Page 6 - May-June2019 Vol37 No1
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NASHVILLE By Levi Sciara, P.E.
Urban Redevelopment Rollercoaster
Lessons Learned at Hillsboro High School
With upwards of 100 people Green Hills community since its opening stormwater, and stay within the $78
moving to Middle Tennessee every in the mid-1950s. It has undergone a million budget allocated by the Board of
day, the Nashville Area Metropolitan series of expansions, both in building size Education. Last but certainly not least,
Planning Organization predicts that and land mass, with the last expansion the school and its site had to remain
the Cumberland Region’s population occurring in 1995. operational for the entirety of the
will grow to be larger than the Denver construction process.
Region’s population by the year 2035. Middle Tennessee’s rapid urban
Not only have residents decided that growth forced Metro Nashville Public Many new high schools with similar
Middle Tennessee is a great place to live, Schools (MNPS) to assess the campus’ scope requirements would require a
work and play, but large corporations, current conditions, as well as the school’s parcel of land in excess of 50 acres.
most recently Amazon, have also taken capacity for growth. The projected However, due to the landlocked urban
notice and are moving portions of their increase in student body size, coupled location, space came at a premium and
operations to the Nashville area. with the age of the campus, meant one we were limited to the site’s original 29
thing: the campus needed renovations. acres.
The combination of business and Small Site, Big Plans
residential growth has fueled significant After assessing the site constraints and
redevelopment in Middle Tennessee, Scope requirements for the renovation carefully coordinating with the project’s
creating opportunities for design teams included new classroom buildings, stakeholders, we settled on a design that
to put forth innovative solutions on increased parking, redesigned sports included a parking garage with roof area
redevelopment projects. Our team at fields capable of hosting regional events, that serves as a flex field space, as well
Gresham Smith recently experienced a Goodwill drop-off center and a WeGo as a new three-story classroom tower
firsthand some of the design challenges Public Transit neighborhood transfer where a stand-alone facility once stood.
associated with redevelopment when station. Additionally, we incorporated space for
we worked with a public sector client in stormwater management facilities.
Nashville. Additionally, the project was required Full of Surprises
to achieve LEED Silver certification,
Hillsboro High School (HHS) has comply with Metro Nashville’s Low With any redevelopment or renovation
remained a prominent landmark in the Impact Development Criteria for project, one of the most daunting tasks
6 TPW May/June 2019
