Bill Lewis

Special to Nashville Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK — TENNESSEE

Former U.S. Rep Diane Black and her husband David have listed their condo in downtown Nashville for $3 million.

The condo is on the 21st floor of downtown’s first residential high-rise, The Cumberland, and offers sweeping views of the city.

The two-story unit has 3,135 square feet, including four bedrooms, four and a half baths, two balconies, a full kitchen and a kitchenette-bar and three separate living areas.

There are thousands of condos and apartments downtown and another 2,039 under construction, but one of the largest and most luxurious residences on the market is in the building that launched the downtown living trend more than two decades ago.

That condo is on the 21st floor of downtown’s first residential high-rise, The Cumberland. The two-story unit has 3,135 square feet of living space and is on the market for $3 million.

“The Cumberland is where it started,” said Realtor Heath McCrary with Summit Realty Group.

The condo is being sold by David and Diane Black, who live in Sumner County and used it as a second home when attending downtown events. The couple founded Aegis Sciences Corp. She represented Tennessee’s 6th District in Congress before unsuccesfully seeking the Republican nomination for governor last year.

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In the heart of the city

The Blacks enjoyed the condo “both for the views and location,” said David Black.

The Cumberland is located at 555 Church St., between Germantown, where the Nashville Sounds play baseball, shopping and restaurants in the Gulch and SoBro, where Ascend Amphitheater is located. The city’s main library is next door. Nissan Stadium, where the NFL’s Titans play, and the Frist Art Museum are nearby. The Tennessee Performing Arts Center is around the corner.

“Walk to the Ryman, the Schermerhorn (Symphony Center), the (Bridgestone) Arena, near the Music City Center, great restaurants,” David Black said of The Cumberland.

Residences in The Cumberland have been updated over the years, making the building competitive with newer high rises like 1212 and Terrazzo in The Gulch, said McCrary.

Since completing The Cumberland, the building’s developer, Tony Giarratana, has pursued other apartment and condo high rises including Encore, a 21-story building next to the Schermerhorn, Viridian, a 31-story building at 415 Church St., and 505, a 45-story building at the corner of Church Street and Fifth Avenue.

Giarratana and Nashville mayor David Briley proposed a land swap that would have enabled construction of a 65-story residential building on the site of a public park at the corner of church Street and Sixth Avenue North, across the street from The Cumberland. That deal was put on hold after a public outcry.

Lifestyle growing in popularity

More than 12,000 people live downtown today, a number the Nashville Downtown Partnership expects to grow to 13,000 by the end of this year and more than 15,000 by the end of 2021.

Downtown living is increasingly popular, said Tamara Dickson, the Downtown Partnership’s vice president for economic development.

“A lot of it is pent-up demand from the millennials and baby boomers who prefer urban living, a walkable environment,” she said.

“A lot are coming from larger cities and want to live in an urban environment … a lot from New York, L.A., (Washington) D.C. and Chicago,” she said.

Despite all the construction downtown, large high-end condos like the Blacks’ can be hard to find, said McCrary.

There were just 84 high-rise condos on the market a week ago and another 67 that had contracts. In the past year in areas one and two, which includes downtown, 321 condos were sold. There were five downtown condos on the market last week for more than $2 million. Most of them are smaller and have fewer bedrooms than the Blacks’ unit, he said.

McCrary believes the Blacks’ condo stands out because of its size and amenities that include four bedrooms and four and a half baths. It has two balconies, a full kitchen and a kitchenette-bar, three separate living areas and two-story windows with views across downtown. The building has 24-hour concierge service.

The condo has another feature in high demand downtown these days — two underground parking spaces.

“It’s in close proximity to everything, and the views are phenomenal,” said McCrary.

More real estate news:Design plans approved, groundbreaking set for new $350M SoBro high-rise

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