A Nashville developer is teeing up a mixed-use development that could include as many as 1,200 residential units and multiple 12-story commercial buildings, along an increasingly busy corridor immediately south of downtown.

Elmington Capital Group is taking the first concrete, public step toward what could be five years to 15 years of construction on roughly 24 acres of land the company owns along Edgehill Avenue and Eighth Avenue South. The property sits at the doorstep of the revitalizing Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood and a quarter-mile from shuttered Greer Stadium, itself the target of a $101 million redevelopment.

Elmington, founded in 2010, has filed for a zoning change that would allow 1,200 residential units — both rental and for-sale housing — as well as some 600,000 square feet of office and retail space. As with a number of other Elmington developments, the planned residential piece would include units priced to be attainable to people earning between 60 percent to 120 percent of the area median income. A lack of such affordable housing and workforce housing is one of the most pressing issues that has sprung up during Nashville’s population boom and economic growth, which have led to a record-setting housing market and surging apartment rents.

“The two biggest opportunities we’re striving for is a mixed-income neighborhood, with a diverse set of price points, rental and for-sale. And one thing this area lacks is general neighborhood services,” said Dominic Zabriskie, senior vice president of development at Elmington Capital. “There are no soft-goods retailers in the immediate area. So in the long-term, it’s about providing a wider array of neighborhood services south of downtown.”

Metro records indicate Elmington Capital paid $26.4 million for the roughly 24-acre property seen above in red, during a series of purchases that happened in fall 2016 and fall 2017.

Elmington has requested a zoning change for the development, which it is naming The Reservoir (a nod to the fact that it borders the city’s reservoir and Reservoir Park). According to that Metro filing, Elmington would like permission for buildings as tall as 12 stories at the corner of Edgehill and Eighth. Most of the site would have buildings no taller than six stories, according to the filing.

The Metro Planning Commission is scheduled to review Elmington’s requested zoning change at its Feb. 22 meeting. Elmington made a preliminary filing that outlines the broad standards and regulations for the proposed development. The company will return to Metro Planning with a final version at a later date.

Ultimately, Metro Council would need to affirmatively vote three times in order for a zoning change to take effect.

In an interview, Zabriskie said it’s too soon to know how much the project could cost. At this stage, developers usually do not have construction financing lined up, or even all of their necessary equity.

Most of the property today is scattered with low-rise apartment buildings containing a combined 290 low-income units. Elmington has met with neighborhood groups, affordable housing advocacy groups and the mayor’s office — and will continue to hold more of those sessions, Zabriskie said.

Construction will not begin in the “near term,” and when it does happen, it will be piecemeal, progressing as various apartment buildings are vacated as leases expire, Zabriskie said.

Elmington intends to include at least 290 affordable and workforce housing units in its planned project to fully replace what will temporarily be lost during phases of construction, he said. Separately, Elmington breaks ground next week on a 153-unit apartment complex at 12th Avenue South and Wedgewood Avenue, all of which will be affordable or workforce housing.

Elmington has no plans to displace existing Reservoir tenants such as Salama Urban Ministries, a nonprofit that serves K-12 students in the Edgehill area.

Once before, Elmington pursued a commercial development of a similar scale. The company successfully rezoned 3.4 acres on Demonbreun Street, near Music Row, that would have included a grocery store, 590 residential units, 640 hotel rooms, 103,000 square feet of retail and 420,000 square feet of office space — all in buildings up to 22 stories tall.

In March 2016, Elmington sold the property, which includes a retail strip, for $33.5 million to New Jersey-based Castle Rock Equity Group.

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