Metro panel denies demo permit for properties that include Treehouse Restaurant

The owners of three prominent Five Points parcels — one home to Treehouse Restaurant — are looking at options for a trio of structures there, including demolition.

Of note, the Metro Historic Zoning Commission Wednesday afternoon unanimously denied the request to demolish.

The parcels have addresses of 1007-1011 Clearview Ave. and are owned variously by members of the Spicher family, which includes wife and husband, and retirees, Paula and Buddy Spicher (the latter of whom is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame). Spicher was a fiddler and a member of the Nashville A-Team of session musicians.

The Spichers have potential buyers of the properties and, according to sources, the would-be purchasers are pondering various options should they make the acquisition. One of those would include demo and redevelopment.

Treehouse Restaurant opened in 2013 at 1011 Clearview and is known for cocktails and an inventive menu. Matt Spicher and Corey Ladd own the restaurant business.

Ladd, Spicher’s nephew and Paula and Norman’s grandson, told the Post Treehouse is not closing.

“Today was a submission for if we [hypothetically] could demo,” he said. “We are evaluating all options.”

Fiddle House, an acoustic string shop that deals in violin rental, repair and restoration, operates in one of the three buildings.

In the late 1980s, the Spichers acquired the 1009 and 1011 parcels for $25,000 and $22,000, respectively. In 2007, David Spicher and two individuals with the last name Tillis bought the 2007 parcel for $175,000.

According to a Metro document, and in a letter from the elder Spichers, the family is making an economic hardship case. It wants to sell the three parcels as one to maximize the return on their investment.

The three homes likely were constructed prior to World War II, according to MHZC records.

Tim Walker, Metro Historical Commission executive director, said the three buildings "all contribute to the historic character of the district."

Walker said the the general Five Points district exhibits a great diversity of historic buildings on several fronts including:



* the size of buildings- from small one story residential and commercial structures to the grand high-style three story homes, two-story commercial buildings, and large schools and churches;



* the range of architectural styles that were prevalent during those five decades- including Queen Anne Victorian, Eastlake, Craftsman, Spanish/Mediterranean Revival, American Four Square, Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, etc; and



* the exterior building materials or cladding- including stucco, brick, stone, cmu, wood shingle, and various sizes of beveled wood siding.



Walker said that unlike most other urban Nashville neighborhoods, Five Points offers a diversity of uses with churches, schools, a fire hall, a post office, retail, restaurants, grocery stores and offices, a former movie theater and a library.

