Design review committee questions massing and signage for Harpeth Village mixed‑use plan

Developers seeking approval for the Harpeth Village mixed‑use redevelopment presented revised plans to the Design Review Committee, showing lower building heights and a reconfigured entrance road, but committee members said the project still reads too massive in places and asked for more variation in building height and simpler, more historic‑informed storefront details.

The project team told the committee they had “reduced height from our last meeting” and moved the entrance road to address engineering concerns, creating an entry plaza and more screening along the adjacent residences on Morningside Drive (Drake, Gamble Design Collaborative). “The biggest changes are we really looked at how do we pull back the scale, how do we pull everything down and in a little bit so it just didn’t feel quite so massive,” architect Meredith of 906 Studio said, explaining that parapets and roof lines had been lowered and some parapets simplified.

Committee members and staff said the plans show meaningful changes but still need work on massing, ground‑floor proportions and signage. Elizabeth (city staff) told the committee that as submitted “the scale of the first floors of the three connected buildings appears to be out of proportion to the adjacent historic buildings in the…