If we ever go a day without hearing someone lamenting how, “East Nashville real estate has gotten so much more expensive,” we’ll likely fall over from shock.
It’s fair: Home prices in nearly every corner of East Nashville have risen considerably over the past 15 or so years. Even just since the start of this decade, the median home value in 37206 has shot up from about $150K to closer to $350K (at the end of 2018). Move north to 37216, and you’re looking at a median home-value leap from about $130K to about $290K in the same time frame.
Nashville homebuyers who are on the hunt for East Nashville bargains now tend to have the best luck on the western front of the East Side, in 37207, where we’ve seen a 2010 median home value of about $85K rise to about $216K at the end of 2018. That’s still a big jump, of course, but since the median home value in Nashville is hovering around $260K, that 37207 range tends to feel more manageable to many buyers.
There’s still a ton of potential to mine in 37207 — McFerrin Park and Cleveland Park are seeing lots of investment in independent businesses and restaurants (like the Roxy Theater revamp), and lots of new home construction too. In particular, too, a lot of investor eyes are starting to turn toward the long-overlooked but potential-rich Dickerson Pike area.
Why East Nashville’s Dickerson Pike has potential
Drive south on Dickerson Pike toward downtown Nashville, and it’s immediately obvious why the area has significant, untapped potential: Dickerson Pike offers one of the most arresting views of the Nashville skyline you’ll find in the city.
It’s also a straight, quick shot to downtown, and a quick eastward jump to all of the dining/shopping that East Nashville has to offer.
The Dickerson Pike corridor has, however, long been plagued by a reputation for crime and rundown properties, and that’s at least in part led to it being one of the few parts of East Nashville that still holds comparative real-estate bargains. Over the past few years, East Nashville entrepreneurs have clearly begun seeing the potential there, and have started putting down stakes in larger numbers.
Among the many new and in-the-works local businesses to grab their piece of the Dickerson Pike corridor over the past few years:
— Shugga Hi Bakery & Cafe, launched by an East Nashville-native duo in 2017 at 1000 Dickerson Pike
— Upscale coffee shop Retrograde Coffee, open at 1305 Dickerson Pike since late 2018
— Reclaimed wood and furniture shop Good Wood Nashville, which moved from Inglewood to 1307 Dickerson Pike in 2018
— Nashville nonprofit Poverty & the Arts, which relocated to a new studio and gallery at 1207 Dickerson Pike in 2018
— Long-loved Nashville instrument shop Corner Music, which relocated from 12 South to 3048 Dickerson Pike in 2018
— And in the works: a total revamp of the historic Key Motel at 1414 Dickerson Pike, led by a team of investors that includes Urban Cowboy B&B head Lyon Porter
‘Angling for a turnaround’
Recently, Nashville Public Radio shared details about how Dickerson Pike is now “angling for a turnaround,” with a broader redevelopment vision in the works by city planners.
At a meeting with residents and property owners, policy updates, zoning changes and new incentive programs related to development were all up for discussion, with a particular eye on considering walkability, rapid transit opportunities and affordable housing, WPLN said.
Results of these conversations will be a long way off, but the fact that the discussions are under way is yet another indication that Dickerson Pike’s potential is getting more broadly recognized. And ongoing resident/Metro input could help that potential be realized in a way that East Nashvillians feel excited about, and a part of.
“The building stock is getting older,” Metro Planning transportation planning manager Michael Briggs told WPLN, “so it’s probably ripe for change. So I think we need to have this conversation now about what that change looks like.”
Read the full Dickerson Pike development story from WPLN at nashvillepublicradio.org.
Curious about what residential and commercial property options are available along/near the Dickerson Pike corridor? Please let us know if we can help there, or elsewhere in Nashville. Contact ACRE here, and search for Nashville homes for sale here.
Listings via MLS, not under agreement with ACRE and/or Benchmark Realty, LLC, except where noted.