It's crazy, people.  These are photos from the West Nashville neighborhood called "The Nations", about 3-4 miles west of DT Nashville. 

 

 

 

Hmmm...wonder if they've been contacted?

 

 

 

 

No collusion!

 

 

Somebody bought this piece of crap:

 

 

 

Another secret 2-family:

 

Somehow this corner store is still going:

 

 

The perfunctory craft brewery:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BRICK!!!

 

 

 

Jam it in there!

 

 

 

 

No Collusion!

 

Beards, forearm tattoos, rich parents:

 

 

So ugly:

 

A private dog park:

 

 

I couldn't understand the ridiculous utility poles in this area -- oh yeah, they were installed when everyone here was poor:

 

Beards, instagram, duel EU citizenship:

 

This is a DUPLEX:

 

Pizza guy -- I'm in the house with the pole in the front yard. No, the other one:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another private dog park:

 

This thing:

 

 

Bonus: peacocks, emus, other flightless birds:

This is the worst UO photo tour.  Ever.

This is the worst UO photo tour.  Ever.

 

I actually laughed out loud walking around these blocks, on every block.  The new stuff is so cheap.  No care has been put into any of it, it's all just a big money grab, and the people who have moved in don't care.  It'll be wild to see what this area looks like in 20 years. 

 

The "Somebody bought this piece of crap:" house looks like a GoBot.

I have to wonder if there is an "UrbanTennessee" forum where posters are making fun of NuCLEus and Millenium Tower lol. 

Yay for bike lanes, but the lack of sidewalks on most of those streets is...conspicuous.

Yay for bike lanes, but the lack of sidewalks on most of those streets is...conspicuous.

 

So much of the south is that way.  No curbs, no sidewalks.  Minimal pavement, minimal storm sewers.  Water just kind of sits around. 

 

What you're seeing is the replacement of 80% of the homes in this neighborhood in just five years.  There was no governing body regulating anything, so nobody pushed for...curbs.  Sidewalks.  Drainage.  Any normalization of styles. 

 

Everybody just did whatever they wanted, and this is what happened. 

There's no zoning in that neighborhood?

There's no zoning in that neighborhood?

 

 

Nashville implemented form-based code in the ostensibly walkable areas about ten years ago.  They have merged city-county government and so the zoning does not extend past about a five-mile radius from the downtown.  That zoning overhaul didn't address basic stuff like the physical streets though, so $500k+ homes are going up, en masse, on old streets that don't have curbs, sidewalks, or storm sewers. 

 

The big difference enabled by the new code is widespread lot-splitting.  So you see 4 houses on a 60-foot wide lot where there was just one small house in the past. 

 

It's a lot different than if the same thing happened in the north because single-family homes in the north tend to be a) larger and b) on smaller lots.  So in an area like North College Hill in Cincinnati, a 1200 sq foot house is commonly situated on a 50x150 lot.  But in Nashville, there would be a 900 sq foot house on a 60x180 foot lot.  Huge difference, so there is way more land to squeeze two or more new 2000 sq foot homes onto the lot formerly occupied by a single small home. 

 

Nowhere do I see the single-family home built density reaching what exists in the older areas of Cincinnati like CUF or Northside, because the lots in Nashville are so much deeper.  Most basin and 19th century lots in Cincinnati are at most 100 feet deep and many have multifamilies built toward the rear lot line.  The form-based code probably permits small multi-families of this kind, but the banks probably don't want to lend to build them, so they aren't getting built.  The single-family home is a product that banks love and make it easy to build, appraise, and sell.   

Okay, I take it back.  THIS is the most "Jake" thread I've ever seen.

what a collection of crap lol.

Most exurban suburbs in Ohio would be embarrassed by such cheap infrastructure. No sidewalks...ok it happens...but no curb or regular storm drains in a core city or inner ring burb! WTF! That place is gross. The race to the bottom is getting fierce...I'm glad Ohio is losing that race.

 

Pizza guy -- I'm in the house with the pole in the front yard. No, the other one:

 

Funniest quote on UO this year IMO

I love the Good Trump. Bad Trump houses...or is it Left & Right Trump?

 

Every single one of the new buildings/houses seems malproportioned and disjointed, like they were made with the leftovers from Home Depot's clearance aisle, then tossed carelessly onto a plot of land with no attention to fit or finish to land or house.

when i see this type of unfinished built environment (no sidewalks, curbs, etc) i think township

 

urbanophile makes the former outer townships that are currently part of indianapolis out to be similar

I’m glad we’ve all been able to agree here on this topic. What a love fest.

I am completely perplexed by Nashville. Why are so many people moving to this city?! It looks horrendous.

I am completely perplexed by Nashville. Why are so many people moving to this city?! It looks horrendous.

 

 

I can't explain it.  The old stuff was mediocre.  The new stuff is somehow worse. 

 

I'm sure the people moving there aren't moving there for the built environment, and don't care about it as much as they care about things like the music scene and the hype around it, or maybe just good old-fashioned economic opportunity.  We are, after all, a self selected group of urban enthusiasts here on UO.  We're not normal!

^I'm sure there's lots of melted-down small towns throughout Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky to feed Nashville with young people just like the 3Cs and rural Ohio.