March 1, 2005

Second Avenue's Third Act

Even more residential units are coming to downtown Nashville, via a rehab and modernization of some riverfront warehouses built on Second Avenue not long after the end of the Civil War. Residential development in downtown Nashville - through rehabs and new construction - is a fast-growing and very welcome trend.

The Spring Brook Buildings were built in 1868. They - along with the rest of Second Avenue, were mostly abandoned and decaying by the late 1970s. The Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant company was an early pioneer in the long, slow revival of downtown, opening in the ground floor of the Spring Brook Buildings in 1979. The Old Spaghetti Factory thrived in a wasteland of dilapidated buildings and panhandlers, and eventually the rest of downtown began to be revived as well. Today, downtown is home to a nearly countless array of restaurants, and a rapidly expanding array of residential options. The Nashville Downtown Partnership maintains a list of downtown properties that have residential potential.

Here are some detail images of the Spring Brook Buildings:

All images are clickable for a larger view.