro Historical Commission produces a Cultural Landscape Report that will help inform decisions by the Metro Parks Board about how best to turn this space into an active park that honors the history of the site.” Learotha Williams, a professor of black history at Tennessee State University, hailed Briley’s move. On Twitter, he said, “this is, without doubt, a tremendous first step at honoring those Tennesseans who first tasted freedom here.”…

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Cloud Hill Withdraws from Controversial Fort Negley Re-Development Project After Archaeological Report Finds ‘Likely’ Graves

The Cloud Hill real estate development partnership announced Friday in a short statement it has withdrawn from the Fort Negley/Greer Stadium mixed-use project, citing concerns over an archaeological report which found that there is a great likelihood that the graves of slaves who build the historic fort are still resting on the grounds. At issue is a final report released by Tennessee Valley Archaeological Research (TVAR), a “consulting firm is located in Huntsville, Alabama [that works] closely with State Historic Preservation Officers and their staffs . . . to provide clients with an efficient process to comply with historic preservation laws and regulations,” which found that among the undisturbed soils along the periphery of the property indicate “that impressed slaves were likely buried in these areas during the construction of Fort Negley, it is highly likely that human remains are still present in these areas.” The proposal submitted by the Cloud Hill Partnership “accepted by Nashville Mayor Megan Barry to redevelop Fort Negley Park calls for affordable housing subsidized by government programs including tax credits and Section 8 vouchers,” The Tennessee Star reported in July, noting: The plan by Cloud Hill Partnership has already drawn fierce opposition because of concerns about historic preservation.…

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Developer Files Ethics Complaint Against Metro Nashville Officials Regarding Fort Negley Development Plans

  A Nashville developer has filed an ethics complaint against Metro officials for allegedly ignoring his request for more information about the process used to choose a developer for Fort Negley Park. In May, Mayor Megan Barry chose the Cloud Hill Partnership as the developer for the historic site, which includes Greer Stadium, although there is still no formal agreement. Bert Mathews, whose real estate firm created the Cloud Hill team, held a fundraiser for Barry when she was running for mayor. Devinder Singh Sandhu, who lost out to Cloud Hill in the bidding process, previously wrote a letter to city procurement officials protesting the process, saying it “was not equitable to all submitters and information required to make a proper presentation was not complete” and that there was a “lack of transparency.” In his ethics complaint Monday, Sandhu noted that he has “requested answers to questions, documents, requests for meetings and clarification.” The Procurement Appeals Board was set to consider Sandhu’s case Wednesday, but he sent the board a letter late Tuesday saying he had decided to dismiss his appeal. “We are forced to take this action because you, the Metro Procurement Office and Metro Finance Department established the August 30, 2017 hearing date…

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Development Proposal For Nashville’s Historic Fort Negley Park Includes Plans For Welfare Housing

The proposal accepted by Nashville Mayor Megan Barry to redevelop Fort Negley Park calls for affordable housing subsidized by government programs including tax credits and Section 8 vouchers. The plan by Cloud Hill Partnership has already drawn fierce opposition because of concerns about historic preservation. Located south of downtown, the land is home to a fort built during the Union occupation of Nashville during the Civil War and also includes Greer Stadium, where the Nashville Sounds minor league baseball team played until moving to a new stadium north of downtown in 2015. City officials have not yet entered into a formal agreement with Cloud Hill and negotiations for the public-private partnership are stalled pending a protest by a competing developer whose bid was turned down. In addition to affordable and workforce housing, Cloud Hill’s plan includes green space, creative spaces for artists, offices, and shops and restaurants. It also calls for preserving the fort and honoring and protecting history. The residential component includes plans for 294 apartments. They would include 87 studio, 68 one-bedroom, 119 two-bedroom and 20 three-bedroom apartments. At least 80 of the 294 apartments would be reserved as affordable units for those earning less than 50 percent of the…

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Opposition Grows Against Nashville Mayor Megan Barry’s Plans To Redevelop Fort Negley Park

  Opposition is growing against Nashville Mayor Megan Barry’s plans to open Fort Negley Park to private development. Part of Fort Negley Park was home to Greer Stadium from the late 1970s until 2015, when the Nashville Sounds minor league baseball team moved to a new stadium just north of downtown. Barry has accepted a proposal from a development team called Cloud Hill Partnership, but Metro has not yet formally entered into an agreement. Plans for the Metro-owned property call for including affordable housing for workers, shops and restaurants, green space and creative spaces for artists. Under the proposed deal, Metro would retain ownership, with the development team investing private funds and sharing revenue. Critics include African-American groups, Councilman John Cooper, a national nonprofit devoted to protecting cultural landscapes and many native Nashvillians. “They shouldn’t even be considering this,” Nashville native Doug Jones told The Tennessee Star Friday. “That is sacred ground out there.” Jones, a local attorney, is a past president of the Battle of Nashville Preservation Society. He told The Star that Ft. Negley Park is a site of national importance and that “this is not just some local thing that the mayor can do in a back room…

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