Grocery Store, Garage Eyed for Demonbreun Retail Strip

Grocery Store, Garage Eyed for Demonbreun Retail Strip

A proposed grocery store that might be a Publix and a 200-car parking garage could be part of the first phase of Elmington Capital Group’s redevelopment of 3.3 acres on Demonbreun Street and 16th Avenue South in Midtown.

The master plan filed with the Metro Planning Commission on Thursday calls for residential, office, retail and hotel uses. The filing seeks to remove the property from under the Music Row urban design overlay, which if approved would allow Elmington Capital to build structures more than 10 stories tall.

Roughly a year and a half ago, the Nashville-based investment firm bought the retail strip on Demonbreun where the project is planned and rebranded that area as Demonbreun Hill. The planned redevelopment project aims to support the neighborhood’s growing residential nature, executives said.

“This filing is for long-term planning purposes because we have existing leases and will continue to honor those,” Dominic Zabriskie, Elmington Capital’s director of asset management, said about the application submitted to Metro planners.

Construction of the first phase, which will start with the parking garage, won’t affect tenants of the retail strip, including Off Broadway Shoes, First Citizens Bank and Tin Roof, Zabriskie said.

“In order to further develop anything here, we need to increase the amount of parking we have on the property,” he said.

The smaller, urban-style grocery store is proposed for roughly 30,000 square feet of space in a building that would be along 16th Avenue South, Zabriskie said. Publix has been mentioned in Nashville real estate circles as the likely tenant for the space, but he said Elmington Capital is keeping its options open.

Under the Music Row urban design overlay, buildings are restricted to six stories along 16th Avenue South with 10 stories allowed at the Roundabout, Zabriskie said. The Element at Music Row apartments being built on the other side of the Roundabout from Elmington Capital’s property is expected to rise 18 stories.

Elmington’s property is 97 percent leased, including to some tenants with 10-year terms. Just Love Coffee is opening this month, bringing a new breakfast and coffee option along with morning commerce to the neighborhood.

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