Bridgestone Americas announced it will build an office tower in downtown Nashville, constructing a high-rise that will be one of the tallest in the city. Credit: Highwoods Properties
Nashville moved one step closer with an overwhelming vote last night to giving Bridgestone Americas a tax incentive package to build its headquarters in downtown, with 38 voting for the deal and one opposing.
The nearly unanimous vote came despite letters from mayoral candidate Jeremy Kane and three school board members (Will Pinkston, Amy Frogge, Jill Speering) raising concerns about how the deal, which includes a two-decade property tax break, could hurt public schools.
Councilman Steve Glover, who is a former school board member, said that’s not exactly true.
“If they fully understood how much money the city would have lost if we voted this deal down and we asked Bridgestone to leave the city, then they would have lost a lot more money than what they thought they were fighting for in the letter,” Glover said after Tuesday’s meeting.
Glover says with an estimated 600 new employees comes new homes bought in Davidson County. Plus, the boost in sales tax will directly benefit schools.
But three of the city’s nine school board members counter that the Bridgestone dead sets a “terrible precedent for future relocations.”
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