Missing the Missing Middle

On his Substack, real estate maven Chris Remke breaks down how Metro's upzoning efforts miss the mark

From Chris Remke

For fifteen years, Nashville’s leaders have promised that building more housing would create affordability, but the result has been the opposite: a glut of unsold luxury units and soaring prices. The city’s “Missing Middle” upzoning plan, sold to the public as “gentle density” through small-scale additions like DADUs, has in practice become a Trojan Horse for forced urbanization—75-foot towers on main streets and sixteen-unit complexes squeezed onto single lots.

This ignores both the city’s own planning framework and the will of its residents. At its core lies the unshakable truth that you cannot build cheap housing on expensive land. Instead of lowering costs, upzoning accelerates speculation, producing $1.1 million townhomes rather than housing that working families can actually afford.

The consequences are clear. Since 2010, Nashville has lost 27,000 affordable units, demolished to make way for luxury developments, leaving workers reliant on older naturally affordable homes that city policies are actively destroying. The Nations UDO exposed the depth of this malpractice: a 456% density increase was approved despite $24 million in infrastructure costs, known flood risks, and the objections of nearly a thousand residents.

These policies guarantee higher taxes, inflated land values, and aggressive gentrification. This is not a housing plan but a mechanism to strip wealth from neighborhoods and hand it to corporations. Homes are not commodities, and residents’ vision and consent must be at the center of any real plan for the city’s future.

🖋️ Edited by Megan Podsiedlik.

💸 Councilmember Accused Of Shakedown A formal ethics complaint has been filed against Councilmember Joy Kimbrough for allegedly demanding a local business owner to cough up half a million dollars to gain her support for a project proposal in Bordeaux. Yesterday, NewsChannel 5 reported that Ryan Moses, the owner of the Nashville-based liquor distributor, Best Brands, filed a sworn complaint with Metro's Board of Ethical Conduct.

While Moses insists that Kimbrough “knows what she said and did,” the council member has called the accusations "meritless lies." 

"Moses believes that he has family connections that make him untouchable,” Kimbrough said in a formal response. “He is a spoiled, entitled, privileged, unhinged, lying crybaby who...is attempting to besmirch my name."

🚍 Mayor Buried Boring Discussions In Pursuit of CHYM The Nashville Business Journal uncovered an eight-page internal briefing memo revealing that the mayor’s office asked the governor’s office to put off discussions with the Boring Company about the Music City Loop until after O’Connell’s transit referendum passed. According to the report, “the mayor's office didn't oppose the tunnels, but also ‘needed to distance themselves’ from the project.”

"While the referendum passed, President Trump was elected and Elon Musk, the founder of the Boring Company, became a more visible public figure," the briefing memo reads. "Metro Nashville stated, while they believe this initiative would help mobility and they would not oppose the project, they needed to distance themselves and we should not plan to cross or proceed under any street that is city-owned."

Emily Evans, former council member and the head of the Committee to Stop an Unfair Tax, which unsuccessfully sued Mayor O’Connell and Metro, alleging that the “Choose How You Move” campaign misled voters, says it’s yet another layer of deception to add to the transit referendum rollout. 

“Who's surprised here? Transportation is one area where technology is advancing rapidly—I said this during the whole referendum discussion,” Evans told us. “What the mayor's office is funding is a 19th-century solution in a 21st-century world, and as much as people may detest Elon Musk—he is not my cup of tea—he is doing something to advance the cause of transportation, you know, for everybody.”

🎓 Rejected Charter Redeemed By Commission Yesterday, the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission unanimously approved Rock Academy as a new charter school for the 2026-2027 academic year. The commission’s decision overturned the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools Board’s previous decisions to deny its establishment as a charter. According to the Banner, the commission found that the school’s plan would address critical gaps missing in the MNPS system. The MNPS Board rejected Rock Academy twice citing concerns with the school’s model and transportation issues. 

HEADLINE

Lipscomb sees record-breaking enrollment numbers (Post) First-day enrollment at the university totaled 4,840 students, the most in Lipscomb’s history. Included in the figure is the college’s largest freshman class, with nearly 750 first-time freshmen. About 900 new students in total joined the university.

CRACKER BARREL CHANGES COURSE

In a statement, the Lebanon-based restaurant chain announced they were reversing course on their branding redesign. "We thank our guests for sharing your voices and love for Cracker Barrel. We said we would listen, and we have. Our new logo is going away and our 'Old Timer' will remain," the company's X account announced.

DEVELOPMENT

• Party Fowl flies from Gulch nest after decade, set to spice up East Nashville (NBJ)
• Activity seen on Gulch site eyed for Ritz-Carlton hotel (Post)

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✹ THE WEEK IN CULTURE (August 28th)

Watch

Hot Ticket: Caught Stealing Darren Aronofsky returns after the Oscar-winning The Whale with an adaptation of the acerbic Charlie Huston crime novel series about a former baseball player (Austin Butler) caught up in 90s New York City’s criminal underworld. Reviews indicate it's much less polarizing than the director’s recent efforts like Noah and Mother!. Now playing in theaters. 

Pamphleteers’s Pick: The Toxic Avenger Deemed unreleasable after its Fantastic Fest premiere two years ago thanks to its no-holds-barred approach, this remake of the Troma cult classic finds Peter Dinklage as the nerd janitor accidentally made radioactive by a corrupt company’s unseemly practices. With Southern genre royalty Macon Blair at the helm, it’s a shockingly affecting tribute to the resilience of local community. Now playing in theaters. 

For a complete list of upcoming titles, check out the 2025 Film Guide.

THINGS TO DO

View our calendar for the week here and for more recs, click here.

📅 Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.

🎧 On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.

👨🏻‍🌾 Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide.

TONIGHT

🎸 The Prickly Pair, Misty Dawn, Gracie Pettis @ The Underdog, 7p, $10, Info

🎸 The Supervillains @ Exit/In, 8p, $27.37, Info

🪕 The Tennessee Bluegrass Band @ The Station Inn, 8p, $20, Info

🍀 Live Irish Music @ McNamara’s Irish Pub, 6p, Free, Info

🎸 Kelly’s Heroes @ Robert’s Western World, 6:30p, Free, Info

🎸 Open Mic @ Fox & Locke, 6:30p, Free, Info
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An Authority with Authority

💸 Bob Mendes’ pricey “seat at the table” · Election update · General Robertson’s founding of Nashville · Illegal offender of the day · Much more!

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Next Level Nashville

⚡️ The world’s first energy cafe · WeGo vs. Walk Bike Nashville · Repeat offender all-star · Missionary Zeal · Much more!

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Nashville’s violent crime rate is still too high

🚨 Music City near the top in terms of crime · Is NASCAR coming to town · ICE picks up Garcia Dispatch from the statesmen’s dinner · Much more!

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Nashville’s Premier Cooling Shelter

📚 The downtown library is still closed · National Guard Assisting ICE · Abrego Garcia Update · Travel Baseball Index · The Frist goes Mediterranean · Much more!

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Today's newsletter is brought to you by Megan Podsiedlik (Nashville), Jerod Hollyfield (Crowd Corner), Camelia Brennan (Local Noise), and Davis Hunt (everything else).