Nashville: Music City Center#

Opened: 2013. Exhibit space: 353,000 sq ft. Walk Score: 83–86.

The convention center that works — built on a community that was erased.

What Was Here Before#

Black Bottom — Nashville’s first African American business and residential district. Center of Black business life by 1900. Destroyed by urban renewal and highway construction; gone by 1960. 200,000+ cubic yards excavated.

Convention centers have a history of being built on cleared communities. Nashville is one of the most documented cases.

What’s Here Now#

SoBro (South of Broadway) — hotels, Bridgestone Arena (1996), Country Music Hall of Fame, dense neighborhood with condos, restaurants, bars. Honky-tonk bars on Broadway a short walk. LEED-certified green roof.

The Music City Center completed a 15-year arc starting with Bridgestone Arena (1996). SoBro went from cleared urban renewal land to one of Nashville’s most desirable neighborhoods.

The Transformation#

The convention center works commercially — ~305 events/year, 45% of potential turned away for lack of space. The neighborhood is thriving. The displacement is permanent.

See also: San Francisco Moscone (SoMa displacement) | DC (demolition as renewal)