Lizzy Alfs

USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

On a warm Saturday morning in March, joggers and young couples with strollers made their way down 51st Avenue North, bypassing construction sites and new restaurants advertising weekend brunch.

The scene was far different just a few years ago, when the main thoroughfare in The Nations neighborhood lacked much activity aside from industrial uses like auto body shops and lumberyards.

Some of those longtime industrial users still dot the street, but so do about a dozen newcomers, including restaurants, retail stores, apartment buildings and “coming soon” signs.

The nine-block stretch of 51st Avenue North between Charlotte Avenue and Centennial Boulevard is a symbol of the rapid development sweeping Nashville neighborhoods as old homes get demolished for new builds and businesses move in to offer residents amenities.

The neighborhood's name stretches back to before colonization, when different Native American tribal nations would meet there to communicate with each other. Lying about five miles west of downtown, the area is now drawing comparisons to 12South at the cusp of its development more than a decade ago. Today, 12South is one of Nashville’s priciest home markets and a red-hot area for commercial tenants.

“(The Nations is) going to be like a 12South, but it’s going to be the West Nashville version of it and it’s going to have a different feel and flavor than 12South,” Metro Councilwoman Mary Carolyn Roberts said.

In the last few years, 51st Avenue North has welcomed caterer and grab-and-go market Tinwings, women’s clothing boutique The Mill, bridal shop Willow Bride, restaurant/bar House: A Social Eatery, high-end restaurant Fifty First Kitchen & Bar, neighborhood hang The Nations Bar & Grill, retail store Fashionable and chef-driven restaurant Nicky’s Coal Fired.

Right nearby is Fat Bottom Brewing Co., dive bar The Centennial, Centennial Cafe, craft beer bar The Old Gas Station and Three Corners Coffee. More businesses are on the way, including Corner Pub and 51N Taproom.

It was in large part the affordable real estate prices that drew Lee Ann Merrick to 51st Avenue two and a half years ago to open Tinwings, but she initially feared she might not get enough business in that location.

“To be quite honest, I thought it would five to 10 years before the neighborhood would be able to support what we were doing,” Merrick said. “I was quite frankly concerned our customers wouldn’t come over here. I didn’t feel comfortable being here myself unless the store was closed. (Six months later), it was already different.”

Today, Tinwings is thriving with support from the neighborhood. She wants to start opening for business on Saturdays because she sees people walking their dogs, pushing strollers and groups of tourists that have rented nearby Airbnbs.

“When I’m here on Saturdays cooking or doing paperwork, people are coming up and pulling on the door. They’re ready and they’re here and more are coming,” Merrick said.

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Nashville’s hot street

New residents have poured into The Nations, where Roberts estimated some 5,000 homes have been built in the last six years.

Drive the streets surrounding 51st Avenue and you’ll see rows of “tall and skinny” houses attracting young professionals and families who are drawn to the neighborhood’s proximity to the interstate and downtown. Developers are replacing old homes with multiple houses on one lot and home prices have jumped into the $400,000 range for a three-bedroom new build.

Gentrification concerns Roberts, who said many longtime residents are being displaced by rising home values and property taxes. She’s working to educate people about property tax assistance programs ahead of April’s long-awaited property reappraisal.

“At the end of the day, if these longtime residents do sell or are forced to sell, they have nowhere to go," Roberts said. "Their whole life has been in this one neighborhood. I constantly hear, ‘I used to know everyone on my street and now I don’t know anybody.’”

Chuck Cinelli, owner of pioneering Coco’s Italian Market on 51st Avenue, echoed Roberts concerns and said many of his employees can no longer afford to live in The Nations or even Davidson County.

“Some employees used to be able to bike and walk to work and they can’t do that anymore. They’re living further away or they have to have roommates,” Cinelli said.

Drawn to the changing demographics, commercial developers have flocked to 51st Avenue to bring amenities such as restaurants and retail.

