10 min read: Majora Carter is a real estate developer, urban revitalization strategy consultant, MacArthur Fellow, and Peabody Award-winning broadcaster. She's responsible for the creation of numerous economic development, technology inclusion & green-infrastructure projects, policies, and job training & placement systems.

*Graphic and* *Photos from Majora Carter’s community-wide talk at Meharry Medical College.*

Strategy for Jefferson Street

By Majora Carter

There is abundant buy-in among critical stakeholders, in particular, Black and Black-allied property owners, to activate properties on the Jefferson Street corridor. Among them exists a wealth of professional network connections to, and comfort level with potential Entertainment, Hospitality, and Development Partners to execute temporary as well as longer-term placemaking activation plans meant to improve the value of Jefferson Street and the surrounding area.

Concurrently, crowdfunding investment platforms can be ways to harness the capital and passion of local residents for the area we are focusing on to create success in a novel and effective way that communicates family and community wealth creation. This is possible on Jefferson Street.

Connecting developers and residents through market-based partnerships and economic benefits can show how this approach brings economic value to the community. We believe the absence of such personal financial linkages is a crucial shortfall spanning decades between the silos of nonprofits, real estate developers, entrepreneurs, local financial institutions, and more.

Given all that we know about Jefferson Street’s geography, topography, land conditions, and potential access to transportation, it is in an excellent position to succeed and demonstrate to others that local success paths are attainable and desirable.

Background and Observations

*Majora Carter leading a stakeholder meeting with J.U.M.P., neighborhood leaders, and property owners along Jefferson Street hosted at Pleasant Green Baptist Church.*

The rich cultural heritage of North Nashville’s Black Community, especially the Jefferson Street Corridor, holds a special place in Nashville’s history of music, food, and fellowship. However, Jefferson Street has not seen the transformation other economic corridors in Nashville have experienced both pre- and post-pandemic despite its relative proximity to downtown.

Our analysis focuses on information gathered during the May 23 and 24, 2023 meetings as well as discussions with individuals both before and after the workshop.

We engaged with many different people involved in Jefferson Street, including property owners in the specific area studied by Civic Design Center.

The area has been the subject of numerous studies and local lore, as well as identified repeatedly as part of Nashville’s rich cultural heritage with great potential for local economic development. Participants and others outside the group connected to Jefferson Street acknowledged an absence of funding to create a unified strategic vision coming from inside the community that could change its currently stagnant trajectory - let alone support the development of an economically thriving community.

Thus, the first goal is to understand how Jefferson Street can retain current ownership, find financing mechanisms, and generate potential cash flows that stay within the Jefferson Street corridor.

What are the current assets, dominant perceptions, and unexplored uses that could accomplish that goal?

The equitable revitalization strategy workshop participants were asked to identify what they liked/envied, and what they did not like/judged within the other commercial corridors as a way to gauge development sentiment - regardless of feasibility.

In the “like” category, participants focused on:

The effective design used to preserve local character despite more visitors

Energy and vitality
Efforts from property owners to make them beautiful
Walkability
Preservation of the neighborhood character

What participants did not like was largely related to the presence of visitors in those corridors:

Party buses
Limited short-term rentals (eg AirBnB)

Generic character of shops, i.e. “...there’s a Jeni’s ice cream on every corner...”

As anticipated, the workshop conversation continued to encompass current perceptions and realities of Jefferson Street with comparisons to other areas.

Participants articulated programs, projects, and attitudes that they wanted to see that mostly expressed a rich vitality, like better transit services and thoughtfully implemented parking. These were identified as the infrastructure needed for the corridor to evolve. They also desired mental health and homelessness services, both on humanitarian grounds as well as value management along commercial corridors. While they are interested in tourism dollars, their overarching priority was “Keeping [Jefferson St.] Black” and making sure that visitors can learn about the history of Jefferson Street. They were not interested in bringing in big tenants in order to protect the local economy.

We must always acknowledge that the legacy of historic racism has made, and continues to make it harder for Black property owners to access capital. The current state of Jefferson Street is an expression of an inertia common in low-status communities. Our experience working in communities like this around the country shows that residents and stakeholders subconsciously believe vacant and underutilized land is the status quo. It is almost as if seeing nothing happen for an extended period of time, signifies nothing will happen and that property vacancy is normal.

