Downtown Franklin is slated to see ground broken by early 2025 on a mixed-use development to be located on Columbia Avenue near Five Points.

According to a release, Brentwood-based real estate firm NAI Nashville Stanton Group will develop the site for the Margin District in partnership with family wealth management firm Arlington Family Offices (which operates offices in Franklin and Birmingham). The team could break ground as early as year's end and could deliver some residences by 2027.

The Margin District will include 25 luxury homes and offer a specific address of 805 Columbia Ave. The development will also include retail, restaurant and office space.

The Margin District will sit outside the boundary of Franklin's Historic Preservation Overlay District. However, the developers said in the release that they plan to incorporate architecture that is inspired by the city's historic building designs, with features to include antique brass, stepped rooflines and dormers, and gabled upper floors.

The architect of record is Nashville-based Studio 8 Design. Nequette Architecture and Design is serving as design architect. H+B Land Design will serve as the landscape architect. The project's engineering team includes Enfinity Engineering, EMC Structural Engineers, Dale & Associates and TerraCon. American Constructors is the general contractor and Davis Properties will complete the residential construction.

The former Handy Hardware building (see here), which Arlington purchased in 2020 with another property for $4.8 million in 2020, will remain and be included in the development. In addition, Arlington acquired five other properties for the effort, which could carry a cost of $165 million.

The Margin District buildings are expected to total a collective 180,000 square feet once completed, with an equal split of 50,000 square feet for both the future retail and office spaces.

The Board of Mayor and Alderman and Franklin Municipal Planning Commission approved amendments to the Envision Franklin plan in December 2023 and the zoning ordinance in May 2024 to allow for changes to building heights in part of the Columbia Avenue Overlay District where the Margin District will be built.

The change to the zoning ordinance means that the future Margin District buildings can rise up to three-and-one-half stories but adds a stipulation that both the third and one-half stories be stepped back at least 10 feet from the first and second stories.

“We’ve designed the development to serve as an extension of downtown, inviting residents and visitors to explore new living, shopping and dining, and working options,” Devin McClendon, CEO of NAI Nashville Stanton Group, said in the release.

“We continue to work closely with City of Franklin officials, and the historic preservation community, to redevelop the properties in a way that integrates into the character of the area.”

The residences will be located on the third floor of the development and be either 2,000 or 3,000 square feet. Each will have its own private terrace and secure parking in a gated section of a lower-level garage. Reservations for the homes began on Nov. 12 and are priced starting at about $2 million. Fridrich & Clark Realty is handling sales of the residences.