Franklin Frontline.

Neighborhood guide · East Franklin

Cool Springs & East Franklin.

Franklin's second downtown, built for cars and slowly learning to walk. The office towers, the Galleria, and the interstate at the top of the city, plus the condos, townhomes, and 1990s subdivisions tucked behind them on both sides of I-65. The shortest commute in Franklin, the cheapest way into a Franklin address, and the only neighborhood where the school-tax line runs down the middle.

Franklin, TN 37067 (and 37064 edges) Inside city limits · FSSD on the west side, WCS-only on the east Galleria opened 1991 Updated September 6, 2026

Neighborhood video. Ninety seconds of B-roll: Mallory Lane at 8 a.m., the Galleria parking deck from above, the McEwen Northside patios at dusk, the greenway behind Aspen Grove, the Forrest Crossing fairways, and the I-65 on-ramp at Moores Lane. No narration.

B-roll in production
$750K
Median sale price
179 sales, 12 mo. · houses $850K
$540K
Condo & townhome median
Range $365K–$760K
$305
Price per sq ft
Range $243–$374; Franklin's lowest
1979–
Build years
Most stock 1988–2011; condos still going up
$120
Typical HOA per month
$68 Forrest Crossing · $225–$316 condos
3 min
To an I-65 ramp
12 to Main Street
Good fit for Nashville commuters First Franklin address Lock-and-leave 55-plus Corridor employees

01 · The place

A mall, an office park, and the people who live behind them.

Until 1989 this was farmland at the Moores Lane exit, and people still alive remember riding horses across it. Then CBL announced a mall at the interchange, the Galleria opened on August 7, 1991, with seventy to eighty thousand people through the doors on the first day, and the corridor built itself around it in about fifteen years. Office parks on Carothers Parkway and Mallory Lane. Nissan North America's headquarters. Mars Petcare on Ovation Parkway. Community Health Systems. Enough corporate addresses that thirteen of the twenty-five public companies in the Nashville metro are headquartered along this stretch of I-65. The Galleria alone employs about 3,500 people.

The housing came in the gaps. West of the interstate, off Mallory Lane and Liberty Pike, are the condo and townhome communities: Morningside for the 55-plus crowd, Andover and Brentwood Pointe in the $400s, Parkside at Aspen Grove next to the park. East of I-65, Carothers runs south from Brentwood past Cool Springs East, seven hundred 1990s brick houses in four named enclaves, and the newer pockets around Clovercroft. South of the Galleria, where Highway 96 East meets the interstate, Forrest Crossing wraps a public golf course along the Harpeth. None of these is a destination on its own. All of them are ten minutes from every store, hospital, and office in the county, and three from the on-ramp.

What you are buying is proximity: to a Nashville job, to a Cool Springs job, to Whole Foods and Costco and the ER. What you are not buying is a neighborhood with a center. The center is a mall parking lot, and for the next few years it is also a construction site.

Who moves here

Nashville commuters who want Williamson County schools and the fastest drive to them. Corridor employees who would rather not drive at all. Buyers making their first move into Franklin, because a $450,000 townhome here is the cheapest Franklin address with a garage. Empty-nesters into Morningside. And a lot of relocations who land in a Cool Springs condo for a year while they figure out which of the other seventeen guides they actually want.

What it is not

Quiet, walkable in the downtown sense, or finished. The Walk Score of 46 is double the Franklin average and still means a car for almost everything. Mallory Lane is busiest at lunch, not rush hour, because it is a retail road, and the corridor's next decade is apartments, a hotel, a twelve-story tower, and a widened McEwen Drive.

02 · The pockets

Five pockets, two school districts, a $400,000 spread.

