Rezoning attempt that could have spared structure scrapped after continued citizen pushback

A proposed rezoning involving property in the Riverside Village business district is no longer being sought by a prospective developer — thus opening the door for the demolition of the old-school one-story building home to Fond Object.

Under a specific plan rezoning proposal needing Metro approval, ZMX Inc. would have kept the Fond Object building. ZMX also could have added various two- and three-story structures with a collective 33 apartment units on three adjacent parcels located behind the Fond Object building and to the north on Riverside Drive (and on which sit single-family homes).

However, some past and continued resident pushback seemingly has spurred ZMX to withdraw the request to move forward with the SP as citizen consensus seemingly could not be reached. The company now is expected to redevelop the multi-parcel site via the properties’ allowed-for base zoning.

The address of the Fond Object property is 1313 McGavock Pike, with the quirky record store having served as a community space of sorts since it opened in 2013.

Metro Councilmember Anthony Davis, in whose District 7 the property sits, posted the following on the Inglewood-Nashville Facebook page:

“I only can pass along what the owners told me. They would likely soon tear down the McGavock building, design and at some point build a new three-story building on McGavock, with either retail ground floor and apartments above, or all apartments.”

That three-story building, if it materializes, would replace the one-story structure housing Fond Object and the homes to the north.

Mark Bloom and Larry Papel, known for their development work with Corner Partnership (W Hotel, Hilton Nashville Downtown, etc.) own four parcels at the intersection, with Lance Bloom, a local broker with Colliers | International Nashville (and Mark Bloom’s son), owning a fifth.

At a recent neighborhood meeting, Ben Azzi, operations director for ZMX Inc., said a plan undertaken via an SP zoning could have involved an updating of the existing Fond Object. Such an upgrade, in exchange for not razing that structure for a larger building, would necessitate ZMX building — on the aforementioned three parcels fronting Riverside Drive — the various new residential buildings.

“Although there was both support and opposition, being a community plan amendment AND a zoning change, the consensus support needed for the project did not materialize,” Davis posted on Facebook. “And facing potentially another deferral at planning commission, the applicant is withdrawing.”

Various citizens and local musicians, including Aaron Lee Tasjan and Margo Price, have voiced strong opposition to the plan on social media.

However, many other citizens said the now-scrapped SP rezoning would have represented a valid compromise. Such zoning could have allowed for the aforementioned Fond Object building to be spared.

Posting on the Inglewood Facebook page, citizen Jeremy McCoy noted the following (edited for some clarity):

“I wish the SP had gone through for the reasons [Councilmember Davis] stated above. My family has been present in various parts of East Nashville since the 1960s, so I get the frustration with mass development. But, this is what you get when you fight every single proposal. There was room for compromise here. But because East Nashville will settle for ‘nothing less than nothing at all,’ we will get the extreme version of exactly what [the opponents] don't want. What did you expect? The investors are going to spend $3 million buying the land and then put a public park on it?”