“Seeing is believing” is an especially salient notion for stakeholders in low-status communities. Project-based work offers a unique opportunity for individuals to fully immerse themselves in a collaborative process that encompasses envisioning, designing, and implementing transformative developments. By actively engaging with properties that are already owned, this approach empowers individuals to drive positive change and contribute to the betterment of their communities. Through this hands-on involvement, project-based work not only enables people to embrace a shared vision but also encourages them to take ownership of the process, leading to more sustainable and meaningful transformations.

The projects do not necessarily have to be large-scale or even long-term. Thoughtfully planned and well-executed strategic interventions such as a mural on a building wall vandalized long ago or a landscaped open space on an illegal dump, will often be enough to pique the interest of stakeholders and make them ask of themselves and their community, “What’s next?” as opposed to driving by it without giving it a second thought.

The concern for Jefferson Street is that property owners remain accustomed to the current state of the corridor and will eventually fall off and sell without attempting to develop or make a deliberate effort to keep individual properties within the current ownership cohort with which we are collaborating.

Typical speculators and developers will capitalize on an opportunity that smells like owner complacency and ignorance, and history shows us that those types of predatory deals happen quickly and with dire consequences on the future wealth-generating potential.

Our recommendation for Jefferson Street is to produce highly visible interventions that can be executed within a 2-6 month period while concurrently pursuing pre-development for permanent mixed-use projects.

Phase 1: Rationale

Bittersweet pride was evident in people's voices as they spoke of Jefferson Street’s rich musical heritage as well as their connections to the current Nashville music scene that could help mobilize festival and performance-based activity. It was acknowledged that festivals happen all over Nashville, but not on Jefferson. Indeed, that sentiment could not be more apparent than when crossing Jubilee Bridge onto the Jefferson corridor-- it isn’t lost on those in the know that the famed Jubilee Singers for whom the bridge is named, perform internationally, and in Nashville. One of JUMP’s flagship events is hosted at the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, which is technically on Jefferson but feels more like a part of Downtown than North Nashville.

Google Street View of Jubilee Bridge

Phase 2: Preparation

There were property owners at our meeting who indicated they were open to having property used as a pop-up space for performance and event-based activity with temporary infrastructure and equipment to support these activities.

With that in mind, the creation of a collaboration agreement between interested property owners to locate a large tent with quality landscaping to host a music festival, pop-up markets for local vendors, and private events such as weddings, all of which could bring an injection of vitality onto the corridor in a relatively short period of time and at low cost. Other owners indicated their parking lot could be used on days that would not interfere with regular operations. This is the beginning of the type of collaboration we can model and build more of.

A dedicated team under experienced leadership would need to be assembled to produce, promote, and manage events on the site.

The history of Jefferson Street as well as its struggle to thrive as a viable economic corridor is ingrained in Nashville municipal and state planning circles. Therefore, a plan to seek sponsorships and or foundation and discretionary City and State funding should be a priority and not especially hard to mobilize.

Highly visual, low-stakes, feel-good events are feasible, in our opinion, especially ones that sponsors and elected officials are attracted to support. The goal is to provide a tangible perspective for local Jefferson Street stakeholders to see their beloved corridor in a different light.

Phase 3: Pre-Development and Medium Term Projects

Concurrently, a pre-development plan for construction on the corridor that builds on the momentum of the preparation phase should begin in anticipation of the change in perception that temporary uses will inspire.

Housing:

One long-term concept appropriate for Jefferson St includes Fisk University Department of Facilities' need for more student housing and the students' affinity for the popular housing constructed from shipping containers.

Renderings of container student housing at Fisk University.

This construction type and specific use provide:

Shorter turnaround time
Consumer spending potential from student residents
Novelty structures that can attract media
Easy to remove & replace or add on to as economic activity changes

Commercial:

Social infrastructure that leverages proximity to local population centers nearby is needed to increase the viability of developments such as modular student housing.