Cool Springs is a retail spine with housing hung off it on both sides of the interstate, and which side you land on decides your school district, your tax bill, and whether you can walk to a coffee. The rough geography, north to south:

PocketWhereWhat you findPrice band
The corridor condosWest of I-65Off Mallory Lane, Cool Springs Blvd, Aspen Grove, and Liberty PikeMorningside (250 units, 55-plus, 1998–2011), Andover, Brentwood Pointe, Parkside at Aspen Grove (2007, gated, elevators), the Residences of Grant Park (51 townhomes, pool). Mostly FSSD for K–8, then Centennial. The cheapest Franklin addresses.$365K–$660K
Carothers & Cool Springs EastEast of I-65Carothers Parkway south from the Brentwood line to McEwenCool Springs East: about 700 brick two-stories from 1996–2002 in four enclaves (The Knolls, The Meadow, The Village, The Woods), a $120 HOA, walk-to-the-mall geography. Ashton Park townhomes ($760K median). Kenrose or Clovercroft, then Woodland, then Ravenwood or Centennial.$700K–$1.25M
Forrest CrossingSouth, at Hwy 96 EastBetween the interstate and the Harpeth, off Murfreesboro Road1988–2004 single-family around the public Franklin Bridge golf course, plus three townhome sections (Culpepper, Ballington, Roderick Place). A $68 HOA with pool, swim team, and tennis. Moore Elementary and Freedom, so inside the FSSD, then Centennial.$435K townhomes · $762K house median
Liberty Pike & Mack HatcherThe west edgeLiberty Hills, Falcon Creek, Cheswicke Farm, CannonwoodEarly-1990s subdivisions on the city side of the corridor: Liberty Hills ($645K median, 17 days to contract, the fastest in the zip), Falcon Creek ($576K), Cheswicke Farm ($875K). Liberty or Johnson Elementary (FSSD) or Kenrose, depending on the street.$575K–$900K
CottonwoodHillsboro Rd at Moores LaneThree miles west along Moores LaneThe outlier. 484 houses from 1975–84 on 800 acres with a hundred acres of common ground, an Olympic pool, tennis, pickleball, and disc golf, for an $88 HOA. Zoned Walnut Grove, Grassland, Franklin High, so it is north Franklin by every measure but the commute, which runs straight down Moores Lane to the Galleria. Fourteen sales in the year, a four-day median to contract.$725K–$1.16M

Sources: MLS closed sales by subdivision, trailing 12 months to spring and summer 2026 (nashvillehome.guru); Grant Hammond condo directory, 2026; community and HOA descriptions. Bands are for choosing a pocket, not pricing a house. McKay's Mill, Ladd Park, Avalon, and the Clovercroft estates are in the same zip and get their own guides.

03 · Homes & market

What a house costs, and what you get for it.

The cheapest square footage in Franklin, and the widest range: $365,000 to $11.8 million closed in the same twelve months. The median is dragged around by the mix. Read the tiers.

$750K
Median sold price, corridor
179 closings; houses $850K, attached $540K
$305
Median price / sq ft
Range $243–$374; Westhaven is $476
$862,500
Median, whole 37067 zip
364 open-market sales, 3,040 median sq ft
97.7%
Sale to original asking
Zip-wide; 17 days to contract in Liberty Hills, 58 in Poplar Farms
37.6%
Zip sales over $1M
137 of 364, mostly Avalon, Lookaway, Clovercroft
2004
Median year built
Zip range 1900 to 2026
$1,440
Median annual HOA
$120 a month; condos two to three times that
47
Closings with rentals forbidden
Morningside 15, Poplar Farms 13, Cool Springs East 6

Sources: MLS closed sales for the Cool Springs area (179) and the 37067 zip (364), trailing 12 months to summer 2026, as compiled by nashvillehome.guru. The zip figures include McKay's Mill, Avalon, and the Clovercroft estates, which is why the zip median runs above the corridor's. Redfin's citywide figure for context: 48 days on market, June 2026.

04 · What's coming

The corridor is rebuilding itself around you.

Cool Springs was built in one push in the 1990s and is now being rebuilt in a second one. Every project below is approved, under construction, or open as of September 2026. If you are buying within a mile of the Galleria, this is the next five years of your view and your traffic.

