For more than a decade, the Civic Design Center, an urban design and planning nonprofit, has been converting street parking spaces into teeny, tiny parks during a one-day global event called PARK(ing) Day. Last year the organization started making the parklet bigger (conceptually, not physically) by launching the Parklet Design Competition to permanently convert a parking space to a parklet outside Wilburn Street Tavern.
Last week the Civic Design Center announced that this year's contest will bring a permanent parklet to Donelson and act as an outdoor patio for Bagelshop.
“I think the parklet will be such a great feature for us, because it’ll be another way for us to add to the Donelson community,” says Max Palmer, who owns Bagelshop with his wife, Kayla. “When we were building Bagelshop, the surrounding neighborhoods and the people of Donelson were always top of mind. So being able to provide a space for them outside of our shop is going to be amazing! We want this to be more than just a place for our customers. We are hoping the parklet design includes a place for people to sit, eat, read, rest, etc. We can’t wait to see what comes of this process!”
See a ‘parklet’ in action at Parking Day — Sunday at Wilburn Street Tavern
The process continues with the Parklet Design Competition, which calls on experts to donate their time for the sake of good design in the right-of-way. Designers will submit proposals for the new parklet between now and July 5, then a team of experts will review submissions, and a winner will be chosen by July 15. Hardaway Construction will donate time and materials to build the winning parklet. The parklet will be unveiled on Sept. 21, with a block party on PARK(ing) Day.
“For 11 years, Hardaway has sponsored the Civic Design Center to support the local urban design community,” says Brian Murdock, Hardaway’s executive vice president, in a statement. “As a 100-year-old Nashville-native company, our team believes it’s important to continuously give back to the community that has given so much to us. We are thrilled to volunteer for this project that will better the Nashville community.”
The Palmers were approached by Veronica Foster, communications and advocacy manager for the Civic Design Center, who came into the shop and met the Palmers. The goal was to find a location that met the Civic Design Center’s Guiding Principle to “celebrate streets as places that address neighborhood needs and facilitate community interactions.”
“When she asked if we wanted to be the recipient of this year’s parklet, we couldn’t say no!” Max Palmer says.
Even before the parklet opens, Bagelshop has added some menu items that are designed to be sipped outside in summer. They include Deacon Blues (a blueberry and white chocolate latte), The Sappily Ever After (iced cinnamon maple mocha), Cherry Limatcha (house-made cherry syrup, limeade and matcha, served iced only), and Pop the Culture, Iconography (a Pride-themed iced strawberry shortcake latte with glittery strawberry milk, espresso and a lemon curd cold foam).
Specifications for submitting design proposals can be found on the Civic Design Center website.
