East Nashville is getting a new art center. It looks like a ship.

A ship-shaped building in East Nashville will soon be revitalized into a new arts and cultural center. Two nonprofits, the Friends of Shelby Park and Bottoms and the Arts and Business Council of Greater Nashville, announced the project plan Wednesday.

The proposal seeks to transform the US Naval Reserve Training Center building into “Shelby Commons.” The project’s budget is estimated at $10 million. Metro has pledged a $2.5 million contribution.

The building — which the Navy had cleared out of by 2010 — has long been a point of intrigue, with its unconventional architecture and prominent location on Davidson Street. In 2015, it received historic landmark status but remained empty.

Tony Gonzalez WPLN News

The former Naval Reserve Training Center has sat dormant for over a decade.

Rebecca Ratz, the executive director of Friends of Shelby, says this project really kicked off during the pandemic, when the organization was accepted into a program at the Center for Nonprofit Management. The program helps nonprofits develop a business model for revenue and then reinvest those funds back into the nonprofit’s mission.

“We weren’t doing a lot of events. We were kind of pivoting and thinking about what we needed to be focusing on,” Ratz said. “Here was this building.”

For about nine months, a team of developers, architects, engineers and citizens studied the odd, vacant structure. Friends of Shelby Park conducted several focus groups with neighbors to learn more about what the community envisioned for the space. Those conversations led them to a plan that includes restaurants, public restrooms, art studios, a performance space and more.

Specific ideas for the space will be determined through public meetings. The first is scheduled for December 9th at the Shelby Bottoms Nature Center.

Ratz said that, at a time when a lot of redevelopment is happening around Nashville, Shelby Commons represents a project that is focused on what the community wants.

“Everybody’s looking at the East Bank redevelopment and the rezoning and potential redevelopment along Davidson Street,” Ratz said. “I think there’s so much positive that can come out of all that. But what we really see here in Shelby Park and in this building is something that first and foremost will be community-focused.”