ProjectWhereWhat it isStatus
Galleria redevelopmentCBL Properties86 acres around the mallUp to 600 apartments, a 120-room hotel, and 84,555 sq ft of new restaurant and retail, approved by the city in March 2025. First phase: 361 Greystar apartments with ground-floor retail on the northeast corner.Broke ground July 2026
Dick's House of SportReplacing JCPenneyThe mall's south anchorA 100,000-plus sq ft store with climbing wall, batting cages, and a field. Announced July 2026. The mall's remaining anchors are Belk, Dillard's, Macy's, and Primark, which opened in late 2025.Opens early 2028
AureumChartwell and Southstar22 acres at McEwen and CarothersA $500 million mixed-use plan: 355 residential units in the first phase, a twelve-story tower, office, retail, two hotels. Phases two and three sold to Embrey for about 600 more apartments.Under construction
OvationSouthstar, Highwoods, Bristol145 acres at McEwen and CarothersThe parent plan Aureum sits inside: 500,000 sq ft of retail, 950 residences, two hotels of about 450 rooms. Mars Petcare's headquarters was the first tenant.Building in phases
McEwen Northside phase IIBoyleMcEwen Drive at Mallory Lane428 apartments on top of the existing Whole Foods block. Hawkers, Paris Baguette, and an eight-court indoor pickleball hall are the 2026 tenant adds.Opening 2026
McEwen Drive wideningCity of FranklinCool Springs Blvd to Wilson PikeExtra lanes and a second left-turn lane at the interstate. The reason the east side's commute is about to get worse before it gets better.Construction 2026
I-65 wideningTDOTNorth of here, toward NashvilleOne more lane each way on the stretch you drive every morning. Phase 3 started March 2025; traffic shifts through 2026.Multi-year

In one line

By 2030 the corridor will have something like 2,000 more apartments, three hotels, and its first real streets. Buyers on Carothers and McEwen should price in cranes; buyers in Forrest Crossing and the Liberty Pike side will mostly watch it from the greenway.

05 · Schools

Two districts, three high schools, one interstate between them.

The school map is the tax map. West of I-65 and in Forrest Crossing, K–8 is the Franklin Special School District, then Centennial. East of I-65 on Carothers, it is Williamson County all the way: Kenrose or Clovercroft, Woodland or Page, then Ravenwood or Centennial. Both paths are strong. The FSSD path costs about $1,270 a year more in tax and puts every fifth-through-eighth grader in the district on one campus.

SchoolGradesDistanceNotes
Kenrose ElementaryCarothers side · WCSK–51–2 miAbout 720 students, 15:1. Niche A, third-ranked elementary in the county; 82% proficient in math, 72% in reading. The primary zone for Cool Springs East.
Clovercroft ElementaryClovercroft Rd · WCSK–53 miZoned for 100 of 364 sales in the zip, mostly the newer pockets east of Carothers. Feeds Woodland and Ravenwood.
Johnson, Liberty & MooreWest side · FSSDPK–41–3 miSmall district schools of 420 to 500 students. Johnson on Glass Lane serves Morningside; Liberty on Liberty Pike serves the Liberty Hills side; Moore on Lewisburg Pike serves Forrest Crossing.
Freedom Intermediate & MiddleHwy 96 West · FSSD5–84 miThe whole FSSD on two neighboring campuses. Eighth graders get first claim on Centennial's 157 open-zone seats for 2026–27.
Woodland & Page MiddleEast side · WCS6–83–5 miWoodland for Kenrose and Clovercroft families (88 of 364 zip closings); Page for the McKay's Mill and Clovercroft-south pockets (159).
Centennial High5050 Mallory Ln · WCS9–121–3 miAbout 1,350 students, 16:1, Niche A, GreatSchools 9. The zone for 152 of 364 zip closings and every FSSD address in the corridor. The only high school you can walk to from the Galleria.
Ravenwood HighWilson Pike, Brentwood · WCS9–125 miAbout 1,975 students. Niche A+, ranked first in the county and third in Tennessee; 65% AP participation. The zone for 88 of 364 closings, on the Cool Springs East and Clovercroft side.

Sources: WCS and FSSD zoning as recorded on 364 MLS closings in 37067, 2025–26; NCES, Niche, U.S. News, Public School Review enrollment and ratings; WCS open-zone list, January 2026. Page High took 118 of the zip's closings, almost all in McKay's Mill and the Clovercroft-south pockets covered by other guides. Zones change when the district opens schools; confirm the address with the WCS and FSSD zone finders.

06 · Getting around

The drive, honestly timed.

Times are from the Galleria on a weekday morning between 7 and 8:30. Three interchanges serve the corridor, at Moores Lane, Cool Springs Boulevard, and McEwen, which is why the Nashville number here is the best in the city and the local number is the worst.

