Monroe Harding Sale, Development Plan Worries Neighbors

NASHVILLE, TN -- Monroe Harding intends to sell its 20-acre Glendale Lane property where its served foster children since the 1930s, but a developer's plan to build more than 30 luxury homes on the site has neighbors worried about losing one of the view pristine tracts in Green Hills and its collection of historic buildings.

For decades, Monroe Harding housed foster children and others who needed care on the property, but as the non-profit's approach changed, it says it no longer needs the buildings or all the space and it is looking to sell the land and use the revenue to further fund its mission.

At a community meeting Monday, a developer said he wants to build 31 homes on the land while preserving seven acres for green space, but still area residents are worried about losing so much undeveloped land, old-growth trees and the buildings which would be torn down to make way for the homes. Others expressed worry about that ubiquitous Green Hills concern: traffic.

"It would be heartbreaking," Michelle Hall, whose property backs up to Monroe Harding, told WKRN. "This is the last green space in Green Hills – the last piece of pristine property. It’s 20 plus acres and I thought Monroe Harding would’ve found a better partner, someone who would’ve put in walking trails because they can’t develop seven acres back there because they’re on a flood plain."

Councilman Russ Pulley, who represents the area, said he hopes to broker a compromise before the plan goes before the Metro Planning Commission March 22.

“It’s my role to try and bring both parties together to see if we can come to a resolution both can live with,” he told NewsChannel 5.

Pulley wants a special zoning overlay that would allow for schools, churches and day care centers with limited residential use. He said he spoke to the mayor's office about the possibility of Metro buying the property for a park but was told that wasn't "workable under the current rules."

"We understand that people are concerned about traffic issues and things of that nature. This property has been zoned R-20, which allows residential development for a long, long time and we relied on that in its decision to market the property for sale and we’ve been playing in the rules and we think we’ve reached a compromise with close neighbors in terms of the plan that will allows development and balance are interest and address concerns of neighbors close by," Monroe Harding board member John Bryant said, according to WKRN.

Founded in 1893 as a Presbyterian orphanage by Fannie Harding in memory of her late husband James Monroe Harding, Monroe Harding was originally on the Harding family's five acres on 18th Avenue North near Scovel Street, where these days Interstate 40 cuts across North Nashville. Needing more room, it moved to Glendale in the 1930s, where the oldest building is 84 years old.

The property did make Historic Nashville's Nashville Nine list in 2012, but for an unusual - and now ironic - reason.

"The property was nominated by a citizen who feared development pressure would force the organization to move. HNI has met with Monroe Harding leadership and learned they are committed to maintaining their location. 'Monroe Harding has been changing young people’s lives through foster care, group homes, and other services for 119 years, we intend to do it for another 119,' said CEO Mary Baker. Historic Nashville is pleased to feature this property on the Nashville Nine list to show that in this property’s case, the perceived threat is unwarranted," HNI wrote at the time.

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