It started as a bit of whimsy that somehow began to make sense.
Michael Douglas and his then-girlfriend, now wife, Tina, were on a date when they passed by the horse sculptures on Belle Meade Boulevard. Why, Tina asked, couldn't something like that greet drivers as they passed by Douglas' business on Dickerson Pike?
Early next year, Dickerson Pike will have a bit of statuary like those horses — in this case, a herd of eight life-size buffalo statues standing sentry over the junction of Dickerson and North First Street.
"What it's going to do is continue to bring around the idea that Dickerson Road is not the old Dickerson Road," said Douglas, the owner of Charlie Bob's Restaurant & Catering. "We've brought so many positive changes into this area."
Long touted as an area on the upswing, Dickerson Pike is putting the finishing touches on its coming-out party with a $1.9 million project to fix its broken sidewalks, beautify key intersections and re-brand itself.
The buffalo statues, which like the rest of the project will be paid for with grants, are meant to tell the world that long before Dickerson was known as a neighborhood plagued by crime and vice, it was an important commercial route. The hope is that it can become so once again.
"We just need a little kick start," Douglas said.
Better mix soughtOrganizers hope coffee shops, florists, office supply stores and banks will fill in the vacant lots that dot Dickerson, and complement the car lots and auto shops that have come to dominate the area.
But the trick will be to create an environment that encourages both sorts of businesses to thrive, business owners in the area say. As property values rise, some businesses may decide to move out of the area, but few envision a transformation from low-heel to upscale overnight.
"We would like to keep the mix of businesses here," said Marty Lang, president of The Transmission Store and vice president of the Dickerson Road Merchants Association.
The latest planned improvements will take place along five blocks at Dickerson's southernmost end. Much of the money will be concentrated at three intersections, the junctions between Dickerson and First Street, Cleveland Street and Douglas Avenue.
Plans call for upgrading the sidewalks and landscaping at Cleveland and Douglas to encourage more people to walk through the area. Those intersections will also be beautified with colored pavement to create a sense of a neighborhood center.
Down the street, the buffalo statues will be installed in the median in the "scissors intersection" where First merges into Dickerson. The steel-and-concrete sculptures, which will be produced by an Arizona firm that specializes in creating lifelike animals, are meant to remind passers-by of Dickerson's origin as a buffalo trail connecting Fort Nashborough with Mansker's Fort in Sumner County.
That trail was later turned into a pay turnpike — hence its official name of Dickerson Pike — and became the city's first highway and its first paved road, organizers of the improvement project said.
"This is the oldest road in Nashville," Lang said
Effort spans a decadeThe improvements cap a 10-year effort to resurrect Dickerson Pike by driving out the crime and vice with which the road had become sadly synonymous.
That push has included cracking down on codes violations among local businesses, the renovation of the Sam Levy public housing development, and a project to promote homeownership in the residential area to the east of Dickerson.
"I'm pleased with what they're doing," said Marc Colson, president of Colson's Auto Auctions off Dickerson.
"You just see a big change."
Money for the redevelopment is coming from state and federal grants administered by the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency.
The agency is in the process of awarding contracts for the project, and work is expected to start early next year.
"Infrastructure improvements like this encourage people to make an investment in commercial operations," said Phil Ryan, MDHA's executive director.
Dickerson merchants believe the improvements will drive home the point that their neighborhood has improved.
After years of talking about reductions in crime and an upturn in business prospects, they say the city needs to see tangible evidence of stability.
New sidewalks, prettier intersections and, yes, the buffalo will do just that, they say.
"Five years this has been in the planning stage," Lang said. "We want concrete."