Downtown FranklinMain Street and the square, via Mallory Lane and Hwy 9612min
I-65 on-rampMoores Lane, Cool Springs Blvd, or McEwen, whichever is clear3min
Downtown NashvilleAbout 20 miles via I-65 N; 20–30 min off-peak35–50min
Nashville International (BNA)Via I-65 and Old Hickory or 440; the airLINE shuttle from the Marriott is $2530–40min
Maryland Farms, BrentwoodUp Carothers or Franklin Road8–10min
WesthavenAcross the whole city via Mack Hatcher18–22min

Mobility scores

Walkable4/10

Walk Score 46, double the Franklin average. Cool Springs East can walk to the mall; McEwen Northside and Meridian are real blocks. Everything else is a parking lot crossing.

Bikeable4/10

The Harpeth greenway behind Aspen Grove is good; getting to it across Mallory Lane is not. Sidewalks on 128 of 364 closings.

Transit3/10

Franklin Transit's fixed routes reach the Galleria and Carothers; the on-demand service covers the rest. The airLINE airport shuttle runs eight trips a day from the Marriott, Sunday through Thursday.

Traffic painHigh

Mallory Lane peaks between 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. every day of the week, not at rush hour, because nearly everyone on it is going shopping. McEwen is a work zone in 2026. Black Friday and the two weeks before Christmas, stay home or leave by the back roads.

07 · Daily life

Where the week actually happens.

  • McEwen NorthsideThe corridor's one real restaurant block: Culinary Dropout, Tupelo Honey, Sperry's, Jonathan's Grille, with Hawkers and Paris Baguette arriving in 2026. Patios, a lawn, and parking you walk from once.Drive · 4 min
  • Meridian Cool SpringsLittle Hats Italian Market and Handel's on either side of the green; Chrysalis for the nice dinner.Drive · 3 min
  • The steakhouse rowPerry's, J. Alexander's, BrickTop's, and Stave at the Marriott. Where the corridor takes clients.Drive · 3–5 min
  • Bishop's Meat & Three, Tony's Eat & DrinkThe lunch counters office workers actually use.Drive · 5 min
  • Downtown FranklinEverything on Main Street, twelve minutes west and worth it.Drive · 12 min
  • Live musicMusic on the Green at Meridian in summer, the McEwen lawn, and the Franklin circuit. Tracked nightly.Tonight's shows

08 · The year

What the neighborhood does together.

All Franklin events →

Cool Springs has no association and no green of its own, so its calendar is the developers' and the mall's, plus the county fixtures ten minutes away. The dates that shape a year here:

09 · Trade-offs

The case for, and the case against.

What you gain

  • The commute. Three minutes to three different on-ramps. Thirty-five to fifty minutes to downtown Nashville in the rush against Westhaven's fifty to sixty-five. Or no interstate at all if you work in the corridor.
  • Price per foot. About $305 against $476 in Westhaven and the city's $970,000 median. The same money buys a third more house here.
  • The cheapest way in. A Franklin address, Williamson County schools, and a garage from the low $400s. No other guide in this series can say that.
  • Everything within six minutes. Six grocery stores, the hospital, the mall, the big boxes, every specialist. You will never drive to Nashville for a thing.
  • A choice of school districts. FSSD's small elementaries or WCS's Kenrose-to-Ravenwood path, a mile apart. Pick the street to pick the path.

What you give up

  • Local traffic. Mallory Lane peaks at lunch, McEwen is a work zone through 2026, and the six weeks from Black Friday to New Year's are a siege.
  • A center. No square, no green, no Main Street. McEwen Northside and Meridian are the closest thing, and they are developments, not a town.
  • The construction decade. Roughly 2,000 apartments, three hotels, and a twelve-story tower are coming within a mile of the Galleria. Views, traffic, and school enrollment will all move.
  • Rental rules. Morningside, Poplar Farms, and parts of Cool Springs East forbid renting outright. Investors should read the covenants before they read the listing.
  • Character. The housing is 1990s brick or 2000s stucco, and the streets were drawn by traffic engineers. If porches matter, the money goes further on the west side of town.

The verdict

Buy here for the drive and the dollar. If your week is I-65 north or a Carothers office, a Cool Springs East house or a Mallory Lane townhome gives you the county's schools and the shortest commute in the city at the lowest price per foot in it. If you want a neighborhood with a middle, this is the wrong guide, and the next three are the right ones.

