Podcast: Is the East Bank Just Going to Give Nashville Its Own Version of the Strip?

Last week’s episode of the SoBros Power Hour was a doozy, no doubt. There was a ton of ground to cover with Valentine’s Day approaching here in Nashville, but one particular topic just stuck in my crawl. Outspoken Owen Reed, usually my co-host on The Unofficial Titans Podcast, hopped on the latest Power Hour to talk all things Nashville. On the agenda was this story from Axios about how Governor Bill Lee is trying to help TPAC (Tennessee Performing Arts Center) “find a new home.” In it, there’s a passing nugget about how John Cooper said last year that he wants to see TPAC head on over to this new East Bank project that is just sweeping the Music City.

Before long, everything’s going to be East Bank. They’re going to build the new stadium there for the Tennessee Titans, CMA Fest, and who knows what else? They’ve talked about building the area up around it with hotels, restaurants, shopping. There’s already a Top Golf over there! I’m sure they’re going to throw in some residential space for houses that will inevitably be bought up by investors and turned into AirBnBs. I’m positive there’s a bunch of stuff I’m forgetting as I type this hastily to make sure we have a story to post at 10AM on Thursday. You get my point.

Now, there’s an idea floating around out there that we’re going to move TPAC over there. I don’t hate it – I know I sound like a bitter old Nashvillian curmudgeon on the SoBros Power Hour quite a bit. This just feels like the move of all moves. This is really leaning into that ‘entertainment mecca’ status that Nashville has been building up for the last 12-15 years. Eventually, Nashville is going to have its own version of the Vegas strip and it’s going to be called East Bank. I don’t know – maybe that’s the vision. Maybe not.

I admit I do disdain TPAC’s current location. It’s hard to get to, and parking isn’t exactly easy. It’s away from all of the buzz of Broadway, and while I like that, I’d love to have somewhere close by to have a good meal and a few cocktails before going in. Moving it to a specified entertainment district makes sense, but if this East Bank shit keeps heading in a more grandiose fashion, it’s going to feel like Times Square before long. Is that good? Is it bad? I don’t know. But, you can hear us dive into this topic among many others on the latest episode of the SoBros Power Hour, embedded below.

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Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.

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