Nashville Downtown Partnership Launches “Turn The Corner” Campaign To Bring Business Back to Historic 2nd Avenue
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (April 5, 2024) – The Nashville Downtown Partnership is launching a campaign encouraging visitors, downtown workers and residents to visit historic 2nd Avenue and help the local business owners “Turn The Corner” into a new era.
The campaign invites everyone to physically “turn the corner” onto 2nd Avenue, one of the city’s oldest areas that suffered damage from the Christmas Day bombing in 2020. Through this campaign, Nashvillians and visitors alike can celebrate historic 2nd Avenue and give businesses a platform to look to the future as the city’s rebuilding efforts continue towards a completely reimagined district.
“This campaign is how the Nashville Downtown Partnership, along with our partners at the Nashville Department of Transportation & Multimodal Infrastructure (NDOT) and the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency (MDHA), are working to stand alongside these merchants as they work to remain open and sustain the spirit of 2nd Avenue through this construction period,” said Crissy Cassetty, Director of Economic Development at Nashville Downtown Partnership.
In the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a bomb blast left three blocks of historic buildings erected in the early 1800s in ruins. Many business owners were forced to close their doors temporarily while they continued to navigate the pandemic. The devastation brought the opportunity for the city to build back better, and the three blocks between Broadway and Union Street are undergoing significant reconstruction of the streets and sidewalks. Metro Nashville’s ongoing revitalization efforts on 2nd Avenue give the historic street a new look and the business owners a new opportunity to start fresh.
Construction on the public streetscape began in May 2023 and is expected to continue through 2025. “Against all odds, the businesses on 2nd Avenue have remained resolute and steadfast in their own commitment to the neighborhood,” says Mayor Freddie O’Connell. “While it hasn’t been an easy road as we have worked to rebuild the historic street, I’m proud that Metro and our partners are building back even better than before and sharing a commitment to helping this small business community in every way we can.”
“The new 2nd Avenue is poised to be a shining star in our vibrant downtown neighborhood, but we need to make sure these businesses can survive the construction period. With 70% of the 27 street-level businesses being locally owned, there’s never been a more important time or place to shop local” says Cassetty. Promoting this side of the entertainment district is expected to have a positive economic impact on the surrounding streets as well, bringing locals and visitors alike into more areas of downtown.
For more information on the “Turn The Corner” campaign and the businesses that call 2nd Avenue home, please visit nashvilledowntown.com/historic-2nd-ave.
Renderings of the future of 2nd Avenue are available at bit.ly/2ndAveRenderings.
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About Nashville Downtown Partnership:
Organized in 1994, the Nashville Downtown Partnership is a private-sector nonprofit corporation and membership organization whose core purpose is “to make Downtown Nashville the compelling urban center in the Southeast in which to LIVE, WORK, PLAY and INVEST.” For more information, visit nashvilledowntown.com.