131 First Avenue North
This unique property is a half block from the Public Square in Downtown Franklin. It’s 55 feet wide and 264 feet deep. The building is directly between two of the oldest and most significant historic homes in Downtown Franklin: The Eaton House & The Cherry Mansion.
By the early 1970’s, the beautiful historic home that had sat on the site for 150 years was torn down to build a 6,000 square foot single story, concrete block, butt ugly printing company building. It was the absolute definition of “non-contributing” use so we were able to create some momentum with the City of Franklin and Historic Zoning Commission to allow us to execute our vision for the property.
The Story
Being on such a narrow and deep site so close to two historic homes inspired us to develop something beautiful that fit in with the existing structures. Given the record setting price of our land purchase ($95 per SF), we also had to create something big enough to generate the revenue we needed to make it all work. No a small task.
Through a year-long entitlement process, we were able to develop a building that looked like a 1920’s four square historic home from the front but was actually a 20,000 square foot Class “A” commercial office building with an underground parking garage. The 131 Building became a show piece of what could happen with historic infield development if the right vision was paired with the right execution. Until our 231 Public Square building was finished two years ago, it had the most expensive office rents in Williamson County.
131 Building Before Redevelopment
131 Building Architectural Rendering
