Scott Broden, Daily News Journal, November 3, 2015
MURFREESBORO — Neighbors fear a historic Manson Pike home on 17.3 acres with a cave underneath could be replaced by apartment buildings.
Developers say they intend to preserve this historic house at 3726 Manson Pike and make it an amenity for a proposed upscale apartment development if the Murfreesboro City Council approves the annexation and rezoning requests. The council will hold a public hearing on the rezoning request during a meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday in Council Chambers on the first floor of City Hall, 111 W. Vine St.(Photo: Scott Broden)
“I would like to save part of Murfreesboro’s history,” Heather McQuiddy said during a recent interview she and Tammie Cleek gave The Daily News Journal at the historic Washington & Smith Cemetery overlooking the 17.3 acres in question. “We have to save this place. We’re on a mission.”
Those working on the project with Bill Hunter Development, however, will tell the Murfreesboro City Council on Thursday that they plan to retain the existing house on the north side of Manson Pike as an amenity for an upscale apartment complex, said Clyde Rountree, a planning consultant working on the proposal.
“They have every intention to preserve the existing home as well as a large green space, which would include mature trees around the home,” said Rountree, who expects about 2 acres to be set aside around the house.
The council will hold public hearings on the annexation and rezoning requests from property owners Louis and Elizabeth Jennings for multifamily land use at 3726 Manson Pike for up to 277 dwellings during a meeting that starts at 7 p.m. Thursday in Council Chambers on the first floor of City Hall, 111 W. Vine St.
The appraised land value for the 17.3 acres is $244,800, and the home adds an additional $164,100, according to the city’s plan of services and feasibility study for the property in question. The estimated city taxes if the property and home were to be annexed without new development would be $1,299 based on a 25 percent assessment value, according to the study.
If the property became an apartment complex, the tax assessment would be at 40 percent to generate even more revenues for a fast-growing city that reached a U.S. Census estimated population of 120,954 in 2014.
The proposed multifamily rezoning is about a quarter of a mile from an existing apartment complex on the south side of Manson Pike.
Historical home
The home in question was built around 1810 as part of the Springfield plantation, said John Lodl, the director of Rutherford County Archives.
“It was the Smith, Washington and Crockett home,” said Lodl, adding that one of the homeowners was a fifth cousin to President George Washington.
“We are definitely losing historic homes left and right, so if we can save another it would be wonderful,” Lodl said during a Monday phone interview.
The home probably offered a strong view before the start of the Stones River Battle, fought from Dec. 31, 1862, to Jan. 2, 1863, said Jim Lewis, who works as a park ranger at the Stones River National Battlefield.
“You could have watched the bulk of the Union Army crossing Overall Creek there,” Lewis said.
The home could have been used to treat those wounded in cavalry skirmishes, but there’s no documentation to show it was a battlefield hospital, Lewis added.
“It does not appear in any of the reports for the Battle of Stones River,” Lewis said.
There’s a greater likelihood the home could have served as a place for Confederate doctors to treat wounded soldiers in the Battle of the Cedars, which was fought Dec. 7, 1864, Lewis said.
The Battle of the Cedars involved Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest leading about 6,000 soldiers against about 3,500 Union soldiers at about where the existing Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce building is on Medical Center Parkway near Interstate 24, which is the exit that also leads to Manson Pike, said Lewis, adding that there’s no documentation to back this up.
“The Confederates would have been routed,” said Lewis, adding that it’s possible the wounded left behind could have been taken care of at the house in question.
Lewis supports preserving historic homes if possible.
“I’m glad that some people are raising the issue of the historic value of the place,” Lewis said. “You probably can’t save everything in an area that is growing as fast as it is like Murfreesboro and Rutherford County. I’ve seen several of them disappear. The one that pains me the most is the James House. That’s a home that served as a headquarters.”
The James House was near where Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital opened about five years ago. The McCulloch house that was by Old Time Pottery off River Rock Boulevard served as another Confederate headquarters, and the Jenkins house that was near John Rice Boulevard and Fortress Boulevard served as a field hospital.
“Those three were all here when I got here 18 years ago, and none of them are here now,” said Lewis, noting that it takes a lot of effort to preserve historic homes. “It’s worth doing if we can. It still takes effort to keep Oaklands (Historic House Museum) going. Oaklands was on death’s door because it hadn’t been lived in for a long time. It took a lot of effort and a lot of money to bring that home back.”
Growth concerns
In addition to the historic home, neighbors such as McQuiddy and Cleek question why the 17.3 acres should be rezoned for multifamily land use and contribute to the traffic on Manson Pike.
“It’s not a piece of property that apartments should be on,” Cleek said. “How can you look at this historical, beautiful piece of property and imagine it ending up with apartments spread throughout and the home demolished?” Cleek asked.
Cleek said she’s also worried about the “Military Cave” and “Cow Crap Cave” entrances to a larger cave system below the property.
“This seems like a lot of building on top of this cave,” said Cleek, who also fears that developers will blast the rock below the property and cause damage to nearby homes. “Who knows what’s going to happen to the structures of these houses?”
The developers are aware of the concerns expressed during a neighborhood meeting about the project, said Rountree, who works with Huddleston-Steele Engineering Inc. in Murfreesboro.
The trees that are 60-70 feet high between the property in question and the neighborhood will remain, Rountree said.
Developers plan for the proposed apartments to use the same architectural style as the historic home, said Rountree, adding that the vast majority of the balconies will not be facing the nearby neighborhood.
“We are trying to preserve their privacy,” Rountree added.
Developers also are aware of sink hole issues, and geotechnical studies will be completed to ensure development will not cause flooding and other environmental problems, Rountree added.
“They are going to be respectful of that,” Rountree said. “I’m real pleased to be working with this developer because of their sensitivity to the site.”
The exiting historical home is nearly 3,000 square feet and has served as a second home for the owners, Rountree said.
“It’s livable right now,” Rountree said. “It’s just got some roof issues.”
The developers intend to invest in maintaining the historic house and to make it available for the future residents of the apartments, Rountree said.
“It’s definitely going to be upscale clientele,” Rountree said.
The developers and property owners appeared before the Murfreesboro Planning Commission in September and won unanimous support for the project, including from Councilman Eddie Smotherman.
“I voted for it because there was no reason that the property shouldn’t be zoned for what was requested for the way it was presented to the planning commission,” Smotherman said.
Reach Scott Broden at 615-278-5158 and on Twitter @ScottBroden.