New businesses aim to revitalize North Nashville's Buchanan St.

• Dormant buildings get new life in North Nashville community

Terry Norman was helping a Bud's Hardware & Key Shop customer who wanted to buy mulch and other garden supplies when their conversation turned to the North Nashville street where the store has been a fixture for 45 years.

"Buchanan Street is changing really quick and it's quite interesting to see," said Norman, whose family has owned businesses in the area for six decades.

Earlier that Saturday, representatives from groups interested in opening a restaurant, a bicycle shop and a flooring company stopped by next door to look at property Norman has for sale. Heading eastward on Buchanan, another investor and her various partners have purchased 15 parcels. Kelly Bonadies is recruiting businesses to some of those buildings ranging from an art gallery and restaurants to a skateboard maker and various creative shops.

"There's essentially two sectors of Nashville being pushed out — that's the artists, musicians, small businesses and then people in low-income areas," said Bonadies, who three years ago moved into a home she and her husband bought for $24,000 in that area. "So I wanted to combine the two to feed off of each other through creative entrepreneurship and opportunity exposure."

Once a vibrant commercial district in North Nashville, Buchanan Street had been among areas left behind as Nashville booms. With nearby development hot spots, including Germantown, becoming less affordable, that street is now on radars of developers and investors such as Bonadies, who see the potential for urban renewal and profits in the abandoned buildings dotting Buchanan.

New beginnings

Among projects by Bonadies and her business partners, the long-abandoned former supermarket at Ninth and Buchanan is being transformed into multitenant space.

High-end leather goods maker Emil Erwin has set up shop after moving from mixed-use Marathon Village on Clinton Street near downtown. It will be joined there by others such as handmade leather bags designer Anne Williams, who will relocate from Germantown to a small studio and office.

The former Nations of Islam mosque at 1006 Buchanan is getting updates to be occupied by another recent Marathon Village departure, handcrafts ties and hats maker Otis James.

At 1200 Buchanan St., where Chief's Family Diner was the most recent tenant, longtime area resident Ed Williams and his siblings plan to open Mai-Bee's Southern Cuisine by mid-May, while Wanda Amos plans Tasty Wings next door.

Across the street, Salemtown Board Co. plans to set up its skateboard-making operation in another vacant building, while an art gallery is planned for the building at 1411 Buchanan St.

Longtime area businessmen, including Norman, expect the new arrivals to give the heart of the Buchanan Street Business District between Ninth Avenue North and D.B. Todd Jr. Boulevard a much-needed boost. But the $64 million question is whether the businesses can thrive in an area with a generally lower-income demographic.

"When you move out to Buchanan Street, you've got the rooftops, but I'm not sure of the income dynamics yet," said Tom Frye, a retail broker who in his previous role as head of real estate firm CBRE's Nashville office predicted that housing and retail would move in that direction.

"It's going to be a slow start and there's going to be some business failures, but ultimately it's going to go through a transition and happen. All you have to do is to go drive through East Nashville. Ten years ago, there was hardly anything going on."

In most cases, the new businesses aren't dependent on the immediate Buchanan neighborhood for sales, but hope to make an impact.

Salemtown Board Co. sells mostly online, but under its business model employs youths to make skateboards, bookshelves and cutting boards.

"It was a perfect fit because it's close to where we've been and one of the only places within the Briley loop that's affordable," Chief Financial Officer Schuyler Anderson said about the company's planned move from Salemtown. "It's also because of Kelly's interest in working with that community to prevent gentrification from taking place."

Frank Vukelich, whose family has bought property around Buchanan, is one skeptic who believes a change in attitudes of residents is needed for the area to thrive. "People need to pick up the trash, take pride in their community," he said, also citing a need for repairing streetlights as well as other improvements.

Since January, Vukelich has stalled on plans to fully relocate his Assurance Restoration & Roofing company to a building he bought on Buchanan. "I can't leave anything in my building because they break into it," he added.

