Metro officials present Imagine East Bank implementation plan and 99-year master lease with Fallon Company; TAC MOU introduced

Metro Nashville officials on a council committee call presented the Imagine East Bank implementation plan and described a proposed 99-year master ground lease with Fallon Company to govern the initial 30-acre development area on the East Bank, while introducing a separate, nonbinding 35-year memorandum of understanding with TAC for a cultural use on parcel E.

Anna Grier of Metro’s planning department said the Imagine East Bank vision — adopted “on October 6th of 2022” — grew from more than 21 months of community engagement and centers four priorities: equity and affordability, mobility, resiliency and neighborhood-building. Grier briefed the committee on the selection of Fallon Company after an eight-month RFQ process to negotiate a master development agreement for the initial 30-acre site across the river from downtown.

Bob Mendes, chief development officer in the mayor’s office, described the draft master plan and sequencing: Fallon will begin development on parcels nearest the football stadium and work toward the river while a separate partner, TAC, would develop parcel E. Mendes said the development documents require continuous temporary access to the pedestrian bridge during construction and include language intended to prevent any private party from permanently closing the bridge for events.

Fallon President Brian A. outlined the project’s affordability commitments. He said Fallon will deliver 600 units in buildings that are entirely affordable and will include 10% affordable units in market-rate buildings. "Affordability to remain in place for the 99-year duration of the lease," he said, and the program will span a range of income levels — from 30% of area median income (AMI) to market-rate units, with many units targeted at 60% AMI and below. Fallon also committed that one of the first residential buildings will include a daycare and that all buildings will provide ground-floor retail to support neighborhood activity.

Mendes reviewed infrastructure needs and a two-column cost presentation: an HDR "current construction" estimate and a "fully loaded" total project cost that includes contingencies, escalation and planning adjustments. Key projects identified were East Bank Boulevard, Waterside Drive, extensions to the Music City Mile/pedestrian bridge and utility relocations. He flagged a stadium-related obligation from a prior stadium financing deal that requires Metro to provide 2,000 parking spaces each season; Metro is currently relying on surface parking and does not plan immediate investment in structured garages.

On lease economics, Mendes said rent for buildings will not be a fixed number up front but will be derived from appraised land value at the time buildings come online, adjusted by consumer-price indexing and a lease-yield multiplier. He described a "participation rent" concept that would give Metro a share of gross sale proceeds or cash‑out refinance proceeds when non-affordable buildings change hands, using a hypothetical $240 million building sale to illustrate the approach.

Mendes and Fallon staff described workforce and contracting commitments for the buildout: local-hire outreach, diversity goals for consultants and contractors, wage‑theft prevention practices, language access and construction-safety measures.

On TAC, Mendes said the committee was being asked to approve a resolution for a nonbinding memorandum of understanding; definitive TAC development and lease documents would return to the council as a three‑reading ordinance during the summer. He said TAC’s proposed ground lease would be 35 years at nominal rent and that the organization would take on several surrounding infrastructure projects and agree to keep the pedestrian bridge open throughout construction.

Committee members questioned the balance between delivering affordability on site and using revenue to build affordable housing elsewhere. Council Member Rin Horton asked whether concentrating so many affordable units on the East Bank was the best use of resources; Mendes replied that Imagine East Bank’s community-engagement process prioritized on-site affordability to create a mixed-income neighborhood. Members also pressed on timing: Mendes gave a best-case estimate of roughly 2030 for James Robertson Parkway to be lowered to grade, a milestone tied to later phases; he said the three practical conditions to activate the mobility hub are completing East Bank Boulevard, bringing James Robertson to grade and having the mobility partner prepared to build its portion of the hub.

On next steps, Mendes said the master development agreement ordinance and the TAC MOU resolution were before the council; additional documents, including a downtown-code extension for the initial development area and a pedestrian-bridge declaration, are expected in the summer so the council can consider the package together. The committee scheduled a working session for March 20 to review agreement details in depth.

The briefing provided committee members with project sequencing, affordability and infrastructure parameters but did not include a formal vote; definitive leases and ordinances will return for legislative readings.