Developer Nathan Lyons of Vintage South Development is in the process of revitalizing the former Belle Meade Hosiery Mill at the corner of 51st and Centennial in a four-phase project that will bring a mix of retail, restaurants, creative users and office space to the site. The first announced tenants include Nicky’s Coal Fired, Fashionable and Office Evolution.

“When I did buy the building, I didn’t know it would develop or evolve into what we have today, but I just felt there was an opportunity there on a major corner and the mill itself was in great condition for the age it was,” Lyons said.

OakPoint Real Estate’s Trent Yates, who’s handling the leasing of the development, said interest level from potential tenants has exceed expectations.

“What makes The Nations great, in my opinion, is you have a lot of flat, walkable streets and there are a lot of square blocks with tons of access to what everybody considers to be the main street, and that’s 51st Avenue,” Yates said.

Sisters Lauren Miller and Allie Abide said people were skeptical when they decided to open women’s clothing boutique The Mill on 51st Avenue in 2015, but they believed the neighborhood was about to boom.

New neighborhood residents have already become loyal customers and The Mill has become a destination for shoppers living outside Davidson County.

“We get Franklin moms and high school students and they’ll ask, ‘What’s this area called, what’s the story?’ We’ve been spreading the word about The Nations and we’re happy to be here and get the word out and help with the economic growth and development,” said Miller, also a resident of The Nations.

Vision for the future

Major changes are underway to transform 51st Avenue into a “complete street,” part of an ongoing strategy by Metro to improve and maintain public streets.

The project, much anticipated by neighborhood stakeholders, will narrow the four-lane street to three lanes, one being a turning lane in the middle. The west side of the street will have parking and the east side will have a walking/bike path.

Project completion is slated for this spring, Roberts said. She hopes those changes will discourage large trucks from using 51st Avenue.

“51st Avenue is the lifeblood of our neighborhood. I would go out and try to recruit businesses to come here and one thing they would always say is you don’t have any parking,” Roberts said.

Miller hopes the project will improve walkability along 51st Avenue. She said many pedestrians are intimidated by the large trucks that use the neighborhood’s main corridor to get to the Pilot Travel Center on Centennial Boulevard.

Roberts said there’s a need for other Metro infrastructure improvements to accommodate the onslaught of new homes and development in the neighborhood, including Southeast Venture’s massive Silo Bend project on a 38-acre site on Centennial Boulevard. Hundreds of residences are planned at the site.

“What’s happened is we don’t have the infrastructure right; we don’t have the sewage and water, we don’t have anything in place. So every time they’re tearing down one small house and putting two large houses, they’re taxing our infrastructure,” Roberts said.

She doesn't foresee development slowing anytime soon.

“I think all the growth is starting from downtown…and I think we are the next wave and the wave after this is Charlotte Park and Robertson Avenue,” Roberts said.

The Nations: What's new?

House: A Social Eatery; 712 51st Ave N

Fat Bottom Brewing Co.; 800 44th Ave N

Three Corners Coffee; 5307 Centennial Blvd

The Old Gas Station; 5205 Centennial Blvd

The Nations Bar & Grill; 705 51st Ave N

Fashionable; 5022 Centennial Blvd

Nicky's Coal Fired; 5026 Centennial Blvd

Centennial Cafe; 5027 Centennial Blvd

Coming soon: Corner Pub; 1105 51st Ave. N.

Coming soon: 51N Taproom; 702 and 704 51st Ave. N.

Naming The Nations

Many have speculated on how The Nations neighborhood got its name — was it because all the streets are named after states or because of its ethnically diverse population? Brian Diller, executive director at St. Luke’s Community House on New York Avenue, said the truth stretches back to the earliest Nashvillians. Before colonization, different Native American tribal nations would meet there to communicate with each other.

Reach Lizzy Alfs at lalfs@tennessean.com or 615-726-5948 and on Twitter @lizzyalfs.