Nathan Brown lowers his aerial work platform to ground level and puts aside his paint brush. A broad smile creases the Nashville-based muralist’s face as he reminisces about growing up in Antioch in the early 1990s.

“We moved here from Los Angeles when I was 11 and I worked at (then-thriving) Hickory Hollow Mall when I was younger – one of my first few jobs. Starwood Amphitheater was my first job,” says Brown, whose latest artwork can be viewed at this weekend’s grand opening of Tanger Nashville. The 290,000-square-foot outlet center anchors the 300-acre Century Farms mixed-use development located 10 miles southeast of downtown Nashville off the new I-24 diverging diamond interchange (DDI) exits.

“It feels like a really cool, full-circle moment. I have murals all over the city, all over the country and in Europe, as well. But to have one at a place in Antioch where I grew up is really, really special,” says Brown, who is among 13 prominent local and national artists to give Tanger Nashville “the most large-scale murals of any commercial property in the Nashville area and more murals than nearly any other retail property nationwide,” Tanger claims.

This weekend’s launch of Tanger Nashville – with about 60 retail and food stores – is the latest in Antioch’s Phoenix-like rise, a rebirth District 32 Councilwoman Joy Styles says has been woefully overdue since the decline of Hickory Hollow during the 2008 recession and the eventual demise of its replacement, Global Mall at the Crossings.

In 2022, Metro Council approved a $44 million purchase of the mall property. More recently, funding was announced for an Antioch Transit Center that could open as early as 2025.

“It’s going to be amazing. Antioch has been a food and retail desert. We have been that for over 20 years,” Styles says. “It’s crazy when you think about the recession shutting down the mall itself, with the big box stores and a lot of the restaurants and retail leaving here.

“Having Tanger here means that we don’t have to drive downtown or to Smyrna or LaVergne to eat or shop. Between Tanger and the other places that are going to be coming to Century Farms, we are really going to be a booming and progressive area.”

Brown is excited to be part of Antioch’s new growth spurt.

“It’s great to see revitalization, the people and companies coming in and putting money into a place and helping develop it, because it is a great area,” Brown says.

“I hear there might be some stuff going on with Hickory Hollow Mall, which is awesome because I know it’s been pretty dormant for a while. I welcome all that, you know, development, diversity and all that stuff. Bring it on, bring it on.”

Artist Nathan Brown works on a mural for the Tanger Outlets before ahead of this weekend’s grand opening.

-- Photos By Michelle Morrow |The Ledger

It’s an exciting time to be living in Antioch, one of the fastest-growing parts of a booming Nashville economy. Here’s a closer look at what’s happening in Antioch’s I-24 corridor:

Old mall, new uses

There’s a huge buzz about the property where Hickory Hollow Mall and the ill-fated Global Mall existed. Instead of an enclosed mall, there will be free-standing buildings with diverse uses and abundant green space – including a town square – to make it a welcoming environment that meets community needs, Styles says.

“This has been quite the journey. The mall used to be the crown jewel of Antioch and, frankly, of the entire city,” Styles says. “People who grew up in the heyday of the mall, they’ll tell you how they spent their weekends there, had their first jobs there, had their Christmas photos taken there with Santa or the Easter Bunny for Easter. There are a lot of fond memories.

“What we had to do once that purchase was made last year was figure out ‘where do we put all community needs that people have referenced?’”

Three Metro entities have thrived since opening in 2014 – the Ford Ice Center, developed with the Nashville Predators, the Southeast Community Center and Nashville Public Library’s Southeast branch. Additionally, Nashville State Community College opened its Southeast campus in 2012, and public charter KIPP Antioch Global High School launched this past August in the site of the old Macy’s store with its inaugural ninth grade class.

Metro’s $44 million purchase includes the mall interior and the Bridgestone building that closed in 2020, Styles says. In addition to the recently announced transit hub, those spaces will be used to attract and house Nashville’s growing creative community, plus day care and life sciences centers.

“The goal is to have an arts and innovation district that includes the Antioch Performing Arts Center (and) artist housing. That would be the first,” Styles says. “I’ve also been working with 50 Forward to bring them out. They’ve never had a location in Antioch.”

Tanger Center grand opening

Visible from the right side of interstate as one drives from Nashville toward Murfreesboro, the 32-acre Tanger Center brings a much-needed food/shopping destination for that side of town. It is the company’s 37th center and third in Tennessee, joining Sevierville and Memphis area (actually, just over the state line in Southaven, Mississippi).

Samantha Pennington, right, area manager for the Holly Ray clothing store opening in the Tanger Outlets, talks to Tanger marketing director Mackenzie Reagan, center.

