MetroCenter: 50 Years in the Making
This year, MetroCenter, a development that Southeast Venture was involved in almost from its beginning, celebrates its 50th anniversary. With our help, the Tennessean shared an article all about the development’s history and its impact on Nashville:
In 1971, the 850-acre business park was announced. Across the top of a front page of The Tennessean read, in heavy bold font read, “HUGE METROCENTER COMING.”
Nestled inside the county’s northern bend of the Cumberland, MetroCenter is the city’s oldest master-planned business park.
Just over 15 years after the area had been announced, a retail and office complex was built for $25 million. City officials at the time expected the 175,000-square-foot Fountain Square Mall would draw tourists from Louisville and Huntsville.
But not long after its opening, restaurants and businesses sat empty in the blue-roofed shopping center. After it closed in 1990, MetroCenter infamously became known as “the mistake on the lake,” referring to the body of water south of the Cumberland.
Half a century later, MetroCenter is home to the Titans’ training facility, multiple government offices and a growing number of mixed-use luxury apartment complexes. The business park shows promise of continued development and impact.
“It’s a huge success story,” said Jimmy Pickel, principal at Southeast Venture, a brokerage firm with longtime ties to the business park.
