Groundbreaking Begins Construction of Dickson’s New City Center

Dickson, TN — The City of Dickson has officially broken ground on its new downtown City Center, moving the approximately $38.7 million project from planning and design into construction.

The groundbreaking ceremony marked the beginning of work on East Walnut Street, where the city plans to construct a municipal complex designed around the needs of city government and the Dickson Police Department.

While city leaders celebrated the start of construction, many of the details about what will be built were presented publicly in July, when the Dickson Planning Commission reviewed the City Center’s design and site plan.

The commission unanimously approved the architectural design after planning staff found it substantially complied with the city’s standards for downtown development. Those standards consider a building’s scale, windows, entrances, roof design, materials and relationship to surrounding properties.

The City Center will stand 57 feet, 8 inches tall—considerably higher than the 40-foot limit normally applied in the downtown zoning district.

City engineers told commissioners in July that the height is largely the result of the building’s basement, atrium and the significant elevation change across the property. The site slopes between Walnut Street and South Mulberry Street, allowing ground-level access to different floors from different sides of the building.

That same change in elevation also requires retaining walls reaching approximately 14 feet in some locations. The city’s normal maximum is 10 feet.

Engineers said the tallest wall is needed near an entrance where there is a 14-foot difference between floors. The retaining walls will taper below 10 feet in other portions of the site and will receive an architectural surface treatment rather than being left as plain concrete.

The building’s height and retaining walls were among several exceptions identified during the city’s review process.

Parking was another major consideration.

The City Center plan includes 143 parking spaces, including some on-street parking along Walnut Street. The city’s zoning code would normally require 177 spaces for an office building of its size.

Despite falling below that requirement, engineers said the proposal would provide more than twice the parking previously available at the site. City staff determined that the planned number of spaces would be sufficient for the building’s anticipated use.

The city also requested approval to eliminate six loading spaces that would normally be required. Engineers said the City Center would not have the same loading needs as a commercial or industrial development. A secure sally port planned for the Police Department will accommodate its specialized transportation needs.

The project covers multiple city owned parcels in the downtown block, including the existing Police Department property. The city also purchased a small house next to the department as part of assembling the site.

When the plans were presented in July, officials said extensive utility work would be needed both on and around the property. The project required coordination among city administrators, public works employees, in-house engineers, architects and local utility providers.

Some final architectural and landscaping details were still being completed at the time of the Planning Commission meeting in July. The commission approved the site plan contingent upon the remaining reviews and approvals.

The Dickson City Council previously authorized the first $40 million general obligation bond issue connected to financing the project and approved its guaranteed maximum construction price. The City Center’s estimated cost was placed at approximately $38.7 million.

The recent groundbreaking represents the culmination of that planning and financing process—and the beginning of the most visible stage of the project.

As construction proceeds, the plans reviewed in July offer residents an early look at what will rise from the downtown site: a multilevel municipal center shaped by the property’s steep terrain, with expanded parking, new utility infrastructure and dedicated facilities for city operations and law enforcement.