Cheekwood Says It Has No Immediate Plans for Highway 100 Home It Bought in February

Cheekwood Estate & Gardens has no immediate plans for a Highway 100 property it bought earlier this year, the nonprofit's leader said, even as questions mount over how visitors will reach the attraction in the future.

An LLC affiliated with Cheekwood paid $1,125,000 in February for the 1.35-acre site at 6707 Highway 100. A house stands on the lot and would have to be demolished if the land were used for an entrance. The parcel sits next to Edwin Warner Park, which means Cheekwood could, in theory, ask the Metro Parks Department for an easement.

If one were granted, Cheekwood could build an entrance at the Highway 100 site and route a road along the northern edge of the Warner Parks property to a planned parking facility. Metro officials have offered some options but have not settled on where a future access road might go. Both the Metro Parks Department and the Nashville Department of Transportation would be involved in any such project.

Cheekwood recently announced a $25 million structured parking garage, the Parking Pavilion & Welcome Plaza, which is scheduled to be finished in 2027 within the existing Cheekwood footprint. The project would satisfy Cheekwood's agreement with Metro Parks, which allows overflow parking on adjacent Warner Parks land until that year.

Cheekwood president and CEO Jane McLeod said Metro knows about the Highway 100 purchase but has not said whether it wants the property to be part of any future entrance. "When Cheekwood saw that property on the open market, we decided to purchase it, not knowing whether we would need it later," McLeod said. "And if not, we could sell it."

The road idea drew attention in January, when it appeared as the central recommendation of Metro's Belle Meade Highlands Design and Mobility Study. That study mentioned a Highway 100 access before Cheekwood bought the property. It said traffic to Cheekwood on peak days "exceeds recommended volumes for neighborhood streets, causing unsustainable conditions, safety concerns and frustration," and that overflow parking requires coordination between Cheekwood and the city. It also described traffic problems tied to Edwin and Percy Warner parks and the latter's golf course.

The proposal worried many park users and prompted organized opposition in Belle Meade and among the descendants of Luke Lea. Lea was a businessman and politician who left the land that became Warner Parks. His heirs have asked a court to decide whether the proposed road would violate restrictions in the 1928 legal documents that conveyed the land to the city.

The suit, filed June 9, awaits a ruling from Chancellor Patricia Head Moskal and includes a dozen exhibits tracing the history among Lea's covenant, Cheekwood and Metro. The original documents bar "zoological purposes" and any athletics other than golf on the land. Current park uses include horse trails, mountain biking and cross-country racing.

Cheekwood is now reached via Forrest Park Drive, using the residential Cheek Road and Page Road, an arrangement that concerns some neighbors. In 2024, some Belle Meade Highlands residents circulated a petition with more than 500 signatures supporting a Cheekwood entrance off Highway 100.