Mayor Wants New Sheriff's Headquarters in East Nashville

NASHVILLE, TN — Mayor Megan Barry wants the new Davidson County Sheriff's headquarters to be located on East Nashville property already owned by the sheriff's department.

The mayor filed a resolution for consideration by the Metro Council to put the $20 million, 60,000 square foot facility at the current location of the Jerry Newson Center on Fifth Street in East Nashville, near the James Cayce Homes public housing project.

The Newson Center, which houses the warrants, records and training divisions, will be torn down to make way for the new headquarters, which will consolidate sheriff's personnel currently spread throughout the county. The site will also include a 14,500 square-foot training center and 200 parking places.

Sheriff Daron Hall had originally wanted the new headquarters on property owned by his department on Harding Road in southeast Nashville, but backed off after stiff resistance in the area thwarted a plan to relocate the Criminal Justice Center —and its inmates — to Antioch. Rather than relocate the jail, it is now undergoing a $113 million renovation.

“What I had said to the mayor and anybody who had asked was that we want to go where we’re wanted,” Hall told The Tennessean. “And if southeast Nashville council members and community doesn’t want our $20 million administrative complex, then we’ll go where we’re wanted.

“It’s definitely where I think we need to be given the situation,” he added. “I think this is going to work in the end.”

Unlike the southeast Nashville plan, which was opposed by Antioch-area councilmembers, Councilman Brett Withers told The Tennessean he supports the addition of the sheriff's department to his neighborhood, adding that it would complement the ongoing Envision Cayce plan aimed at rejuvenating the area around the housing project.

The Metro Council will vote on the mayor's proposal on first reading next week.