Starwood Site Rezone For Music?

The owner of the former Starwood Amphitheatre site hopes Nashville will permit another concert venue to rise on the property, after plans for 250 townhomes and 500,000 square feet of commercial space on the 65 acres went bust.

There aren’t any prospects yet for such a venue, but Vastland Realty Group, which owns the site, hopes to market the land as a music venue with shops and restaurants by changing its current zoning designation, according to the Tennessean.

“I think everyone recognizes the economic environment has changed over the past couple of years,” Vastland Realty Group VP Ken Renner told the paper. “There is not as much demand for commercial and residential space right now, and may not be for a while because of the slow pace of the economic recovery.”

He added that Vastland envisions a music venue smaller than the former Starwood, which was closed by Live Nation in 2007 and subsequently demolished.

Nashville’s Metro Planning Department told the Tennessean it had not gotten a formal proposal to change its Specific Plan zoning, which would require Metro Council approval.

Kenner has reportedly begun meeting with neighbors and council members in hopes of getting the rezone approval.