Vanderbilt University is preparing to transform a 40-acre swath of Midtown Nashville into a mixed-use “innovation district,” and it’s seeking private developers to help make it happen.

Chancellor Daniel Diermeier unveiled early plans last week for the project, which would span several blocks west of the university’s main campus and largely replace surface parking lots along Natchez Trace, Vanderbilt Place and West End Avenue, the Nashville Business Journal reported. 

The long-term vision includes research and lab space, housing, retail, parks and offices for corporate partners and university-affiliated startups.

“It’s not so much an innovation center — where you drive to it and drive back home — but it is part of the fabric,” Diermeier told the outlet. “We want to make sure that we materially add to the housing stock in Nashville.”

Vanderbilt will partner with private developers and investors to bring the district to life, though no specific firms have been selected, and a detailed financial plan is still in the works. 

“We know this will be a partnership with private capital, as it has been with all these innovation districts,” he said.

The project draws inspiration from university-led innovation hubs like Cornell Tech in New York and Harvard’s Allston campus. Vanderbilt tapped Danish architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group, urban design firm Field Operations and Nashville-based Hastings Architecture to lead master planning.

The university owns most of the land within the proposed district, including parcels it quietly assembled in recent years, such as a strip mall on West End Avenue and the adjacent Wendy’s across from Centennial Park. One piece of the site also includes the Holiday Inn Nashville-Vanderbilt.

The development would require Metro Nashville approval and could take more than a decade to fully build out. Diermeier said the university hopes to move quickly to capitalize on the city’s momentum but intends to be deliberate in design and execution.

The innovation district is part of a broader push by Vanderbilt to expand its footprint and brand beyond Tennessee. The university has planned expansions to New York and West Palm Beach in recent years while higher education faces mounting political and financial pressure nationally.

— Judah Duke

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