Metro Council approves purchase of former Hickory Hollow Mall

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - Metro Council has moved to buy the Global Mall at the Crossings, formerly known as Hickory Hollow Mall. 28 council members voted for the buying of the mall at Tuesday night’s Metro Council meeting. Three members were against it and four did not vote.

“When you talk to anyone about the Hickory Hollow Mall, they’re going to give you a litany of stories,” said Councilwoman Joy Styles. “For this to be sitting here unused for so long, that’s what makes this story fantastic today, to know it has a future.”

Metro has signed a letter of intent with Vanderbilt University Medical Center to build a cornerstone property in Southeast Nashville. Vanderbilt officials are expected to negotiate a long-term lease of at least 600,000 square feet for healthcare-related services. This property “repurposing” will be similar to the space at One Hundred Oaks, according to the release.

Antioch locals talk new possibilities for former Hickory Hollow Mall

“I do hope that this is essentially self-financing for the city,” Cooper said. “That the value of the relationship with Vanderbilt, that long-term lease that the city would hope to enter into would be so valuable that it would offset the cost of actually being the landlord here.”

Nashville officials announce the city acquired the Global Mall at the Crossings, formerly known as Hickory Hollow Mall.

This announcement is part of a series of projects in Southeast Nashville, including a new police precinct and a new city park off Tusculum Road.

City officials said “if successfully negotiated,” the lease with VUMC would “materially offset Metro’s purchase price.”

“Following a decade of underuse,” city officials said the community has expressed using the property include a facility for the arts, after-school youth programming, childcare, Metro offices and services, and entrepreneur and small business development opportunities. After surveying more than 500 Antioch residents, community members also expressed the need for health care, arts, and youth programming to the surrounding organizations.

Mayor Cooper and Styles have to file legislation with the Metro Council to purchase the two properties totaling $44 million. The first property is the building and the second is an office building on the East side of the former mall building. Metro Nashville will acquire the former mall site for $24 million and the office building for $20 million.

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