-- Photos By Michelle Morrow The Ledger

“Tanger Sevierville and Tanger Memphis have had great success, and it’s clear that Tennessee residents really enjoy shopping at Tanger Centers,” general manager Kendall Merrick says. “As Tanger looked at markets across the U.S., the Nashville metro area clearly presented a great opportunity.

“Antioch is one of the fastest-growing segments of Nashville … conveniently located just minutes from the city’s center. Antioch provides access for shoppers and very nicely complements the larger Century Farms development. So that’s why we chose this area.”

The outlet center features national chains along with plenty of local brands like Prince’s Hot Chicken and Hollie Ray Boutique. Prince’s general manager Tamara Kelly and Samantha Pennington, the area manager for Hollie Ray, say the Tanger project will fill a void for Antioch.

“I think it’s going to give the opportunity for those who make that trek back and forth from Murfreesboro every day on their way home. They can stop. If they need to shop, they can stop and grab something to eat,” Kelly says.

Nashville SC practice facility

Adds Pennington: “The magnitude of having some of the big-name stores here … that will definitely help. And the versatility of offerings it’s going to have will bring in more than just the locals. I think we’ll even see a lot of people from bordering states come in and see what we have to offer.”

Tiger on the prowl

In late April, PopStroke Entertainment Group – a golf-entertainment company owned by Greg Bartoli, Tiger Woods’ TGR Ventures and TaylorMade Golf Company – announced expansion plans into 13 markets, including Nashville in 2024. Styles confirmed its location as Century Farms, developed by the Oldacre McDonald real estate firm.

PopStroke, which features food and bar services, two 18-hole putting courses and space for group outings, will be one of many additions to Century Farms’ development, along with four hotels. There are or will be banks, gas stations, businesses, restaurants, etc. The company reports there already are 429 upscale multifamily units on the site with several hundred more on the way.

Health companies already have a major presence, including TriStar Century Farms emergency room, a medical plaza, Community Health Systems and a Vanderbilt orthopedic center.

Also, Major League Soccer franchise Nashville SC opened its new training facility in April. At the 2021 groundbreaking, team owner John Ingram affirmed his commitment to Southeast Nashville saying, “We want to be an integral part of every community in the great city we call home.”

Cristina Maillo Belda, Nashville SC’s vice president of communications, says the team has since followed through on that commitment.

“Our work in the community is already present in Antioch as we opened a mini-pitch at TIRRC (Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition) a year ago and have been partnering with them for several years now,” she says. “Our work in the area will continue in the upcoming seasons.”

Housing, population boom

Nashville Realtor Richard Courtney, whose Realty Check column appears weekly in the Ledger, says Antioch’s exponential growth is the latest Nashville neighborhood to blossom.

“This city’s growing in all directions, and that’s the logical next step,” says Courtney, a broker at Fridrich & Clark Realty. “Everywhere where public-private partnerships and endeavors have happened in the past, it’s worked here – unlike other cities where things haven’t worked. This is pretty much a non-fail proposition.”

A recent report by the University of Tennessee’s Boyd Center for Economic and Business Research showed Nashville adding 5,488 residents in 2022. That translates into 105 people a week – many of them headed to the more affordable Antioch. The area’s allure has declined since its pre-millennium heyday, but Courtney points out that Nashville newcomers don’t know or care about the past, only what they see happening today.

“There are parts of the city that have been overlooked, just based on people’s historical knowledge or whatever,” Courtney says. “What locals don’t understand is that all these people that are relocating here don’t understand why certain areas aren’t developed. And (Antioch is) an obvious place.”

The influx has seen housing demands increase threefold from a decade ago. A house that cost $100,000 back then might be listed for $300K today.

“Yeah, it has – and tripling is tripling,” Courtney says. “It’s not just going up to $200,000, it’s tripling. There’s that exponential effect – that things like this have on an area, so look for it to triple again in the next three years, probably. That’s the way it works around here.”

Courtney points to how the Nashville Sounds’ First Horizon Park, which opened in 2015, boosted that area north of the state capital where the old Sulphur Dell ballpark once existed.

“When they built the ballpark in Germantown, look at what property values were before it got there. Everywhere, really, this has happened. And I look for it when they redevelop the East Bank (for a new Titans football stadium) and all that. So we’re not slowing down as far as people relocating to Nashville.”

A century ago, this decade was called “The Roaring Twenties” – for many of the same reasons. But the term might well apply to Nashville today with all the massive building projects going up or proposed for downtown, from Belle Meade to the East Bank to Madison – and now Antioch.