The nonprofit organizations behind the renovation of Shelby Park's ship-shaped building are moving forward with their plan to make it an arts-focused campus. But first, they’ll have to clean out the space, which has accumulated a substantial amount of trash and vandalism over the past 15 years. 

Friends of Shelby Park and Bottoms and the Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville, which are teaming up on the project, have received their first $1 million gift from the Nashville-based Dettwiller Foundation. They have about $14 million more to raise. It will take an estimated $18 million to convert the former U.S. Naval Reserve Training Center at 1515 Davidson Ave. to Shelby Commons.