A Neighborhood Ready for Something New

Nashville’s 12 South corridor is one of the city’s most beloved stretches, walkable, eclectic, and well-connected to the community that calls it home. Just steps from the Gulch, a 6.79-acre site at 920 Hawkins Street sat as a surface parking lot, quietly waiting for its next chapter.

Origin Investments imagined North Edgehill Commons for the site—a mixed-use development that could reflect the energy of the surrounding neighborhood while introducing a new kind of gathering place, one that weaves residential living, retail activation, and public space into a cohesive, human-centered experience. The opportunity was significant. So was the responsibility to get it right.

Designing with the Neighborhood in Mind

Storyland Studios joined the Edgehill Commons project with a multidisciplinary urban design scope rooted in placemaking. Our involvement spanned master planning, landscape design, hardscape design and detailing, and irrigation design, all anchored by a BlueSky concept phase that helped establish the project’s experiential identity from the ground up.

The BlueSky work was essential. Before working further on any details, we explored what Edgehill Commons could feel like, how it could fit into the surrounding neighborhood, and how the in-between spaces, paseos, streetscapes, and courtyards could become destinations all their own.

From there, landscape and hardscape design gave those ideas physical form. Thoughtful material choices, layered planting strategies, and intentional pedestrian flow work together to create an environment that’s active and inviting at street level. Retail paseos draw people in from 12th Avenue South as streetscape buffers soften the edges. Every detail is oriented toward the person walking through it.

A New Gathering Place Taking Shape

Edgehill Commons is poised to become one of Nashville’s most exciting mixed-use addresses. With approximately 356 residential units, 35,000 square feet of retail, and a retail paseo connecting the anchor buildings, the development is designed to function as a true neighborhood hub—not just a place to live, but a place to linger, connect, and relax.

Storyland Studios’ urban design work lays the experiential foundation for that vision. The landscape and hardscape framework creates a sense of arrival, movement, and discovery across the site. Green infrastructure and pedestrian-first thinking make the spaces feel lush and alive.

As the project moves toward completion, Edgehill Commons stands as an example of what thoughtful urban design can do for a city block, and for the neighborhood around it.