Mayor Karl Dean said that building a new Sounds ballpark would be a luxury and had to be done under the right circumstances and through a public-private partnership (The Tennessean, 2011).
The discussions of where to place the new ballpark began in the early 2000s and heated up again in 2011, when the Nashville Civic Design Center put together a report for four possible ballpark locations. Yet, interviewees from architect Seab Tuck to Toby Compton, the executive director of the Sports Authority, which is the Metro entity in charge of building the new baseball stadium, agreed that the Mayor wanted to place the new $150-million, private-public ballpark development at Sulphur Dell.
In a videotaped meeting with The Tennessean editorial Board, Mayor Karl Dean expressed his reasons for picking the current site:
1. It is the right spot to honor the history of the Sulphur Dell site, which was the original site for Nashville baseball with Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Jackie Robinson playing at the site among other greats;
2. The baseball park can serve as a connector North Nashville and downtown; and
3. The investment in North Nashville is vital for the area and the city.
Mayor Dean explained that the city has invested about $1 billion in the area south of Broadway. “So it seemed to me if we were to do another project that the right place to do it was in the northern part of downtown, and I really wanted to do a project that would be on Jefferson Street."
The state, according to former state architect Mike Fitts, had a vision to create a cultural destination area on the land it owns around the Bicentennial Mall. There are still plans to build the State Archives and Library as well as a new home for the Tennessee State Museum between the new Sounds stadium and Bicentennial Mall.
To make the ballpark a reality, the city entered into an agreement with the state for a land swap. The ballpark will be owned by the city and managed by the Sports Authority.
Jefferson Street United Merchants Partnership (JUMP) as well as the neighborhoods making up the Capitol District (Hope Gardens, Buena Vista, Germantown, and Salemtown) have been very supportive and welcoming of Nashville’s new ballpark.
In addition, Council Lady Erica Gilmore, who represents the Capitol District, has been a strong supporter and cheerleader for the community. She co-sponsored the Metro ordinance that approves the land swaps necessary to build the new ballpark and said she already sees the effect the development has on the Capitol District. Multiple people have shown interest in zone changes in the area.
View the December 10, 2013, Metro Council meeting, which approved the ordinance that allowed the city to swap land with Embery Development Co. and the state of Tennessee - a move necessary for the Sounds ballpark development.
