Four Fascinating Facts
🎵 Nashville Has Been Pressing the World's Records Since 1949
Nashville has been pressing the records the world listens to since 1949, and most people have no idea. United Record Pressing, based right here in Music City, is the largest vinyl record manufacturer in North America, producing albums for everyone from Stevie Wonder to Taylor Swift. But during segregation, the plant did something even more remarkable: it built a private suite inside the facility so Black artists and executives could sleep safely on site rather than risk finding a hotel that would take them. The music got made. The suite made sure the artists got home.
🐸 Spring Peepers Are Basically Zombies
Spring peepers are basically zombies, and the chorus outside your window right now is proof. These tiny frogs freeze almost solid every winter, their hearts stop beating, and their bodies produce natural antifreeze proteins to protect their cells while they wait. When temperatures rise in spring, they thaw out and immediately start calling en masse, sometimes within hours. The sound you hear erupting from every pond and ditch on the first warm night is not just nature waking up. It is nature coming back from the dead.
🗿 Nashville's First MoMA Artist Never Left Tennessee
In 1937, a self-taught Nashville stonemason named William Edmondson became the first African American artist to ever have a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He had never studied art formally. He carved limestone grave markers and sculptures in his yard in the Edgehill neighborhood using salvaged stone and chisels he forged from railroad spikes. A fashion photographer stumbled across his yard, took pictures, and eventually got them in front of MoMA's director. Edmondson never went to New York to see his own show. His audience came to him.
🌱 Children Grow Faster in Spring
Children actually grow faster in spring than any other time of year. Research shows the season's longer daylight hours and increased vitamin D production trigger measurably faster physical growth in kids, a phenomenon pediatricians have tracked for decades. Nature apparently didn't get the memo that growth spurts were supposed to feel random. Spring is not just when the yard comes back. It is when everyone in it does too.
Private Exclusive Listings
The real estate landscape has shifted. After months of legal battles, Zillow reversed course on its private listings ban, and Compass dropped its lawsuit in response. What that means for you: sellers now have more flexibility than ever to choose how and when their home is marketed.
That is exactly what Compass has built its strategy around. Right now, 10,550 Private Exclusives and Coming Soons are available only through Compass.com, plus 24,681 homes in the Compass Make Me Sell database from owners who would sell at the right price, even though they're not publicly listed.
Working with a BDG agent means you're seeing the full market, and selling on your terms.
BDG Coming Soon & Just Listed
1006 Waverly Ave, Nashville, TN 37203
1006 Waverly Ave, Nashville, TN 37203 | 4 BD | 3 BA | 2,572 SF | $1,150,000 | Listed by BDG Partners at Compass
High-end construction by Province Builders in the heart of Belmont/Waverly. Clean lines, open-concept layout, and premium finishes throughout. Gourmet kitchen, fireplace, wet bar, rooftop deck perfect for Nashville sunsets, and a huge fenced backyard. Main-level bedroom option and 2-car attached garage. Move-in ready.
109 A Duke St, Nashville, TN 37207
109 A Duke St, Nashville, TN 37207 | 2 BD | 2.1 BA | 1,168 SF | $419,900 | Listed by BDG Partners at Compass
2023 end-unit in East Nashville with designer details just 10 minutes from downtown. Soaring 9-foot ceilings, hardwoods, and an open floor plan. Showstopper kitchen with quartz counters, walk-in pantry, and island. Spa-like bathrooms, custom closet shelving, and washer/dryer included. Walkable to coffee and groceries.
109 E Duke St, Nashville, TN 37207
109 E Duke St, Nashville, TN 37207 | 2 BD | 2.1 BA | 1,372 SF | $419,900 | Listed by BDG Partners at Compass
2023 end-unit in East Nashville, 10 minutes from downtown with the extra light and privacy only a corner unit delivers. Open floor plan with 9-foot ceilings, hardwoods, and a kitchen built to impress: quartz counters, walk-in pantry, and a gathering island. Custom closet shelving, spa-like bathrooms, and washer/dryer included.
5425 Franklin Pike, Nashville, TN 37220
5425 Franklin Pike, Nashville, TN 37220 | 5 BD | 4.2 BA | 5,860 SF | $5,499,900 | Listed by BDG Partners at Compass
Gated and tucked into the trees of Oak Hill, this Urban Development Group new construction delivers modern luxury with real privacy. Chef's kitchen with 48-inch range, dual dishwashers, wine cellar, and butler's pantry. Primary suite with spa bath and custom LED closet. Infinity pool, rooftop deck, 4-bay garage, and smart home throughout.
Nashville Has a Housing Problem. The Answer Might Be in the Zoning Code.
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Nashville needs roughly 90,000 more homes over the next decade. That number gets talked about a lot. What gets talked about less is the system quietly sitting underneath all of it: zoning.
Zoning is the set of rules that determines what can be built, where, and at what scale. Building height, lot size, density, and housing type are all controlled by zoning. And in Nashville, that system has roots going back to 1933.
Before then, there were no rules. A factory could go up next to a family home. A noisy business could appear overnight in the middle of a quiet street. As the city grew, local government needed a framework to bring order to development, and Nashville's first comprehensive zoning ordinance was born.
That original framework evolved into the code the city uses today, organized into district categories that show up as short codes on zoning maps. RS districts are single-family residential, with variations like RS5 or RS10 referencing minimum lot sizes. R districts allow slightly more flexibility, sometimes permitting duplexes. RM districts open the door to larger multi-family development. OR districts blend residential with small office uses. And SP, or Specific Plan zoning, allows Metro Council to approve customized rules for individual projects.
Today, those codes are at the center of Nashville's housing conversation. Proposals are circulating to expand accessory dwelling units (think backyard cottages and garage apartments) and to introduce what planners call middle housing: duplexes, quadplexes, and courtyard apartments that can add density without dramatically changing a neighborhood's feel.
Not everyone agrees on the right path forward. Concerns about infrastructure, density, and neighborhood character are real and recurring. And most zoning changes don't happen automatically; they require rezoning decisions by Metro Council, property by property.
But as Nashville keeps growing, one thing is clear: the zoning code isn't just a technical document. It's the city's most powerful tool for shaping what gets built, where, and for whom.
Every growing city eventually has to answer the same question. How do you create enough housing for the future while still protecting the neighborhoods people love today?
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