A makeover will create a new Town Center

Town center plan may redefine Nolensville
The Tennessean • July 16, 2008

NOLENSVILLE — Bill Tisano owns 18,000 square feet of empty commercial space in the center of Nolensville.
His buildings once housed the town's only grocery store, Piggly Wiggly. When that closed a year and a half ago, nothing came along to replace it.
"Since that time, I probably get five people a week saying 'What's going on with Piggly Wiggly?' " he said.
Offers did come in. Tisano turned down six churches, a Fred's store and a skating rink all wanting to open in the empty buildings.
It seemed as though nothing would come of the abandoned space, but last month, Tisano unveiled a $12 million redevelopment concept plan that calls for turning the old Piggly Wiggly building into a town center with retail and civic buildings occupying "an old, Main Street-looking" development.
The centerpiece of the proposal will be an expanded Town Hall, owned by Nolensville, which Tisano hopes will be joined by other civic institutions such as utility services and a county library branch.
The town held a nonvoting workshop in late June to discuss the possibility of moving into the future development. Nolensville currently leases town hall space in a shopping center within the proposed town center redevelopment.
"It seems to be the correct location as what the founding leaders determined to be the center of town," Mayor Beth Lothers said. "The redevelopment of the entire site could include some permanent town hall space that we would be purchasing and not leasing. The town needs to develop some assets. That would be a long-term solution."
She specified that it would be up to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen whether or not they purchased a site in the development, but Tisano said he's willing to sell the town about 1.6 acres for a town hall.
"I'll make it work any way to make it work," he said.
Target date: late 2009
If he can "make it work" with the town, Tisano would like to begin demolition of the Piggly Wiggly building in the next few months, with the new development opening late next year.
"It really revitalizes that whole section," Lothers said. "It'll be more small-town quaint. It needs to be revitalized. It's good for quality of life, economics, property values."
It's the type of development many Nolensville residents want, according to a recent economic development survey conducted by Middle Tennessee State University. The survey found 86 percent of respondents want Nolensville to develop a town center within a quarter-mile of Sonic on Nolensville Road. Inside that town center, 72 percent of those polled want retail store space and 67 percent want government offices.
"We put the town center on the survey specifically to gauge interest on what was going on there," said Jason Patrick, Nolensville's Economic Development Committee chairman. "Certainly from the results from the survey, people were overwhelmingly supportive of the town center."
Tisano said he also wants a mix of government and retail use there. He intends to put up two-story buildings, with the first floor reserved for retail businesses and the second floor used for office space. And he plans for the retail to match the small-town, "Main Street" look of the development.
"I've been looking for a butcher," he said. "A glorified butcher shop with good meats, good fish and fruits and vegetables. An Old World feel."