Developers outline revised Ovation master plan for Franklin, adding 27 acres, central park and mixed uses

Greg Gamble, a land planner and landscape architect with the Ovation design team, and Alec Chambers, a market leader with Highwoods Properties, presented a revised master plan for the Ovation site east of Interstate 65 during a City of Franklin neighborhood meeting.

The developers said the updated plan adds 27 acres inside Ovation Parkway to the previously approved 77.7‑acre master plan, creating a 104‑acre overall plan that preserves the project’s existing entitlements while changing where some uses will be located. "We are finally ready to move forward," Chambers said, describing a multi‑phase project planned with development partner CenterCal.

The nut graf: the plan places a two‑acre Central Park at the heart of the site, anchors street‑front retail and restaurants on ground floors, and blends office, hotel and residential uses above. It also identifies a 29‑acre mountain‑bike park, an 11‑acre urban wetland with boardwalks and interpretive signage, and limits maximum building height in the RC‑12 zoning area to 12 stories.

Gamble said the Central Park will include an outdoor movie screen, a food hall and a grand lawn intended for programmed events. "The park is the hub of the proposed development and creates a community open space within the urban framework," he said. Ground floors of mixed‑use buildings are planned to house restaurants and specialty retail to animate the park and adjacent streets.

The revised plan shows a mix of uses across the site: about 1,225,000 square feet of office, roughly 400,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, about 350 hotel rooms and a 30,000‑square‑foot entertainment venue. Multifamily housing in the plan increases from 950 units in the earlier 77‑acre entitlement to 1,564 units across the expanded 104 acres — an increase the team described as 644 additional multifamily units compared with the prior entitlement.

On traffic, the presenters said the new plan adds about 1,100 daily vehicle trips compared with the figures used in the 2014 traffic study; the 2014 study’s 32,000 trips‑per‑day figure has informed design of Crothers Parkway and the McEwen interchange, the team said. "It remains critical to our team and the City of Franklin that the proposed development stay within the parameters of the 2014 study," Gamble said.

The team described parking as largely structured rather than surface lots, with garages for the condominium and townhome units and structured parking decks for the core. Several residents asked about the visual treatment of parking decks; Alec Chambers said the team intends to "camouflage the parking deck" and to design façades so the decks are visually compatible with the streetscape.

Speakers and residents asked about phasing and timing. Chambers said the developers hope to begin construction in 2026, deliver phase one in late 2028 or early 2029 and then proceed based on market demand. He identified the Phase‑1 area as the blocks around the Central Park extending toward the McEwen and Carruthers corner.

Connectivity questions focused on sidewalks, greenway trails and a pedestrian crossing that the developers said will link Ovation to Liberty Park. Gamble said the team is coordinating with the City of Franklin parks department on mountain‑bike trail connections and a multimodal path along McEwen that will extend toward Wilson Pike and Smith Park as adjacent phases are built.

Officials described the next procedural steps: a joint conceptual workshop with the Board of Mayor and Aldermen and the Planning Commission on June 26, followed by a Planning Commission public hearing on July 24 and subsequent aldermen meetings in August and September.

Alderman Bev Burger, who said she is the alderman for the development area, encouraged residents to send substantive questions through the City of Franklin planning department or directly to the developers; she provided a contact email during the meeting. The developers said the neighborhood meeting recording and related materials will be posted to the City of Franklin’s neighborhood meetings page.

The meeting included multiple resident questions about building heights, parking, first impressions from the McEwen and Crothers approaches, and potential traffic signals at Turning Wheel and McEwen; the developers said the intersections and lighting will be reviewed as part of required traffic studies and future roadway improvements.

No formal approvals or votes occurred at the neighborhood meeting; presenters described the session as informational and identified upcoming public hearings where the project will be considered by the Planning Commission and Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

Ending: The developers asked attendees to submit further questions through the City of Franklin planning department and made themselves available to discuss technical follow‑ups ahead of the June and July public meetings.