SAVE CHEEKWOOD: Say NO to the Radical Effort to Shut Down Nashville’s Beloved Historic Landmark

For 66 years, Cheekwood Estate & Gardens has served as a 55-acre non-profit sanctuary of art, culture, education, and nature for families, students, and visitors across Tennessee and the world.

Today, our public institution faces an unprecedented, existential threat.

A neighborhood group called "Neighbors for Safety" (NFS) is trying to strip this public treasure away from our community. On June 13, 2026, a formal legal appeal was filed with the Metro Board of Zoning Appeals demanding that the city issue a Stop Work Order to halt construction of Cheekwood’s city-mandated parking facility, and ALL further public use of Cheekwood's property.

On June 30, this same group took an even more extreme step by suing the city of Nashville in Davidson County Chancery Court to demand a court prohibit Cheekwood from continuing its current operations, and even to declare the legal approval under which Cheekwood has operated for decades to be void. Metro Nashville has since filed a motion for dismissal of the NFS lawsuit, though it remains before the court.

On August 20, 2026, the Metro Board of Zoning Appeals ruled in Cheekwood’s favor and upheld its permit to move forward with its on-site parking. However, Neighbors for Safety has made it clear that it intends to appeal this decision in Chancery Court.

WHAT IS AT STAKE?

If this radical overreach succeeds, Cheekwood will be forced to close its gates. This would mean: 

• An end to free school field trips for thousands of local children.
• The cancellation of beloved family traditions like Holiday LIGHTS and Cheekwood in Bloom.
• The loss of a historic cultural landmark and shared community treasure for all of Nashville.

We, the undersigned citizens, members, and supporters of Cheekwood, call upon our city leaders to soundly reject this self-serving, radical overreach. Cheekwood belongs to all of Nashville, not an exclusive few.

Protect our history, protect our culture, and SAVE CHEEKWOOD.

Setting the Record Straight: What the Opposition Claims (Fiction) vs. The Actual Reality (Fact)

The opposition group is relying on blatant misrepresentations about Cheekwood to pit the community against it. Here are the unvarnished facts:

FICTION: "Neighbors for Safety are not trying to shut Cheekwood down."
FACT: Neighbors for Safety’s legal filings explicitly ask the city to halt ALL public operations and events at Cheekwood. It is an existential attack on the institution. The group’s June 30 lawsuit makes this even more clear, despite its repeated public statements to the contrary. 

FICTION: "Cheekwood is building a parking garage to expand its attendance."
FACT: The new, sustainable facility reduces Cheekwood's overall visitor parking spaces from 810 down to 750 and eliminates our reliance on Metro Parks’ land for parking. The opposition is claiming false numbers stating otherwise. Cheekwood is not growing its attendance, does not wish to grow its attendance, and the new parking structure does not provide for it to grow attendance. 

FICTION: "Cheekwood is acting illegally by building a parking facility."
FACT: A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Metro Nashville requires Cheekwood to remove its parking from Metro Parks property by end of December 2027 and build its own, on-site parking solution.  Cheekwood’s parking facility was legally permitted in May 2026 by Metro. Cheekwood is simply doing what it was asked to do – both by neighbors and the city. With 65% of revenues dependent upon gate admission, Cheekwood needs parking to viably operate.   

FICTION:  "The Belle Meade Highlands Study recommended on-site parking AND Highway 100 access. Cheekwood is ignoring the two-pronged solution and proceeding solely with a parking garage.”
FACT:  Cheekwood is not ignoring the other part, we are awaiting the recommendations and decisions from Metro. Metro has likely been hindered in its work because of ongoing litigation with the Luke Lea heirs. Notably, the same law firm representing “Neighbors for Safety” in its appeal and lawsuit demanding an access road is also representing the Luke Lea heirs in litigation seeking to prevent construction of shared access. Meanwhile, Cheekwood is under deadline by our MOU with Metro Parks and must have on-site parking by the end of 2027. Cheekwood cannot operate without any parking.

FICTION:  “If there was a road just for Cheekwood off of Highway 100 that would solve the traffic problem.”
FACT:  370,000 visit Cheekwood annually; 1.5 million visit the park. Addressing Cheekwood traffic alone is not a solution.  

FICTION: "Traffic to Cheekwood is causing gridlocks in the neighborhood.”
FACT: Traffic has increased in our neighborhood for numerous reasons, including the fact that Nashville is one of the fastest growing cities in the country. Warner Parks attracts 1.5 million visitors alone. Cheekwood has proactively reduced its visitor attendance by 15% over the past 5 years (435,000 in 2021 to 370,000 in 2025) and has addressed local traffic concerns by implementing timed ticketing for entry, rideshare discount programs, remote parking and shuttle services for peak event weekends, parking fees for non-members, and additional bike racks. Past isolated events have been exaggerated and used to further a narrative by this opposition group that a high level of traffic disruption by Cheekwood is a regular occurrence, which it is not.

FICTION: “Cheekwood opposes a Highway 100 access road.”
FACT:  Cheekwood supports a shared use Highway 100 access road. The Kimley-Horn Study commissioned by the Metro Planning Commission recommended study of a shared access road from Highway 100 to serve both the Parks and Cheekwood. The study offered various options for that road but at this point a final determination as to its location has not been made by Metro. Cheekwood has no control over the timing of this decision. The Nashville Department of Transportation (NDOT) is the agency responsible for determining where roads go, and for constructing them, per Metro Charter Section 8.402.

FICTION: “The neighbors have tried to engage with Cheekwood for years.” 
FACT: Cheekwood has always and continues to engage with the individuals and communities surrounding it in the effort to be a good neighbor. For two years, throughout the Belle Meade Highlands study, the opposition sat alongside Cheekwood, Friends of Warner Parks, Metro, Nashville Planning Department and others – planning for solutions. The opposition has not been willing to cooperate and have repeatedly deployed bullying tactics instead. 

Cheekwood’s neighborhood collaboration efforts include but are not limited to:

• A full-time Neighborhood Liaison position dedicated to neighbor relations and communications
• Regular neighbor communications with updates on programming, construction, and other developments
• When the Metro-mandated parking facility was first being planned, Cheekwood relocated it from its original site at additional expense to better accommodate neighbors

FICTION:  “Cheekwood is being dramatic.  It won’t actually close.”
FACT:  The opposition group would like to turn back the clock to before 1996, when Cheekwood was a sleepy and less-attended garden and art museum. This was a time when Cheekwood was forced to sell off its property and was not operating viably. Its current operational model, where 65% of its revenues are admission-based, is necessary to keep Cheekwood’s gates open for all of Nashville. Without those revenues, the institution’s ability to maintain its gardens, preserve its historic assets, provide educational programming, and remain open to the public would disappear. The opposition knows this. Nevertheless, it continues to advocate for measures that would dismantle the very operating model allowing Cheekwood to survive, while taking away specific programs people love and cherish.