Green Hills Is Changing Before Its Big Mall Rebuild Even Starts

On February 4, 2026, Simon announced an investment program of more than $250 million spread across three of its malls, and The Mall at Green Hills was one of them. For Green Hills, Simon described a complete transformation with two-story entrances, new luxury boutique spaces, landscaping, and new interior finishes, and the company said it expected construction to begin in 2026. Eight months later, nobody has published a construction start date. Meanwhile, the mall has filled several storefronts in its current building, a new Italian dining room has opened a short drive away on Richard Jones Road, and a fried chicken spot has opened on Hillsboro Circle. The Green Hills you can actually use this fall is the one being assembled one address at a time. The headline project hasn't reached that stage yet.

Seven Forecasts From May, Checked in October

In early May, the Davidson County Source listed the stores headed to the mall, each with a target month. The same report said SKIMS, Hollister Co., Valenti, and a temporary Kendra Scott had recently opened, and that Altar'd State and State & Liberty had moved into new spaces. Here is where each forecast stood as of the first week of October:

1. Coach, forecast for mid-May. It was open by mid-September. A September 15 report listed it among the mall's recent additions, but no exact opening day was published.
2. Oota Egyptian Eatery, forecast for late May. I could not confirm an opening date.
3. Vuori, forecast for June. The brand's store page for the Green Hills location shows customer reviews dated as early as June 20, 2026, so the store was operating by then.
4. Mountain High Outfitters, forecast for July. I could not confirm an opening date.
5. Burberry, forecast to move to a new space in August. The mall's directory still lists Burberry, but I could not confirm that the move has happened.
6. Edikted, forecast for September. It arrived on schedule. The mall's site marks it "Now Open," and an October 5 retail roundup in The Vanderbilt Hustler said it opened "just last month."
7. Rowan, forecast for fall. Rowan scheduled its first Nashville ear-piercing studio to open on Saturday, September 19. The company has more than 100 studios nationwide, and its piercings are done by licensed nurses. The mall directory now shows it as open.

That makes four of seven confirmed, and Edikted is the only one confirmed in the month originally announced. The same September report also counted Christian Louboutin among the recent arrivals. A Cult Gaia pop-up was photographed inside the mall on September 23, though no opening date was reported.

Taken together, these brands have been signing into the building as it stands today. The two-story entrances and new boutique wings in Simon's renderings will be built around a lineup that is largely already open.

The Rebuild Is the Only Piece Without a Date

The schedule for the store openings slipped a few weeks here and there. The construction schedule hasn't been made public at all. When WSMV followed up on June 3, mall leadership gave no specific timeline for major construction. The station reported that parking was shoppers' main concern, and asked how construction would affect parking, the mall answered "more to come." I have found no later public notice about a start date, construction phases, entrance closures, or changes to the parking decks.

For anyone who uses the mall every week, the practical point is that the entrances and parking at 2126 Abbott Martin Road work the same way this October as they did last October. Of all the changes coming to Green Hills, the one most likely to affect a Saturday errand is the one with the least public information.

Dinner Opened a Few Blocks From the Mall

While the mall was adding retail, the new restaurants opened nearby on other streets.

Lupo Notte opened September 16 at Vertis Green Hills, 2035 Richard Jones Road. It is the first full-service restaurant from Southern Land Company, which uses Vertis as its flagship mixed-use development and its headquarters. Southern Land's June announcement had promised an opening "later this summer," so it opened about three weeks into September. The menu is upscale Italian, with house-made pasta, pizzas, daily specials, and entrées built on locally sourced ingredients. The executive chef is Owen Lane, who most recently served as executive sous chef at Pastis and has also cooked at Audrey and June in East Nashville and at The Boardroom in Westhaven. He grew up on a family farm in Leipers Fork.

"We're excited to have guests joining us for dinner at what we believe is a great culinary addition in Green Hills – a place where friends gather, families celebrate, and special memories are made." That was Tim Downey, founder and CEO of Southern Land Company, in the September 24 opening announcement.

For now, Lupo Notte serves dinner only, seven days a week. Lunch service and online ordering are scheduled for later this fall. So if you're planning a weekday lunch on Richard Jones Road, it isn't an option yet.

Waldo's Chicken & Beer opened a day earlier, on September 15, according to Nashville Guru's new-business tracker. It sits at 4106 Hillsboro Circle. Waldo's and Lupo Notte opened within 24 hours of each other, and both are a short drive from the mall entrances.

The retail openings outside the mall followed the same pattern. Boden, the British clothing brand, opened a 1,700-square-foot shop at Hill Center Green Hills in July. The shop's address is 4025 Hillsboro Pike, Suite 505. Hill Center announced the shop as now open on August 19.

Two Addresses on a Longer Clock

Some of the neighborhood's other projects have dates, just later ones.

The Green Hills Branch Library at 3701 Benham Avenue has been closed for a full renovation since January 4, 2026. The Nashville Public Library's current notice expects it to reopen in early 2027, with a new children's area and more meeting rooms. When WKRN reported on the closure in December 2025, the reopening estimate was "some time next winter." The library's notice now says early 2027, which pushes the reopening past this coming holiday season.

La La Land Kind Cafe has an address at 4012 Hillsboro Pike and an expected opening sometime in 2027, with no firm date. Nashville Guru included it in an October 1 roundup of restaurants and shops coming soon.

There's also a smaller infrastructure project. Metro's Hillsboro Pike and Crestmoor Road project shifts Crestmoor so it lines up with Glen Echo and adds a new water main. The city targeted substantial completion for August 2026, but the project page hasn't been updated since July 13. That update described a one-week closure of Crestmoor at Hillsboro Pike, with traffic detoured along Abbott Martin Road and Cleghorn Avenue. Since the page hasn't been updated since July, it's a good idea to check it before driving through that intersection.

October in Green Hills, by Date

Most of this month's calendar is set by the openings above. The fixed dates are few:

• Fridays through October 30, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Bluebird Cafe's gift shop has daytime hours, and no reservation is needed.
• Sunday, October 18, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Bluebird Cafe hosts its fall open house, also with no reservation required.
• Mondays, October 12, 19, and 26, 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Bluebird on 3rd shows take place at 3rd & Lindsley, 813 3rd Avenue South. The Bluebird's own listing points out that these shows are not at the Green Hills cafe.
• Nightly. Lupo Notte serves dinner at Vertis Green Hills, and lunch is expected to follow before the end of fall.

The Bluebird's open house and the mall's new storefronts are both within a short drive of Hillsboro Pike. As of today, the one date not yet on the Green Hills calendar is the start of construction on Simon's mall redevelopment.

Every new store or restaurant opening, and every redevelopment that slips its schedule, changes how a Green Hills address is valued. Following those changes up close is part of how Beth Molteni prices homes near Hillsboro Pike. If you'd like to talk through what this fall's openings, and the mall project still waiting to start, mean for your own property, please reach out to schedule a consultation.