he Office of Mayor Freddie O’Connell has reached an agreement with Merus (formerly Al Neyer) to redevelop the Rivergate Mall site that sits on 57 acres in Goodlettsville. The development is expected to revitalize the area with multifamily housing, townhomes for sale, senior housing, retail, restaurant, sports and entertainment facilities, medical office, general office, and hotels, along with other improvements and public infrastructure.
“We can take the lessons we’ve learned from the Global Mall redevelopment in Antioch and the Bellevue Mall to revitalize another space that is no longer serving the community well,” Mayor Freddie O’Connell said. “With a development partner in place, we can reimagine this space to be a community asset that brings neighbors together and enlivens the neighborhood.”
The site’s history
Over the past decade, public use of the mall has declined and so has its economic value. Metro’s property tax revenue from the mall has dropped precipitously resulting in a loss more than $10 million while revitalized malls like the site in Bellevue have produced more than a 500 percent increase in property tax revenue. In all, 57 storefronts at the mall have closed in the last five years while only 39 remain open.
“Rivergate Mall has been woven into the fabric of this community since 1971, and now we have the opportunity to reimagine it for the next generation of Nashville,” said Patrick Poole, Nashville Market Leader for Merus. “We’re excited to create a place where people can live, work, gather, and feel connected. This is the kind of project that makes a real impact on the community and we’re proud to partner with the city of Nashville to help bring that vision to life.”
Metro proposes to provide a portion of property tax revenues to the Industrial Development Board to make grants that will allow Merus to borrow approximately $22.5 million to offset some of the initial infrastructure costs that the new plan will require. In addition to paying for a portion of the public infrastructure, Merus has committed to: reserve land for WeGo to use for a multimodal transit facility; ensure that there are affordable senior housing units included in the project.
What’s new about this incentive structure?
When compared to previous incentive packages for redevelopment, Metro has put several new elements in place to safeguard the taxpayers’ investment. Metro will make a hard cap on the amount of future tax revenue available to Merus for Merus to pay principal and interest on its initial loan: either $42 million or 25 years, whichever comes first. Metro’s analysis of the public benefit has focused primarily on direct benefits to Metro and the taxpayer instead of indirect opportunities which Metro and Merus expect to be substantial. The deal enables Metro and Merus to work together to both advance sound redevelopment of an underutilized site and bring an exciting new future to the Rivergate area.
