Overview of The Vision Plan

The new Music City Center could have major concourses and exhibit halls perched above ground, and surrounding streetscapes would include an urban greenway, an attractive traffic roundabout and mixed use retail space, according to some of the proposed ideas discussed at recent public meetings.

Among the concepts introduced by architects Seab Tuck of Tuck-Hinton and Andy McLean of Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates were:

• Placing key features of the building, including the main exhibit hall and the facility's prime concourses, level with Eighth Avenue South at the west end of the proposed convention center. The concourse/exhibit space would be higher above the ground at the east end of the structure due to the west-east downward slope of downtown. The placement would allow visitors easy access to area streets and views of the Nashville skyline from the center.

  

• Continuing Korean Veterans Boulevard which now ends at Fourth Avenue South westward to Eighth Avenue South, and redirecting it slightly so that it connects at the intersection of Eighth and Lafayette Street, creating the opportunity for a roundabout similar to that at the entrance to Nashville's Music Row.

  

• Closing Seventh Avenue South at Demonbreun Street to make the roundabout function better while avoiding having to raise the building to a level that would block views of nearby structures like the Sommet Center and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

  

• Ensuring the new Music City Center functions on all four sides in a way that stimulates business and energizes the neighborhood. Among nearby facets discussed during the meeting was an urban park behind the First Baptist Church.