Metro Council delays decision on $20.3M land purchase

• The council delayed motion on purchasing 88 Hermitage Ave. for $20.3 million.
• Council members experienced problems more than renovation charges.
• In 2019, the council voted versus purchasing the assets for $14.4 million.t
• Mayor John Cooper, then an at-huge council member, voted from getting it.

Metro Council on Thursday deferred a conclusion on irrespective of whether to purchase a $20.3 million plot of land on Hermitage Avenue to incorporate into the community park method amid issues above not known renovation expenses.

Nashville Mayor John Cooper incorporated $20 million in his Oct funds expending approach for the buy of state-owned house at 88 Hermitage Ave., the internet site of the previous Tennessee School for the Blind.

Cooper’s administration has indicated the former school’s historic framework could represent an opportunity for adaptive reuse, nevertheless what that would be is unclear.

Council member Courtney Johnston mentioned she could not aid buying the property, which will very likely demand mitigation for lead-based mostly paint and asbestos as properly as substantial making repairs.

“This is a multi, multi-million renovation to restore this house, and we do not even know what we’re heading to use it for,” Johnston claimed.

Lots of councilmembers questioned why the land was not procured quicker at a reduce selling price.

Cooper voted in opposition to obtaining the home for $11.3 million in 2019 when he was an at-huge Metro Council member. Former Mayor David Briley moved to invest in the land for Metro Nashville Community Universities, which meant to demolish the Tennessee University for the Blind to establish a new superior university.