DONELSON, Tenn. (WKRN) – We’re getting a new look at what the new Donelson Plaza will soon be, sometime in 2022, as construction continues on the once-popular shopping, that for some reason, lost steam.
”In the late 70s and 80s, it was the place to go place to be,” said Tara Mason, who worked at the plaza 30-something years ago at a clothing store called ‘One For The Money.’ “I’m glad to see it revitalized and I’m glad to see the history is being preserved.”
Tara, coincidentally, is back working at the plaza, this time part of the development team, Holladay Properties. “Over the years I noticed it’s never changed nobody ever took care of it.”
Now she, along with Allen Arender, Senior VP of Holladay Properties is.
Holladay Properties purchased the property in 2016.
“With all parts of Nashville we saw the ebb and flow of, you know, population moving to different parts of town overtime and it needed to be re-imagined and get new life,” Arender said.
He says what he’s after is to turn the plaza back into a town center, adding office space, more retail, entertainment and at some point, apartments.
Planned improvements include a new Nashville Public Library branch, refurbished building facades, redesigned landscapes, sidewalks, and roadways.
“The opportunity came to partner with the city to create the spot for the new Donelson Library,” Arender said. Nashville has a history of really good libraries and we expect this is going to be another good addition to the center and provide that community anchor.”
Here’s what it will eventually look like, however, the depiction of the library in the rendering a placeholder, we’re told it’s not what the library will actually look like.
Arender tells us construction on the library will start sometime in 2020, whether that’s summer or fall, we have yet to find out.
These improvements will occur in multiple phases, with phase one wrapping up in May.
The entire project should be complete in 2022.
