Affordable Housing Supports Neighborhood Revitalization Near Downtown Nashville

Affordable Housing Supports Neighborhood Revitalization Near Downtown Nashville

Built by developer Dominium, 900 at Cleveland Park adds 256 units of affordable housing to the growing neighborhood of East Nashville, close to the city’s downtown. Photo credit: Dominium

In Nashville, Tennessee, developers increasingly have turned to infill development near the city’s downtown as more distant areas have been built up and as demand has risen for housing in dense, walkable neighborhoods. Hoping to ensure that the city remains affordable and meets projected housing needs, Nashville has laid the groundwork for the future development of East Nashville, located across the Cumberland River from downtown, where market-rate development, affordable housing, and infrastructure improvements will help revitalize the area. To that end, the newly built 900 at Cleveland Park development will help ensure that affordable, family-sized, and workforce apartments are part of the housing mix as the East Nashville area undergoes significant new development and investment in line with the city’s goals. Built by developer Dominium, 900 at Cleveland Park adds 256 units of affordable housing to a previously vacant site and cost approximately $90 million.

Project Details and Background

The 900 at Cleveland Park development sits on a 2-acre site on Dickerson Pike, a major thoroughfare for both local and commuter traffic. Ryan Lunderby, senior vice president and regional development leader at Dominium, reports that 900 at Cleveland Park is one of Dominium’s densest developments to date, consisting of 256 units in a 7-story building. Those units include 7 studio apartments and 153 one-bedroom, 65 two-bedroom, and 31 three-bedroom units, all renting to households earning up to 60 percent of the area median income. Lunderby says that the three-bedroom units are especially valuable in Nashville, where affordable, family-sized units close to the city’s downtown are in short supply. Building amenities include two levels of onsite parking, a clubhouse, a fitness center, a dog park, a rooftop terrace with views of downtown, grilling areas, and workspaces. Residents also have access to three distinct outdoor courtyard areas.

Ensuring Affordability in a Redeveloping Neighborhood

The 900 at Cleveland Park development is helping the city realize its goals for the neighborhood. Nashville’s development plan, which was adopted in 2018, determined that the city was experiencing a shift in housing preferences toward areas with “quick and convenient access to jobs, services, and transit” and that the housing supply was in the process of catching up to demand. This trend is a response both to the buildout of Nashville’s suburbs and to increased traffic congestion and travel times in the area. The development plan estimates that by 2040, Nashville will need to add 113,000 housing units, or approximately 3,800 annually.

Building amenities include two levels of onsite parking, a clubhouse, a fitness center, a dog park, grilling areas, workspaces, and a rooftop terrace with views of downtown Nashville. Photo credit: Dominium

The Dickerson Pike corridor increasingly has become a destination for visitors, with new restaurants and retail options. The city’s plans for the area call for guided growth to create an “active, mixed-use place” that is walkable and has “a dense mix of homes, shops, jobs and parks, as well as services, schools, and cultural amenities” supported with moderate investment from the public sector. In addition to helping transform the neighborhood through housing, Dominium was able to leverage a city program, the Connecting Housing to Infrastructure Program, to implement pedestrian-friendly features around 900 at Cleveland Park that will benefit both building residents as well as future neighbors as the area redevelops, densifies, and adds residential and commercial buildings.

Dominium has significant experience developing and operating affordable housing projects, with more than 40,000 units across 19 states. The developer entered the Nashville market approximately a decade ago by acquiring and preserving affordable housing properties that were exiting their 15-year affordability periods. The 900 at Cleveland Park development is Dominium’s second tax credit new build in Nashville, with closing and commencement of work in late 2021. The first residents moved into the development in late summer 2024, with full lease up completed within several months.

The success of this project was in part the result of good timing. Lunderby believes that launching the 900 at Cleveland Park project in 2021 avoided the later rise of developer interest in East Nashville, which likely would have raised the value of the site and prevented the project from penciling out. The 900 at Cleveland Park development is helping to ensure that, as the East Nashville neighborhood experiences significant revitalization and redevelopment, affordable housing is included as part of that transformation, giving low- and moderate-income residents a chance to live near downtown Nashville and its job opportunities.