10 · Map

Where it sits.

The northeast corner of Franklin, both sides of I-65 from the Brentwood line at Moores Lane south to Highway 96 East. Mallory Lane and Carothers Parkway are the two spines. The Harpeth runs along the south and east edges, and Mack Hatcher closes the west.

Galleria at I-65 and Moores Lane FSSD west of the interstate, WCS-only on Carothers Harpeth floodplain at Forrest Crossing and the greenway

11 · Questions

What people ask before they move here.

Am I inside the Franklin Special School District or not?

Depends on the street. Addresses that zone to Johnson, Liberty, or Moore Elementary and then Freedom Intermediate and Middle are inside the FSSD and pay its $0.7673 per $100 on top of county and city tax, a combined $2.2433 against $1.566 outside the district. That is roughly the west side of I-65, Morningside, the Liberty Pike subdivisions, and Forrest Crossing. Addresses on the Carothers side that zone to Kenrose or Clovercroft and then Woodland or Page are Williamson County only. On a $750,000 home the difference is about $1,270 a year. Both districts have address lookups; use them before you write the offer.

Centennial or Ravenwood?

Mostly Centennial, on Mallory Lane: 152 of 364 closings in the zip last year, including every FSSD address in the corridor. Ravenwood took 88, on the Cool Springs East and Clovercroft side that feeds through Woodland Middle. Page High took 118, almost all in McKay's Mill and the pockets south of Clovercroft. The county redraws lines when it opens schools, and the last big redistricting moved the Woodland-to-Ravenwood boundary, so confirm any address rather than trusting the listing.

How bad is the traffic, really?

Different from what you expect. The interstate commute is the best in Franklin: three minutes to a ramp and 35 to 50 minutes to downtown Nashville in the morning rush. The local roads are the problem. Mallory Lane's peak is 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. every day because it is a shopping street, McEwen Drive is being widened through 2026, and from Black Friday to Christmas the whole corridor is a parking lot. Residents learn the back ways: Carothers to the east, Liberty Pike and Mack Hatcher to the west.

Is Cool Springs in Franklin or Brentwood?

Franklin, south of Moores Lane. The Galleria's mailing address says Franklin and its taxes go to the City of Franklin. The office parks north of Moores Lane, including Tractor Supply and the Maryland Farms end, are Brentwood. Zip 37067 is the corridor's; the Forrest Crossing and Liberty Pike edges carry 37064.

Can I rent out a condo here?

Often not. Forty-seven closings in the zip last year recorded renting as forbidden: fifteen at Morningside, thirteen at Poplar Farms, six at Cool Springs East. Another 129 permitted long-term leases. Short-term rentals fall under the city's Ordinance 2025-25, effective January 2026: owner-occupied only. Read the covenants for the specific building or section before you buy as an investment.

What is being built, and when does it end?

It does not end soon. The Galleria's owner has approval for up to 600 apartments, a 120-room hotel, and 84,555 square feet of retail on the 86 acres around the mall, and the first 361 apartments broke ground in July 2026. Dick's House of Sport replaces JCPenney in early 2028. Aureum at McEwen and Carothers is a $500 million plan with a twelve-story tower, 355 residences in its first phase, and about 600 more in the phases sold to Embrey; McEwen Northside is adding 428 on top. Add the McEwen Drive widening in 2026 and TDOT's I-65 lanes north of here, and the honest answer is a construction decade.

Does it flood?

The Harpeth wraps Forrest Crossing and runs behind Aspen Grove, and the golf course and greenway sit in the mapped floodplain by design. Some lots on the river side of Forrest Crossing and along the smaller creeks off Mallory Lane carry flood zones. The corridor's condos and Cool Springs East mostly sit above it. Check the FEMA map for any specific address.

How does this compare to McKay's Mill or Brentwood?

McKay's Mill is the next pocket south on Carothers: a 2000s master-planned subdivision with a village center and a greenway, a step up in price at a $807,000 median, and the neighborhood most Cool Springs East buyers are also touring. Brentwood is across Moores Lane: one-acre minimum lots in most of the city, higher prices, Brentwood schools, and no Franklin Main Street. Cool Springs is the cheaper, denser, closer-to-the-ramp option between them.

12 · Compare

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Sources & method