Metro acquires 300 acres of forest to expand Beaman Park
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Mayor Freddie O'Connell's administration finalized a deal to acquire 300 acres of lush forest land that will be added to Beaman Park.
- O'Connell plans to announce details of the acquisition on Friday morning.
Why it matters: It's one of the largest land preservation and park expansion deals in recent Metro history.
- The deal protects and grows Beaman Park, which already encompasses 2,300 acres near Joelton.
The big picture: Beaman Park is one of the more unique park offerings in Metro, featuring a vast, untouched forest that is about 15 miles from downtown Nashville.
What he's saying: "A forest is not scenery," Mayor Freddie O'Connell said in a statement. "A forest is infrastructure. It cools our summers. It slows our floodwater. It filters our streams. It cleans the air we breathe — and it reduces the illnesses that come when that air goes bad."
Driving the news: Metro partnered with The Conservation Fund nonprofit to acquire the property located off of Bull Run Road in northwest Davidson County.
- Under the deal, The Conservation Fund will temporarily take ownership of the land and convey it to Metro at a later date.
By the numbers: The land acquisition closed on July 10 with a purchase price of $3.2 million, according to Register of Deeds records.
- Metro Council previously approved $1 million for the project. The Heritage Conservation Trust Fund committed $1.08 million. Local partners, foundations and donors also contributed to the deal, with the philanthropic Beaman Family Fund giving $1 million.
Flashback: Metro acquired the land for Beaman Park in 1996 from a group of doctors who used the property as a hunting preserve. The original purchase was made possible thanks to a gift from Sally Beaman, who supported the project to honor her husband Alvin Beaman.
- Through the years, gifts from private donors and land purchases by the city expanded the park.
The bottom line: In an interview with Axios last month, O'Connell touted the expansion as a vital and long-sought preservation win for the Highland Rim Forest, which is one of the largest intact forest ecosystems in the Southeast.
- "In one of the most sensitive areas of the county, where conservation might be most important, we're going to have a multi-hundred-acre preservation opportunity."