Earlier this year, Mayor John Cooper revealed that Nashville Metro would buy Global Mall at the Crossings. Some days after the announcement, the deal navigates slowly and carefully through the Nashville Metro Council in Tennessee on a tight timeline even as murky details persist.
Legislative affairs director Mike Jameson said to the Nashville Budget and Finance Committee that completing the deal requires getting through a lot. Jameson’s remark comes amid questions regarding the timeline and other details of the deal. Usually, Jameson liaises with Metro Council for the city mayor, but the latter was absent when he addressed the committee.
The legislation that accompanies the deal, purchase agreements worth $44 million as well as a resolution that issues that debt and contingency, cleared the committee the other day. The Nashville Metro Council will discuss the matter soon. Councilors Sharon Hurt and Bob Mendes peppered the legislative affairs director with concerns and questions. Mendes even sounded like former Councilor John Cooper while at it. For your information, Cooper detracted from Nashville Metro property deals, particularly half-baked deals, during his stint as a Budget and Finance Committee member.
Hurt abstained from voting on the legislation, whereas Mendes just voted against it. Some other members of the committee voted in favor of the deal. Some joined the debate or asked questions. On the other hand, Councilor Burkley Allen credited Vanderbilt Health One Hundred Oaks with making dining options near Berry Hill more diverse. Vanderbilt University Medical Center members were in the discussion, including founding partner Sam Reed and Senior Director of Government and Community Affairs Matthew Scanlan.
There will be a final meeting on April 19, 2022, before councilors explore the budget from the mayor, where Rule 21 prohibits debt issuing discussion. It is possible to suspend the council rule, though.
In the best possible circumstance for the mayor, the purchase would cause Metro to be a landlord and VUMC to be its key tenant. As per a new letter of intent, Vanderbilt University Medical Center rent would go towards debt service for its part of the real estate property. It would cause Metro to decide on the other amount of $1.60 million indebted for the remaining part of the Nashville property. While there are several TBD things and potentials, a lease still does not exist with Vanderbilt University Medical Center or another tenant. The purchase would also be a major step for Metro into real estate, as it would make it manage leases and fill lots of space.
There are several Global Mall at the Crossings documents published on the campaign website of Councilor Mendes, including recent correspondence between Metro legal, the council, the mayoral office, and Metro finance.
The location is at the point where Interstate 24 and Bell Road intersect, an important hub for Southeast Nashville and Antioch. Until its closure in 2019, this location hosted the businesses of Black, Latinx, Arab and Coptic residents of Nashville but found it challenging to uphold high occupancy. Vanderbilt University Medical Center may treat the mall like Vanderbilt Health One Hundred Oaks, remaking the location into a remote branch for the healthcare service provider.
VUMC creates a revenue of $5 million annually and offers private-sector-level salaries to its top executives. As for Hurt, VUMC does not exist to cater to underserved Nashville residents. Hurt compared Vanderbilt and Nashville General while airing concerns over the center crowding out relatively smaller healthcare service providers in this area. There is a familial practice for TriStar near the location, alongside a new ER (emergency room) some blocks away.
As per NewsChannel 5 and The Tennessean, the so-called Global Mall deal is finalized as they repackaged the recent press release of the mayor. This reportage has aided in framing councilors while raising big concerns about the mayoral plan and potentially destroying a finalized deal instead of evaluating a prospective acquisition. On the basis of current documentation, it is not as firm a deal as the recent press release suggested.
The purchase would take Nashville Metro further into real estate. Metro offers services such as education, infrastructure, transportation as well as recycling and trash pickup. Soon, Mayor Cooper will address other Nashvillians and the Metro Council at a piece of Metro property near the mall.