With the process of urban renewal comes a risk of gentrification. Gentrification developed a bad connotation over a generation ago and continues to be considered a threat to many underdeveloped communities.
“Areas like Germantown, East Nashville and the Gulch have been transformed from lower and middle income communities to trendy districts catering to upper scale residents and tourists," Ronal Weathersby wrote in the Tennessee Tribune. "The NAACP and other organizations are becoming wary since the historic corridor seems like the only area inside the city left to redevelop." (see Tennessee Tribune article)
Gentrification also brings about a concern of transportation. As a result of development and economic prosperity, rents are increasing, which then tends to price out a large amount of the population, pushing lower-income families out of a redevelopment area. What is more, this same group of inner city residents is among the people with the lowest car ownership rates of any demographic. If inner city minority residents are priced out of walkable areas with transit access, they become isolated and/or transit become less efficient.
While each of the four neighborhoods in the Capitol District (Germantown, Salemtown, Buena Vista, and Hope Gardens) are working hard to create their identities in the area, an overarching master plan for the Capitol District is still needed. The latest North Nashville CDC Master Plan was developed in 2002, which is a collaborative initiative of Fisk University, Meharry Medical College and Tennessee State University. Without collaboration from each influential sector it is difficult to determine if North Nashville will experience the change that is needed to truly become a successful mixed-use neighborhood.
The question is whether building a baseball stadium is enough. The new Sounds Stadium at Sulphur Dell is not an economic driving force on its own. Rather it is up to the private sector to take the first step toward creating public-private collaborations that benefit the entire Capitol District emulating what developments such as The Gulch and Rolling Mill Hill.