The contagiously ebullient Sharkeisha Thompson from the Jefferson Street staple, Mary's Old Fashioned Pit Bar-B-Que seemed slightly disheartened when she remarked how much more successful her family’s business could be if Jefferson Street was more of a visitor destination.

Google Street View of Mary's Old Fashioned Pit Bar-B-Que

To that end, a restaurant incubator for local restaurateurs would be an ideal addition to the corridor. By providing a vibrant space with multiple restaurants, the risk of any one failure taking down the entire enterprise is minimized. Restaurateurs can establish cash flow, experiment with price points, build delivery service customers, demonstrate competitiveness, and attract investment. It would need to feature a dedicated and beautifully designed customer dining area frontage for locals and visitors and it is a compatible and viable path for certain properties along Jefferson St.

Another food-related and lower-cost infrastructure in conjunction with the event area mentioned above could be an outdoor BBQ/smokehouse for catering parties and events on-site. Mary's Old Fashioned Pit Bar-B-Que might see value in operating it. These are inexpensive, and will not incur complaints about smoke from neighbors because there currently are none. The BBQ can be incorporated into the incubators’ delivery services as well.

Creative solutions to parking needs can also be more thoughtfully envisioned during this time with experience observing actual traffic and pedestrian flows.

Needs & Next Steps

Photos of a stakeholder discussion at Pleasant Green Baptist Church.

Among the property owners present at the meeting or networking with those in attendance, there is willingness to participate in temporary activation projects. This is contingent on projects that will not encroach, encumber ownership or site control on the properties. This is a critical victory for our first session with this group.

Individuals within the participant group emphasized a connection to networks of entertainment and hospitality professionals who could be tapped to execute elements of the types of activation projects discussed.

The goal is to catalyze property owners and identify developers/managers to build momentum for and execute short-term project development, while they strive for a long-term development strategy.

Strategies like crowd-funded investment platforms can be great ways to get neighborhood buy-in for potential projects. This should begin concurrently with several small webinars among groups of local owners and non-owner residents or potential renters/owners. The goal is to leverage local capital from as little as $250-500/person. Crowdfunded equity investment also serves as a special communication tool, garnering a level of attention that cuts through the drone of planning charrettes and studies bellowed out over and over the years. Positioning local investors to enter a local investment arena with clarity and purpose, concurrently with the value-building campaign strategy for the Target Area can come together to reinforce momentum for each other.

A Case Study For Inspiration

East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EB PREC)

*EB PREC's mixed-use acquisition project features three below market rate commercial spaces, three artist co-housing residences and an outdoor community gathering space.*

An Example of a Local Corridor Revitalization

In West Oakland, California, 3rd generation West Oaklander, Noni Sessions leads the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative which seeks to collectively build a permanent, affordable mixed-use development that benefits resident owners.

In 2021, EBPREC acquired the site of Esther’s Orbit Room, the last of Oakland’s storied music venues that once hosted the likes of BB King, Jimi Hendricks, and Ike & Tina Turner. Esther’s Orbit Room had been shuttered since the death of its owner, Esther Mabry, age 90 in 2010.

*Ester’s Orbit Room Cultural Revival Project*

Their current membership includes more than 500 community, investor, resident, and staff owners; and they have to date raised nearly $5 Million for their community land and housing fund. As they continue to raise funds, they engage in strategic interventions such as lunchtime learning sessions to help folks understand how to leverage real estate investment and development, soliciting feedback on the design of the project and other events that celebrate themselves as a community taking control of a piece of their community.

EB PREC aligns the technical, financial, and organizational inputs to support Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and allied communities to cooperatively organize, finance, purchase, and steward mixed-use and residential property in the East Bay.

Next Steps (As of October 2023): In partnership with J.U.M.P. the Civic Design Center looks to host three more workshops focused on involving businesses and landowners. The goals will be to create short-term wins through demonstration projects, secure new funding for J.U.M.P. the Civic Design Center to continue work, examine prior planning work and update the character the vision for the corridor, and create funding model recommendations for businesses and landowners along Jeffersons Street. Follow the project page for more information.

Equitable Revitalization