Nate Rau

nrau@tennessean.com

Now's a good time to remember that two years ago, the hashtag on Twitter said #SaveMusicRow.

When Ben Folds gathered hundreds of people at RCA Studio A two summers ago the conversation he jumpstarted was about preservation.

At the time, Studio A, the historic studio where Dolly Parton and other legends recorded, was about to be razed to make room for condos and a music-themed restaurant.

In the last two years, an unprecedented local community organizing effort has taken off and given rise to a new neighborhood group, the Music Row Neighborhood Association, and a new coalition of music professionals, the Music Industry Coalition.

Preservationists have conducted laborious studies of Music Row’s history and land use policies, and the Planning Department has held an array of public meetings to contemplate what should be done about the world’s most famous music business corridor.

An initial proposal unveiled in January was a thoughtful but meager set of guidelines that would have dictated height and setback requirements for new buildings on Music Row.

But the guidelines lacked teeth. For instance, RCA Studio A is located in a section where eight-story buildings would be allowed. That’s three stories more than the condo development that the Brentwood firm was pitching two years ago. Preservationist Aubrey Preston eventually stepped in and saved Studio A from the wrecking ball.

In short, the guidelines being discussed wouldn’t have done much to block Music Row from becoming Condo Row. Music Row may be the place where publishing houses, record labels and entertainment giants do their vital work, but it’s also a thoroughfare connecting some of the most valuable real estate in Nashville. Developers are licking their chops.

Having written about Nashville’s development community over my nearly nine years covering the city, I’ve gotten acquainted with their lobbyists and attorneys. I don’t think that fine crew of people is cowering in fear at the guidelines being discussed.

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That’s why Planning Department Executive Director Doug Sloan offered a bold proposal recently that would have made the guidelines meaningful and tilted the scales in favor of keeping Music Row a place where music business is done.

Sloan and his department proposed a Music Row Code that would have forced developers to gain approval from a new design review committee if they seek to raze a famous music building and replace it with something else.

The committee would be comprised of stakeholders from Music Row — property owners, executives and representatives from Vanderbilt and Belmont — folks who have had skin in the game since way before this issue became a hashtag.

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The Music Row Code would not preclude property owners from selling their buildings to be redeveloped. For instance, the sparkling new SESAC headquarters replaced a nondescript former publishing house and tracking studio where legends such as Kris Kristofferson worked.

Because the new use of that property was a music-business office, I find it likely that the design review committee would have signed off on the proposal even though it meant tearing down a building where music history was made. This means property values would not be negatively impacted by Sloan's proposal.

To be fair to critics, perhaps the Planning Department should have briefed the neighborhood leaders and others before the community meeting a few weeks ago. People felt blindsided that the plans changed without their knowledge.

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But, the issue here is preservation, not inside baseball arguments about government processes. Music Row shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.

If the community is really committed to preservation, Sloan’s proposal is a bold, first-of-its-kind idea that would create a new check on Music Row’s redevelopment.

The alternative is a bland set of land use guidelines that would not have solved the very conundrum that started this important discussion in the first place.

It’s time to see if Nashville is really serious about preservation.

Nate Rau covers the music business for The Tennessean. Reach him at 615-259-8094 and follow him on Twitter @tnnaterau.