Joey Garrison

USA Today Network - Tennessee

Mayor Megan Barry’s administration is proposing that Metro spend $2.26 million for an 8.38-acre tract of land at the redevelopment site of the old Bellevue Center mall for a new Nashville Predators ice facility and next-door community center.

The city had previously planned to build only the regional community center on a 2.02-acre parcel at the mixed-use project called One Bellevue Place that the project’s developer, Charlotte, N.C. based Crosland Southeast, had donated to the city.

But the size was determined too small and therefore insufficient after Barry earlier this year announced plans to also construct an adjacent ice center to be operated by the NHL’s Nashville Predators and open to the public.

Both parcels are vacant commercial lots and are both within One Bellevue Place Development. The larger 8.38-acre site was appraised for $4.1 million by a real estate appraiser hired by the city. The same firm appraised the smaller 2.02-acre site for $1.15 million, a difference of $2.95 million.

Metro would also return the 2.02-acre property back to the developers under the deal.

Barry’s Press Secretary Sean Braisted said that the developer proposed a purchase price that is less than the appraised value and the administration accepted.

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Councilwoman Sheri Weiner, the area’s representative and co-sponsor of the transaction's ordinance, said the project will help elevate the “family-centered nature” of Bellevue as a destination.

She said the larger site was determined essential after Metro chose to make the community center a larger regional center to accommodate programs for seniors and other resources. Meanwhile, Metro and the Predators decided that two sheets of ice, not one, were appropriate for the new Bellevue ice facility to feed the growing demand for ice skating in Nashville.

“When they looked at putting the second sheet of ice and the regional community center as a true private-public partnership – that’s when the need for the additional acreage became apparent,” Weiner said.

Barry has estimated that the new ice center and community center will collectively cost Metro between $25 million to $30 million. The mayor plans to include the project in her upcoming capital-spending plan during the 2017-18 budget process. Zak Kelly, a spokesman for the Metro finance department, said the $2.26 for the land million is included in the overall projection.

The Metro Council will take up the land purchase for a procedural first of three votes on Tuesday.

In March, Barry and the Nashville Predators announced plans for the new 120,000 square-foot ice rink and community center project.

The ice center will mark the Predators’ second ice facility in Nashville following the 2014 opening of the Ford Ice Center in Antioch. The sheets of ice will cater to the city’s growing number of youth hockey participation and ice skaters, and could be used for occasional Predators team practices.

One Bellevue Place will consist of 375,000 square feet of retail, entertainment and restaurant uses, as well as 337 multifamily residential units, a hotel, and around 150 units of senior housing.

Components of One Bellevue Place, which started with the demolition of the old mall in 2015, is slated to begin opening at the end of this year. The hockey facility's groundbreaking is expected this summer ahead of an opening in September 2018.

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.