Walk into The Gulch on a Friday night and you’ll see a version of Nashville that didn’t exist thirty years ago. It’s all neon, high-end denim, and $15 cocktails now. But back in the early 90s? That same dirt was a "blighted wasteland." We’re talking abandoned railroad tracks and crumbling warehouses where nobody wanted to be after dark.
The guy who changed that—and arguably the modern trajectory of the city—was Steve Turner.
Honestly, it’s hard to overstate how much of the Nashville "skyline" and cultural backbone traces back to his desk. Steve Turner wasn't just some developer looking to flip a block for a quick buck. He was a Scottsville, Kentucky native who grew up in the family business—Dollar General—and brought that same "neighbor-looking-after-neighbor" ethos to urban planning. When he passed away in February 2025 at age 77, he left behind a city that looks nothing like the one he moved to in 1986.
The Visionary Behind MarketStreet Equities
Steve Turner didn't start in real estate. He spent two decades as an executive at Dollar General, the retail giant founded by his father, Cal Turner Sr. But at age 40, he decided to go his own way. He and his wife, Judy, moved to Nashville and did something that seemed crazy at the time: they bought a 100-year-old derelict hardware building on Second Avenue and lived in it.
Back then, downtown Nashville was what Steve called a "donut." It had a big, empty hole in the middle once the office workers went home. He wanted to turn it into a "Danish"—you know, where all the sweet stuff is right in the center.
🔗 Read more: We Are Legal Revolution: Why the Status Quo is Finally Breaking
Through his firm, MarketStreet Equities, he didn't just buy buildings; he bought the future of the urban core.
- The Gulch: This was his masterpiece. A 60-acre industrial graveyard transformed into the first LEED-certified neighborhood in the Southeast.
- Schermerhorn Symphony Center: He chaired the building committee for this world-class hall, which actually houses a concert hall named after his mother, Laura Turner.
- Public-Private Partnerships: He was a master at getting the city and private money to play nice.
Basically, Steve saw things others couldn't imagine. He took on the "enormous personal risk" of redeveloping brownfields when everyone else was building suburban malls. Without him, Nashville might still be that "donut" with a hollow center.
Steve Turner and the Country Music Hall of Fame
If you’ve visited the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum recently, you’ve seen Steve’s fingerprints everywhere. He joined the board in 1997 and served as chairman from 2008 to 2021.
The museum was carrying heavy debt from its 2001 move, and things were... kinda dicey. Steve didn't just write a check. He negotiated a massive public-private deal involving the Omni Hotel and the Metro government. That deal led to a 2014 expansion that more than doubled the museum's size.
💡 You might also like: Oil Market News Today: Why Prices Are Crashing Despite Middle East Chaos
Because of that stability, he pushed for "Community Counts," a program giving free admission to local youth. He wasn't just about the architecture; he wanted the kids in Middle Tennessee to actually own their heritage. In early 2025, just after his death, the museum named its permanent exhibit galleries—the "Judy and Steve Turner Galleries"—to honor that legacy.
Beyond the Boardroom: Philanthropy and Vanderbilt
It wasn’t all just steel and glass. Steve and Judy were deeply embedded in the academic and medical life of the city. As a Vanderbilt University alumnus (BA '69), Steve served on the Board of Trust and was later named a trustee emeritus.
His giving was surgical. He and Judy endowed the Judith Payne Turner Chair in Neurology at VUMC. They funded commissions for the Blair School of Music. They even helped launch the Center for Nashville Studies to figure out how to manage the very growth Steve helped spark.
He was also a founding board member of You Have The Power, an advocacy group for victims of crime. The guy was everywhere.
📖 Related: Cuanto son 100 dolares en quetzales: Why the Bank Rate Isn't What You Actually Get
What People Get Wrong About the Turner Legacy
People often see the growth of Nashville and complain about "New Nashville" losing its soul. But if you look at Steve Turner’s work, he was obsessed with history. He didn't tear down the old H.G. Lipscomb Hardware building; he split it to create a public walkway to the river. He kept the original columns in his offices.
He believed a city should be walkable, vibrant, and dense—the "European lifestyle," as he called it. He didn't want Nashville to be a museum of the past; he wanted it to be a living, breathing community.
Practical Lessons from the Steve Turner Era
What can we take away from how Steve Turner Nashville TN operated? Whether you're a local business owner or just a resident, there are a few "Turner-isms" that still apply:
- Collaboration over Competition: Steve was famous for bringing disparate groups—government, artists, and bankers—to the table.
- Long-term Bets: He started working on the Gulch in 1999. It took twenty years to see the full vision. Patience is a competitive advantage.
- Civic Responsibility: He didn't just build luxury condos; he sat on the boards of the Symphony, the Frist Art Museum, and the Chamber of Commerce.
If you're looking to understand the mechanics of Nashville’s boom, you have to look at the James Stephen Turner Family Foundation and MarketStreet. They provided the blueprint for how a mid-sized Southern city could reinvent itself without losing its identity.
The best way to honor that legacy? Support the institutions he helped build. Visit the Frist, take a kid to the Hall of Fame, or just walk through the Gulch and realize that once upon a time, nobody thought that ground was worth a dime.
What you can do next:
If you're interested in the history of the area, check out the "String City" puppet show at the Nashville Public Library—a project Steve and Judy personally funded to tell the story of country music to the next generation. Or, take a walking tour of the Gulch to see the LEED-certified urban design features that set the standard for the entire region.