Changing community

Norman, who recalls in the past twice getting caught up in separate gunfights between gang members at two of his area businesses, credits the police with helping to clean up that street. He's getting business from growth in Germantown and Salemtown and new residents in areas off Buchanan who prefer local stores.

Decades ago, Norman remembers a Buchanan with two supermarkets; trios of liquor, hardware and drugstores; and clothing and shoe stores among thriving businesses. The area's decline began in the 1960s and '70s after construction of Interstate 40 through the middle of predominantly black North Nashville, which cut off many streets and made it more difficult to get around.

"You didn't have to go downtown for nothing," said Greg Pillow, a 50-year area resident who leads the Buchanan Street Association community group, recalling buying milkshakes and hamburgers at Dean's and shoes at Griggs.

Bobby Lovett, a Nashville historian and retired Tennessee State University professor, said the interstate changed patterns of economic activity on Buchanan and Jefferson streets. He attributed that area's decline in part to African-American professionals leaving North Nashville and descendants of property owners who died being unable to afford upkeep and taxes.

Lovett considers the Buchanan Street area another extension of Germantown, citing its proximity to downtown, reduced commute time and having utilities and other infrastructure as appeals to new residents and developers.

"My argument is gentrification renews the inner city," he said. "Although people look at it racially, if you don't use the buildings, they deteriorate."

Relative lower incomes limit the ability of African-Americans and some other minority groups from full participation in such makeovers, Lovett said. "That's what going on across the country, and it really boils down to economic disparity," he said.

In 2010, community organizer Jackie Sims interviewed Buchanan residents young and old and business owners over six months. She found they desired what most other people want, including a safe community, schools, grocery stores, jobs for young people, affordable housing, green space and more commerce along the street.

"They just seem to have an inordinate amount of barriers," she said, citing as example challenges for residents who have gone through the criminal justice system. "If there are no jobs, then crime increases and safety is threatened — people feel more vulnerable. A lot of people are in agreement with change, with development if that doesn't result in mass displacements. The community doesn't want to become a 12South or even a Germantown right across the street."

Charmaine Lavender, who grew up around Buchanan, expressed hopes that the owners of new businesses offer much-needed jobs to residents. "It would be cool to get some of these young boys and girls busy," she said, while sitting on the porch with her friend. "A 16-year-old shouldn't be selling drugs. They need to have the other type of example."

Ed Williams considers the opportunity Bonadies gave him to occupy the building where he plans to open Mai-Bee's Southern Cuisine as a sign of her sincerity in wanting to involve longtime residents in the revitalization versus pushing them out.

When she first moved into the area, Bonadies noticed some neighbors would pronounce the street's name Buck-hannon, and they would add that was because there was nothing beautiful there. "It's a hidden gem," said the Raleigh, N.C., native, who studied arts at Watkins College of Art, Design & Film. She fears that the spotlight now on Buchanan would attract certain developers whom she likened to vultures.

Bud's Hardware's Norman, who is nearing retirement age, welcomes the new faces in the area and likens Bonadies to a breath of fresh air.

"It's hot — everybody knows Buchanan is on fire right now, so we're excited," he added. "We hope it continues to grow, but still don't want it to lose its identity."

Reach Getahn Ward at 615-726-5968 and on Twitter @getahn.

Coming to Buchanan Street Business District

• Emil Erwin , high-end leather goods maker, 904 Buchanan St. (moved from Marathon Village)

• Otis James , handcrafts ties and hats maker, 1006 Buchanan St. (moving from Marathon Village)

• Annie Williams , handmade leather bags designer, 904 Buchanan St. (moving from Germantown)

• Artist Alex Lockwood and wife Genie Lockwood , art gallery and studio, 1411 Buchanan St. (moving from Germantown)

• Mai-Bee's Southern Cuisine , meat-and-three restaurant, 1200 Buchanan St. (startup)

• Tasty Wings , restaurant offering wings, 1204 Buchanan St. (startup)

• Salemtown Board Co., handmade skateboards maker with retail space, 1003 Buchanan St. (relocating from Salemtown)