East Bank scrapyard owners explore partnership to bring Nashville’s first dedicated children’s museum downtown

Negotiations open a new possibility for a long-industrial riverfront site

Owners of the former East Bank scrapyard property are in discussions aimed at locating a dedicated children’s museum on the Cumberland River’s east side, a move that would add a family-focused civic destination to one of Nashville’s largest redevelopment areas.

The talks involve the investment group that acquired the long-operating metal recycling site for $245 million in August 2025. The purchase covered roughly 47 acres on the East Bank, a riverfront tract that has been used for scrap operations for about a century and sits near downtown, immediately within a broader corridor undergoing large-scale public and private transformation.

How the museum concept intersects with the East Bank’s redevelopment timeline

Nashville’s East Bank has been the subject of a multi-year visioning and planning effort. Metro government has advanced an implementation framework that includes a new zoning tool for the area and the creation of an East Bank Development Authority, established by Metro Council in June 2024 after enabling action at the state level earlier that spring.

Separately, Metro selected The Fallon Company in September 2023 as master developer for an initial 30-acre development area on Metro-owned land, with negotiations beginning in October 2023. Public planning has emphasized connectivity, public-realm design, and a mix of uses intended to support a downtown-adjacent neighborhood. The addition of a children’s museum would align with that broader emphasis on civic and family-oriented amenities, but any proposed facility would still depend on site-specific agreements, approvals, and financing.

Existing effort to establish a children’s museum

Nashville currently does not have a standalone children’s museum. A local nonprofit has been organized with the stated purpose of creating one, including public-facing efforts to build community support and develop the case for a museum focused on children’s learning through play and interactive exhibits.

The East Bank has been floated as a potential home for that kind of institution in past years, and the new negotiations indicate renewed momentum tied to newly consolidated ownership of the former scrapyard tract.

Key facts and outstanding questions

• The scrapyard property sold in August 2025 for $245 million to an investor group led by local principals.
• Metro’s East Bank initiative includes a formal governance structure and updated zoning tools intended to guide redevelopment.
• Any museum plan would require clarity on footprint, access, parking and transit connections, floodplain and environmental conditions typical of long-industrial sites, and the project’s capital and operating funding model.

For the East Bank, the museum discussions underscore how redevelopment is evolving beyond housing and commercial space toward civic attractions that can shape daily use and visitor patterns downtown.

No opening date, site plan, or finalized deal has been announced. The discussions remain a developing component of a larger, multi-year set of projects reshaping Nashville’s riverfront.