NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Developers call it the ‘next great entertainment district in one of the most important music and entertainment centers of our country.’

“It really does make you think about a new gateway to downtown,” said Metro Councilman Freddie O’Connell. “If you think about truly downtown music venues you have the Ryman, Bridgestone, I think AEG is looking at it and saying we probably have enough capacity here to bring in another venue for ticketed shows.”

And that they are.

Southwest Value Partners, the owner and developer of the massive 18-acre Nashville Yards project between Broadway and Charlotte Avenue, has partnered with AEG, the world’s leading sports and live entertainment company, to co-develop the entertainment district and concert venue at Nashville Yards.

Southwest Value Partners and AEG have expanded the original plan for the entertainment district at the Yards to now include a 4,000-capacity live music venue, an upscale eight screen movie theatre, restaurants, retail, 275,000 square feet of office space, and three residential towers. Much needed residential towers.

“We can’t build housing fast enough for how quickly Nashville is growing, it’s a real concern,” O’Connell said. “If we added 10,000 more units of housing downtown this year, they would all fill up right by the end of the year.”

In just a few years, the area will be filled with new sounds and even more new buildings. We’re talking about several office towers, additional retail, restaurant and residential towers, multiple green spaces, plazas and a 1.3-acre park.

“Downtown is sort of becoming its own set of mini districts,” O’Connell said. “Now, you add what Nashville Yards is creating its own district as well.”

Construction is set to start on the entertainment district in early of 2022. By then, O’Connell hopes the city has a plan to mitigate traffic in that area. He says the city is actively working right now for solutions.

“How do we still grapple with the quality-of-life concerns that are out there. We add a new entertainment district, I think for a ticketed venue, it’s like Bridgestone, nobody ever complains. Maybe you get concern about traffic after a Preds game or show downtown, but they don’t generate the type of complaints you get about noise from something that’s open air like transpotainment, peddle taverns, and the tractors,” O’Connell said. “I think the general sense is people are really excited about the new stuff that’s coming.”