Donelson's Big Changes Are Dated 2027. The Small Ones Are Open Now.

Donelson's newest restaurant has 16 seats. That number is set by Metro's limit for a business with one bathroom. Its owners didn't pick it as a design choice, according to the Nashville Scene. The same pattern runs along the whole Lebanon Pike corridor between Donelson Plaza and Donelson Station. What opens this year is whatever fits through permitting now. The larger pieces, a Hattie B's in an old bank, apartments and townhomes at the Plaza, and a rebuilt transit center at the train stop, are all on schedules that run into 2027 or have no firm date yet.

So your useful calendar for the next few weeks is short and close to home. Here's what it holds, in date order from the Thursday this post goes up.

1. Friday, Oct. 23: Second-to-last Hip Donelson Farmers Market of the season, Donelson Station, 2705 Lebanon Pike. It's also the early-registration deadline for the Donelson-Hermitage Christmas Parade, 5 p.m.
2. Saturday, Oct. 24: Hauntings at Andrew Jackson's Hermitage, 4580 Rachel's Lane, rescheduled from Oct. 10 because of weather.
3. Friday, Oct. 30: Final market Friday of 2026.
4. Through Saturday, Nov. 7: Hermitage ghost tours, Thursdays through Sundays at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m.
5. Nov. 21–22: The Chamber's free Holiday Market at the Mansion.
6. Summer 2027: Hattie B's opens at 2725 Old Lebanon Pike.
7. 2027, finish date not set: Construction starts on the Donelson Station transit center.

The rest of this post explains why the list looks like this, starting with the smallest room on it.

A 700-square-foot café on Graylynn Drive

Maminette is open at 104 Graylynn Drive. It serves sweet and savory crêpes, quiche and specialty coffee Tuesday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The café's site says it's closed Sundays and Mondays through October. Owners Alexandre Meunier and Philippine Maillard also run The Authentique, the East Nashville wine bar and crêpe spot. They found the Donelson space, a former Mexican restaurant, while casually looking for a second location, the Nashville Scene reported.

The Scene's account explains why it took so long. Permits and Metro sign-offs took months longer than the owners expected. To cover bills during the delay, they started a "Founder's Club." Members who paid $500 got a $600 gift card plus tasting experiences, and about 27 people signed up. The café is named for Maillard's grandmother, Jacqueline. The recipes come from notebooks she wrote out by hand, and the logo is in her handwriting.

The same rules that set the opening date also shape what's coming next. The owners want French bistro seating on the patio, but that has to wait until they can afford a second bathroom. Wine will come once they have a license. Plan on 16 seats inside for now, and expect a wait on a busy Saturday morning.

Two Fridays left behind Edley's

The other thing working on a fixed clock is the market. The Hip Donelson Farmers Market runs every Friday from May 1 to Oct. 30 at Donelson Station, behind Donelson Jewelry and Edley's BBQ. The entrance is at J.B. Estille Drive and Lebanon Pike. Fall hours are shorter than summer hours. Nashville Guru lists 4 to 6:30 p.m. for September and October, compared with 4 to 7 p.m. from May through August. The market's site lists no winter market after Oct. 30.

The location matters. On Friday afternoons the market fills the same lot where WeGo plans its biggest change to the neighborhood.

The station is where the delays pile up

Donelson Station is among the most popular WeGo Star stops, WKRN reported on Oct. 1. It was chosen for one of the first of roughly 12 new transit centers planned around the city. WeGo spokesperson Eric Melcher laid out the plan: six bus bays, a building, new roadway with a new entrance on Donelson Pike, pedestrian crosswalks, and a "quiet zone" so trains don't need to sound their horns at the nearby crossings.

The date has moved. In May, a WKRN report expected infrastructure work to start soon and the project to finish by the end of 2027. The October report puts the start of construction in 2027. WeGo officials told the station they don't have an exact completion date, citing permitting and the need to move several electrical poles. That's the same kind of permitting holdup Maminette dealt with, only on a much larger project. For now, the Star platform and Friday market work the way they always have.

The plans go beyond the bus bays. WKRN reported that the overhaul is meant to eventually add bus or shuttle service to the airport. Jeff Syracuse, the former District 15 Metro Council member, expects another public-private development with H.G. Hill around the transit center.

The Plaza shows how long this takes

Donelson Plaza is the best example of the timeline, because its rebuild has been underway for a decade. It opened in 1961 with Nashville-based Castner Knott as the anchor department store, alongside a Woolworth's and local shops. Syracuse described it to WKRN as "one of the first commercial strip centers in all of Nashville before Metro government was even formed." Holladay Properties bought the property in 2016, and Metro committed to putting a new Donelson library branch at its center.

The plan cut retail space and added 102 rental apartments and townhomes, according to the same WKRN report. "We've been invested in this neighborhood for 10 years," Benton Smothers, Holladay's vice president of development, told the station. Holladay has also bought the old Donelson Hospital site on Lebanon Pike for a future mixed-use project. WKRN didn't report tenants or a schedule for the hospital site, so for now it's an ownership change with no opening date.

Here's what is running at the Plaza today. The Donelson branch library is open seven days a week, with public programs and study rooms. Homegrown Taproom & Kitchen at 2720 Old Lebanon Road has been serving scratch-kitchen food and beer at the Plaza since 2015.

Why Hattie B's needed years for one building

Hattie B's coming to Old Lebanon Pike is the clearest sign that bigger names see this corridor. It's also another example of how slowly sites turn over. The restaurant will open in summer 2027 at 2725 Old Lebanon Pike, in a former bank building of about 3,200 square feet with a 1,000-square-foot covered patio and about 50 parking spaces, WhatNow reported, citing the Nashville Business Journal. It will be the brand's seventh Nashville-area location.

Co-founder Nick Bishop Jr. told the Business Journal the company had looked at Donelson for several years, drawn by its growing mix of local restaurants and bars. Chief Development Officer Dave Oster said finding real estate that fits the brand has been one of its biggest expansion challenges, so patience is a big part of choosing sites. The same report places the new restaurant among local spots like Red Door Saloon and Edley's Bar-B-Que.

Where the corridor stands this fall

Through the end of 2026, most of the new openings in the table are small ones. On a Friday afternoon you can get to Maminette, the market and the Star platform on foot. Most of the 2027 projects sit on the same short stretch, which means construction there will run alongside the places that are already open. The next fixed dates on Donelson's public calendar are the Chamber's Holiday Market on Nov. 21 and 22 and the 41st annual Donelson-Hermitage Christmas Parade in December. The Chamber hasn't posted the parade's exact date yet, and final registration closes Nov. 18 at 5 p.m.

If you own near Lebanon Pike and want to understand how the transit center, the Plaza homes or the old hospital site could affect your block over the next few years, the Kenny Stephens Team follows these projects closely. We'll give you a straight read on your street and protect your interests whenever you decide to make a move.