A City as the Amenity
The Ascension Saint Thomas Landing embodies the idea that the city itself can serve as an everyday amenity. Beneath the bridge, visitors move through a layered landscape of event lawns, fire features, outdoor dining, pickleball courts and shaded seating. Native plantings and more than 100 trees soften the urban core, providing year-round comfort and ecological benefit. Whether hosting concerts and farmers markets or offering a quiet lunchtime retreat, the park adds new energy and vibrancy to daily life downtown.
Transforming a Forgotten Site
For decades, this portion of downtown lay hidden below street grade—an inaccessible, industrial area between rail lines and infrastructure. Gresham Smith reimagined it as a people-first destination, repurposing shipping containers, revealing historic stone walls, and integrating new stairs and ramps that make the space fully walkable. The design turns physical challenges—grade changes, structural limitations, and noise—into defining features that honor the area’s past while shaping its future.
Health, Safety & Inclusion
As a public environment designed for all Nashvillians, the space emphasizes safety, visibility and accessibility. Generous lighting, clear sightlines and ADA-compliant routes create a welcoming atmosphere at all hours. Spaces for play, exercise, rest and social gathering encourage active lifestyles and community connection. Every design decision—down to material selection and planting layout—supports comfort, wellbeing and a sense of belonging.
Collaboration Across Disciplines
The project demonstrates Gresham Smith’s integrated capabilities, where multidisciplinary teams coordinated seamlessly to balance infrastructure performance with human experience. This collaborative process allowed quick decision-making and a unified aesthetic that merges hardscape, structure and landscape into one cohesive vision.
Gresham Smith led landscape architecture and provided additional architecture services. Other team members include:
- Ragan Smith: civil engineering
- Alvine: mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering
- SDL: structural engineering
- CBB: lighting
- RSM: branding & signage
Sustaining Nashville’s Growth
Ascension Saint Thomas Landing anchors the ongoing evolution of Nashville Yards—a mixed-use district adding offices, residences, hotels and entertainment venues to the downtown skyline. It represents both a civic amenity and a model for adaptive urban redevelopment: turning overlooked land into a resilient public space that connects people, nature and the city. By transforming the once industrial rail front into a landmark of health and hospitality, the project ensures that as Nashville grows upward, it also grows together.