If you drive Old Lebanon Pike often enough, you've probably wondered about the empty building at 2725, the one with the drive-through lane and the sign that still says Truist. It sits directly across the street from the library, which has been busy enough since it opened in June 2024 that the contrast is hard to miss. One side of the street quadrupled in size and never slowed down. The other side has been boarded up for two years.
That's about to change, though maybe not on the timeline you'd guess.
The Parcel Sold. Two Tenants Are Confirmed. One Is Still a Rumor.
Metro Councilman Jeff Gregg confirmed in May 2026 that the former Truist Bank property has officially sold. The current plan puts a Starbucks on the south end of the lot, closer to Lebanon Pike, with two additional tenant spaces still open at the time of that announcement. Gregg also said conversations were underway to bring Hattie B's Hot Chicken into one of those remaining spots.
By late July, that conversation had turned into something firmer. Citing Nashville Business Journal reporting, industry coverage confirmed Hattie B's will open its seventh Nashville-area restaurant at that same address, taking over roughly 3,200 square feet of the former bank building and adding a 1,000-square-foot covered patio with about 50 parking spaces. The opening is planned for summer 2027, not this fall and not next spring. If you've been checking that corner every few weeks expecting fry oil and a line out the door, you have almost a full year left to wait.
The timing tracks with how the chain has been moving. Hattie B's opened its largest location yet in East Nashville at 1206 Gallatin Avenue this past June, and the company told the Business Journal it expects to close out 2026 with seven new restaurants and add ten more locations in 2027. A Donelson build fits neatly into that second wave rather than the first.
Why the Small Deal Moved Fast and the Big One Hasn't
Here's the part that actually explains the pace of change on this block, and it's easy to miss if you only look at the headline names.
The Truist building is small, a single former bank branch with a drive-through lane already built in. That's exactly the kind of footprint a coffee chain or a fast-casual hot chicken concept can commit to quickly, because the site plan barely needs to change. Across the street, though, Donelson Plaza, the shopping center that holds the library itself, still has a 26,000-square-foot anchor space sitting vacant. As of a June 2026 commercial listing, it was being marketed as the only retail block of that size along the entire Lebanon Pike corridor between downtown Nashville and Hermitage. Nobody has announced a tenant for it.
That gap tells you something the small deals don't. A drive-through coffee shop can say yes in a matter of months. A 26,000-square-foot anchor is a different kind of commitment, the kind that usually waits for proof that foot traffic is real and growing before someone signs a lease that size. Donelson has the small wins locked in. The big one is still a bet somebody hasn't made yet.
What's Already Open, While You Wait
The good news is you don't need Hattie B's to already have a full day within a two-block stretch of Old Lebanon Pike. Donelson Plaza, where the library sits, is anchored by a mix that includes Strike & Spare Bowling, BagelShop, Homegrown Tap Room & Kitchen, and West Coast Taco Shop, alongside longtime local favorites like The Game Cave. Homegrown's draft list runs 24 taps deep, which is more variety than most Nashville neighborhoods this size can claim on one block.
The library itself is worth treating as a destination rather than a stop. It's 25,000 square feet, built to LEED Gold standards, and holds close to 30,000 books, six study rooms, and a mobile kitchen used for community cooking classes. Branch manager Ryan Darrow told Nashville Scene that the plaza is finally delivering on a vision for a walkable, mixed-use center that planners have been working toward for more than a decade under the Donelson Urban Design Overlay. He pointed to the Hip Donelson Farmers Market and FiftyForward, both within easy reach of the same corner, and mentioned a new parklet in the works. None of that requires a single new tenant sign to already function as a hangout.
Here's where the pieces stand right now:
| What | Status | When |
|---|---|---|
| Former Truist Bank, 2725 Old Lebanon Pike | Sold, Starbucks confirmed for south end | Construction not yet underway |
| Hattie B's Hot Chicken | Confirmed for same address, 7th Nashville-area location | Summer 2027 |
| Donelson Plaza's 26,000 sq ft anchor space | Vacant, actively marketed | No tenant announced |
| Remaining tenant space(s) at 2725 Old Lebanon Pike | Open | Unannounced |
The Rest of the Neighborhood Never Waited on Any of This
While the commercial corner sorts itself out, the reason Donelson already feels lived-in has nothing to do with what's opening on Old Lebanon Pike. It has to do with Two Rivers Park, which sits at 374 acres in the heart of the neighborhood and carries more recreation options than any other park in the city. There's an 18-hole disc golf course, the Wave Country pool with its slides, a municipal golf course with a skyline view from the eighth hole, and a greenway connection that runs 8 miles to the Percy Priest Dam. A pedestrian bridge over the Cumberland links the park straight into Shelby Bottoms on the East Nashville side, if you've ever wanted to walk or bike between the two neighborhoods without touching a car.
Late September into mid-October is actually the better of Donelson's two seasonal windows for using any of it, with highs settling into the mid-70s and noticeably lighter crowds than summer along both the greenway and the park's trails. If you've been putting off a disc golf round or a longer bike ride because of the heat, this is the stretch to take it.
What Actually Changes on Your Commute This Fall
Honestly, not much yet. The Truist building will likely sit with its current signage through the rest of this year while Starbucks moves through permitting and construction, and Hattie B's won't open its doors until summer 2027 at the earliest. What has changed is the certainty. A year ago, that corner was just an empty branch with no clear future. Now it has a confirmed coffee tenant, a confirmed second restaurant with a real address and a real square footage, and a documented pattern of small commercial spaces filling in while the one large anchor space keeps waiting for its match.
That's a different story than "Donelson is getting some new restaurants." It's a neighborhood where the easy commitments are done and the harder one, the kind that actually signals long-term confidence in the corridor, is still an open question. Worth watching if you live here. Worth knowing if you're the type who likes being able to explain to a neighbor exactly why the drive-through window still says Truist.
If you're curious about what any of this means for property values on your specific street, or you just want a local read on what's actually worth waiting for versus what's overhyped, reach out to Gracie Youngblood. She keeps a close eye on this corridor and the rest of Nashville's east side suburbs, and she's always glad to talk through what's real and what's still just a rendering.
