This fall, two schedules on 12th Avenue South split apart. Au Cheval's Nashville page lists hours beginning November 4, Wednesday through Sunday, at the Ashwood 12 South development. The city's parking answer for the same blocks was expected around October or November. It now has an estimated date of spring 2027. The rest of the strip is turning over at its south end as well. As a result, the evening crowd on 12 South is changing this winter while the curb still runs on the rules it already had.

A dinner-only diner at the north end

Au Cheval is the Chicago upscale diner from Hogsalt, known for its cheeseburger. The Nashville menu also lists roasted marrow bones, honey-fried chicken, steak frites and prime steaks. This location sits at 2212 12th Avenue South and is the first Au Cheval outside Chicago and New York. Author & Edit Hospitality, Sam Fox's group, describes the project as a collaboration between Hogsalt's Brendan Sodikoff and Fox. Author & Edit operates the 5,000-square-foot restaurant.

The posted hours matter more to neighbors than the menu. Au Cheval's Nashville page lists Wednesday through Sunday, 4:30 to 10 p.m. That's dinner service only, and it brings people to the north end of the strip after many daytime shoppers have gone home. The restaurant's reservation page sets out how getting a table works:

• Reservations open up to 60 days ahead, and each new date is released at 12 p.m. Central.
• Walk-ins are welcome at the bar, where the full menu is served. Other walk-in seating is offered when possible.
• Parties are capped at eight guests, and bookings should match the real party size, children included.
• A credit card holds the reservation, and cancellations within 12 hours are charged $25 per person.
• Reservations may not be sold or traded. Bookings found on resale sites are canceled.

On Au Cheval's OpenTable listing, the parking line reads "Street Parking." That leads to the second schedule.

The curb rules that were due this fall

In July, NDOT brought a 12th Avenue South package to the Metro Parking and Traffic Commission. The July agenda spells out the details:

• Two-hour parking on both sides of 12th Ave S between Ashwood and Kirkwood, 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Rideshare pickup and drop-off zones at Ashwood, Linden, Elmwood, Beechwood, Dallas and Paris.
• Loading zones from 6 to 10 a.m. that would switch to two-hour parking until 8 p.m.
• Two-hour limits on the side-street corners next to businesses.

WSMV reported that the commission deferred the package for 60 days. According to WSMV, a June community meeting ran more than two hours, and a survey before it showed no clear preference between paid parking and time-limited free parking. NDOT said it would hire a consultant to lay out two or three alternatives, with findings expected about three months later, "putting a potential timeline around October or November for changes."

October and November have arrived, and the timeline has moved. Here's how the commission record reads since July:

The September minutes give the new date plainly:

"It is estimated that NDOT will have a final road map by the spring of 2027."

The same minutes leave room for earlier action. An NDOT staff member said pieces could be put in place before spring. The commission chair said he wanted action before the study ends. Staff said they would bring items forward once the consultant identified them, "especially if it is identified as a safety concern." The minutes also say a community meeting had already been scheduled. They note that the study will measure how much the existing residential permit parking spaces are actually used.

Even the proposed rules would end at 8 p.m.

Compare those two schedules. The July proposal set its two-hour limits from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Au Cheval's posted dinner service runs from 4:30 to 10 p.m. If the package had passed this summer as written, the time limits would still have expired partway through dinner. The rules NDOT studies next will decide whether evening traffic gets any attention at all. It's the busiest new stretch of the day on the strip.

The 12 South Farmers Market also changes the evening picture this season. The market ran Tuesdays from 4 to 7 p.m. at Sevier Park, 3000 Granny White Pike, and its 2026 calendar closed with the Halloween Harvest Festival on October 27. The market's homepage says applications for the 2027 season are opening soon. Until spring, the strip's late-day crowd is a dinner crowd.

The September minutes also show two different views on the permit question. A representative for 12 South merchants asked for an interim repeal of residential permits. A neighborhood representative described overparking and discussed possible street markings. The commission recorded both as comments. Neither has been adopted.

The 2900 block is turning over too

Ashwood holds the north end, and its directory lists La La Land, Sushi-San and Sunlife Organics for dining. Retail includes Birkenstock, Reformation, Sézane, Todd Snyder, lululemon and Jo Malone, among others. The south end of the strip is changing hands one address at a time:

1. 2901 12th Ave S. Nashville Scene reported that Burger Up, a 12 South restaurant since 2010, would permanently close after Saturday, Aug. 1. Owner Jim Lewis thanked "our guests, friends, neighbors and our fantastic team members." Levain Bakery is listed for the space, with a 2027 opening expected.
2. 2902 12th Ave S. Epice is still at this address. The Nashville Business Journal reported in August that the restaurant plans to move to Green Hills next year.
3. 2906 12th Ave S. Mother's Ruin is set for a second Nashville location in part of the former White's Mercantile space. Plans call for about 4,000 square feet inside, a 2,000-square-foot patio and an outdoor rooftop, with opening expected in late 2026.
4. 2908 12th Ave S. Anthropologie is listed for the other former White's Mercantile space, also expected in late 2026.

Look at the timing across those four addresses. A cocktail bar with a rooftop and a patio is expected in late 2026, a bakery sometime in 2027, and Epice's move next year. The two late-2026 openings are expected before NDOT's spring 2027 roadmap. Each business plans its own opening, and none of them waits for the street to change. The commission is studying permit-space data and safety items on a schedule that the businesses don't share.

Planning a winter evening on 12 South

The posted schedules make some planning straightforward.

For Au Cheval, the noon Central release is the date to watch, since tables open up to 60 days ahead. Without a reservation, the bar serves the full menu to walk-ins. The restaurant is closed Mondays and Tuesdays, so the earliest weeknight dinner there is Wednesday.

For parking, the July package has not been adopted, so the posted signs on each block are what apply. NDOT's study will look at the existing residential permit spaces, the commission chair has said he wants faster action, and staff have said safety items could reach the commission before spring. Commissioners asked in July for a public project website with parking inventory data and a map of permit streets. The Parking and Traffic Commission meetings page is where 12 South items show up first, as agendas and then as minutes.

For the rest of the evening, Ashwood's restaurants sit next to Au Cheval at the north end. The 2900 block will keep changing through the winter as the Mother's Ruin and Anthropologie spaces get built out.

Our team watches 12 South openings and the Parking and Traffic Commission agendas the same way we watch listings. When a curb change starts to affect how a street works, we want our neighbors to hear about it early. If you'd like to know how the 12 South parking study and the new storefronts could affect your block, The Vande Kamp Group is happy to talk it through. Get in touch.