According to the exclusive sales agent CBRE, the 45-acre site owned by Icahn Enterprises and occupied by SA Recycling will be sold at an auction in mid-November.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A massive scrapyard on the Cumberland River near Nissan Stadium is set to be auctioned off. The 45-acre property owned by Icahn Enterprises will go to bidders in mid-November.
It’s a landmark that has mostly stayed the same for decades while Downtown Nashville has transformed.
“Like many cities in the midwest and south, we industrialized our riverfront before we turned them into great social spaces,” said Nathan Weinberg, Managing Broker of MW Real Estate. “Where this piece of property exists occupies the keystone of the green belt of Nashville.”
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According to the exclusive sales agent CBRE, the 45-acre site owned by Icahn Enterprises and occupied by SA Recycling will be sold at an auction in mid-November.
Longtime East Nashville real estate agent Weinberg told News 2 that he feels this is a long-overdue development.
“It makes the waterfront that much more appealing and designed appropriately will work towards even greater sustainability in flood hazard risk,” Weinberg said. “It will work towards compelling people to walk, not drive.”
Weinberg hopes to see this space become a multi-use property for commercial businesses and affordable housing.
“If Icahn sells the property and whoever takes over and makes friendly with its neighbors, I think we have a wonderful opportunity to create one of the best waterfront greenways in the county, which will further propel Nashville,” Weinberg said.
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While the question of who will replace the current scrapyard remains unanswered, Weinberg does have concerns over a left-behind environmental problem.
“This is 45 acres of land that has been home to heavy metal,” Weinberg said. “I worry a great deal about this becoming, not becoming, being a super fund site that requires dramatic cleanup. But the best part about a sale like this is that it initiates that cleanup process.”
In a statement from Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s office, his spokesperson Julie Smith said: “The mayor, like many Nashvillians, has long imagined riverfront uses at this site other than scrap metal processing, but we’re very focused on the existing opportunities for redevelopment on the East Bank. We have maintained a belief that as Metro’s nearby property is developed under the terms of the 99-year lease approved by the Council in April, the market will seek a new use for the scrapyard that aligns with the changes advancing elsewhere along the East Bank. We will continue to monitor developments.”
“With the Titans stadium next to it, I do see a great opportunity for people to spend their entire weekends down on the riverfront,” Weinberg concluded.
Jacob Kupin, the District Councilmember for that area, told News 2, “With the development of private and Metro-owned land along the East Bank, it’s exciting to imagine the future potential of the PSC metals site.”