The shipping container shopping center planned at South Water Manor in Gallatin has a name and a new target date. Owners Heather and Jeff Brigstock are calling it The Haven, and it is now expected to open in 2027, the Sumner County Source reported this week. It would be Sumner County's first container park.
The project sits on the grounds of South Water Manor, the Italianate mansion at 562 South Water Avenue in Gallatin, Tennessee, about five blocks from the town square. Henry Fitzgerald built the house in the 1860s.
What's planned
According to this week's announcement, The Haven will have four restaurants, eleven retail spaces, room for events and a courtyard for live music and markets.
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The plan is two L-shaped, two-story buildings framed with shipping containers, set around a center courtyard. Each has an elevator tower meant to echo the tower on the front of the manor house. Steve Wheeler, an architect who is also a vendor at the manor, designed them.
The site plan the Gallatin Planning Commission approved last year totals 8,276 square feet, the Gallatin News reported then. At that time the Brigstocks said they expected 18 to 20 rental spaces. This week's count of four restaurants and eleven shops is a little lower.
The approval
It was the first time shipping containers would frame buildings in Gallatin, according to the Gallatin News. Sumner County Economic Development Agency Director Rosemary Bates spoke for the project at the hearing. "This is a truly unique and innovative project for the South Water Avenue area — and for Gallatin overall," Bates said.
Planning Commission Chair Matt Harris was also on board. "I've seen these in different places — and when it's done right, they look really sharp," he said.
Heather Brigstock told the paper the design had to answer practical questions: how to avoid the cost of a sprinkler system, how to make the buildings accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and how to keep rents affordable.
A year later than hoped
Last year she would not predict a finish date, but said she would love to open in the fall of 2026 "if everything proceeds perfectly, with no major problems." The 2027 date in this week's announcement means that goal has slipped about a year.
The Brigstocks bought the property in 2020. It already holds a bistro and coffee house, an event center, guesthouses and The Shoppes at South Water Manor, where they work with more than 50 local artisans and small businesses. They see South Water Avenue, one of the main ways into Gallatin, growing into a retail district.
Sources
- Shipping Container Shopping Center Coming to Gallatin's South Water Manor, Sumner County Source
- South Water Manor planning for innovative expansion, The Gallatin News
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