Harding Academy takes condo land off Coda's hands

'Spectacular project' will not come to fruition

Email | Print By J.R. Lind

A rendering of 112 Harding Place

Belle Meade will not get its first new condos in more than two decades after all.

Harding Academy has purchased what was to be the site of upscale condominium complex 112 Harding Place from Coda Development for $1 million. Coda had planned for 14 luxury units in what was to be the first condo project in Belle Meade since 1985. Prices for the upscale residences were to range from $1.27 million to $2.75 million.

Coda’s Lynn Ellsworth said building luxury condos is not “feasible” in today’s market.

“You don’t want to build a new one right now. There’s no bank financing out there. It was a spectacular project and we had started building and I thought, ‘Whoa, let’s hold on,’” he said.

Ian Craig, Harding Academy’s headmaster, said the school does not have plans to expand on to its new land.

“We don’t have any plans to develop it at this point,” he said. “We’re not predicting we’re going to put something there.”

Harding Academy’s last expansion led to a protracted court battle with Metro Nashville over the school's right to demolish homes on the 3.7 acres it bought for athletic fields.

Eventually, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that Metro did not have the power to stop the demolitions by invoking a zoning ordinance the Council passed after the school purchased the land.