NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — From land to water, a new district in East Germantown keeps on expanding.
On Friday, News 2 learned more about a project that’s said to reinvent the use of the Cumberland River, with a waterfront development on the West bank.
Over the last few years, Germantown has boasted quite the diversity of development, with one of the biggest undertakings being the 14-acre Neuhoff Site, a former meatpacking facility that New City Properties acquired in 2019.
In the future, the company’s president, Jim Irwin, said there will be more than 500 apartment units, office, retail, restaurant space, and access to the river.
The founder of Nashville Now Next, Robert Looper lll, who tracks real estate development in town, put together this graphic that shows the concentration of projects surrounding the redevelopment of Neuhoff.
In the meantime, a public notice shared by the Army Corps of Engineers this week tells us more about Irwin’s plans for river access with a proposal for three connected barges: one with a restaurant and bar, another with a walking path and landscaping, and the last, with a sundeck and pool.
Documents show the barges would be 35 feet wide, 200 feet long and they’d stay there permanently, falling and rising with the river.
The decision of whether to issue a Department of Army permit will be based on an evaluation of impacts, with the Army Corps looking into land use, flood hazards, general environmental concerns, and more, according to Tim Wilder, chief of the West Branch Regulatory Division in the Nashville District. They will also consider things like economics, aesthetics, recreation, and, more generally, the needs and welfare of the people.
That’s only the first step.
In addition to the DA permit, other federal, state, and/or local approvals may be required for the proposed work, including Metro Nashville and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.
The applicant states impacts to the Cumberland River were minimized during the design phase, with no dredging of the river required.
The Army Corps of Engineers said any person may request, in writing, within the comment period, that a public hearing be held to consider this application.
Written statements received on or before April 3, 2022, will become a part of the record and will be considered in the determination.
“The overall task is to evaluate the information supplied by the applicant, received from the public and other government agencies, and gathered by the Corps to determine whether the project is contrary to the public interest and whether the proposal would be in compliance with federal laws. The most significant of these are the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), National Historical Preservation Act (NHPA), Endangered Species Act (ESA), Federal Clean Water Act (CWA), and the River and Harbors Act of 1899,” Wilder said in a statement to News 2.
Any response to this notice should reference LRN-2021-00627 and be directed to the Regulatory Branch, Attention: Amy Robinson, at amy.m.robinson@usace.army.mil.
