Nashville Development News

[Insighter]

Another cheesy little hotel being considered for SoBro... http://nashvillepost.com/blogs/postb...ice_sobro_land

[Insighter]

And nothing new but more promises from Bill Winsor at Market Center Management regarding the Medical Mart... http://www.tennessean.com/article/20...xt|FRONTPAGE|s

If/When they do get financing... then that WILL BE NEWS! Stay tuned.

[Insighter]

New, very large academic building on Wedgewood for Belmont University. It will be 188,000 sf and cost $76M, rendering and a story from William Williams in the Post... http://nashvillepost.com/blogs/postb...demic_building

[Insighter]

And the permit for the $32M West End Village was issued.

http://nashvillepost.com/news/2012/5...rol_4_may_2012

http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville...-end-area.html

[Insighter]

And the new MTSU science building, with 250,000 sf and a cost of $147M.

From the 10SEN: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20...xt|FRONTPAGE|s

[Insighter]

So grapevine says that Mayor Dean is putting a lot of muscle into getting things at the Medical Trade Center underway... and also looking for a (best case) alternative for House of Blues. Grapevine also tells me that Dean might look for MDHA land near the river for a House of Blues, if the deal for MTC actually happens. One big thing Dean is using is firm deadlines. FYI: Grapevine is a composite of several reliable sources.

Brian Reisinger has a piece today on the complex financing process for the MTC, from the NBJ: http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville...ment-lbmc.html

[ariesjow]

What other spots near the river could work for House of Blues? I've never been to one so I'm not sure what kind of footprint they would need. However, I'm really excited about the idea of one because it seems like it would provide another decent-sized concert venue to bring even more people downtown. I want to see both the MTC and House of Blues built.

[Insighter]

Originally Posted by BUSTAN

Please go to this page, it may interest you

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1511809

It seems you placed this link in the wrong place. However, I must say that the proposed project really looks sterile and not walker-friendly. That's definitely a trend in America these days, and Boston is the probably the most walkable of all our cities.

[Insighter]

Mars Petcare will break ground for their big HQ campus just south of Franklin in Thompsons Station. $88M and 4 buildings, over 500,000 sf... http://www.tennessean.com/article/20...xt|FRONTPAGE|s

And more about Thompsons Station, from the 10SEN: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20...yssey=obinsite

[Insighter]

Wellllll..... it ain't "Real Housewives...", but it's something we can call our very own. Announcing Nashville's new TV show (i.e. a "soap opera").

From the Post... http://nashvillepost.com/blogs/postb...lle_soap_opera

From the 10SEN: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20...text|FRONTPAGE

[Insighter]

Additional apartments planned for 12South. I love the vision for this neighborhood, and I still "love me" some Mafiaoso's Pizza!

This one will be going up just two blocks from the HG Hill block... http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville...ct-in-the.html

http://assets.bizjournals.com/nashvi...ct*900.jpg?v=1

[Insighter]

OneC1ty to land two important anchors (from William Williams in the Post)... http://nashvillepost.com/blogs/postb...anchor_tenants

[Insighter]

And from the NBJ, city officials are in the process of luring up to 2 very big, top-name hotels to downtown (SoBro)... http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville...tar-hotel.html

[cwilson758]

I can't believe that Nashville doesn't have 4-star brands downtown now? Hell, I would have thought that they had a 4.5...?

[dReAmWiELdEr]

Originally Posted by cwilson758

I can't believe that Nashville doesn't have 4-star brands downtown now? Hell, I would have thought that they had a 4.5...?

Nashville does have (at least) several four and even 4.5 star hotels... see here.

(at least according to Google users... lol.)

[Insighter]

Actually, downtown has a 5-Star/5 Diamond hotel... the Hermitage. http://thehermitagehotel2-px.trvlcli.../homepage.aspx

But the city got caught a bit flat-footed when Omni moved in and took the convention center HQ hotel. Robert Rowling came forward with his own money, and the offer was too much to resist for all prospective competitors. Rowling also wants to take over Gaylord, so he wanted to beat (in a way) Gaylord in its own backyard. So Nashville got a 800-room downtown for very very little (land) government funding.

My friend in the mayor's office told me recently that city leaders really wanted a new tallest for downtown... but they pretty much had to take the bland box that Omni is building. That desire for a new tallest is still very much alive, and the adminiistration will try to get that with the TIF for the new hotel(s). Marriott is a key name bandied about... as well as Crown Plaza, Westin and Peabody. Several sites are being considered including the FBC property, land owned by Tower Properties, a site on lower Broadway, two blocks from the new Convention Center, and the old Thermal property with a complex of two amphitheaters and a House of Blues. The belief is that a hotel on or closer to Broadway than the Omni will so well that it could warrant as many rooms, up to 1000. Lots of stuff is going on behind the scenes... but we'll know very soon.

[Insighter]

And found this trailer for the new ABC show, Nashville, on Youtube.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76fS5Kg0TXQ Amazingly, it looks like all the scenes are actually done in Nashville... buildings, houses, stores, streets, etc.

I am just old enough to remember the old show, Dallas... although at that age, I was not interested. Every so often, I catch an old one and get pulled into a world that is vaguely familiar to the city where I grew up. Still was pretty bad. Well, I hope this show does a better job than that one did for Dallas... although must have been quite successful by H'wood standards. This one reminds me of that movie with Gwyneth Paltrow, Country Strong. I think the question will be, "How long can that story line sustain itself and keep the interest of the public?" We'll see.

[Insighter]

The hotel on Division near the Terrazzo building will be a Fairfield Inn. Permits will be sought by the end of summer.

[urbansouth]

Hey fellas, I thought yall would find this relevant.
http://www.urbanophile.com/category/cities/nashville/
If you haven't heard of this blog, it's an urban planner who discusses current events in cities. Since 2008, he's seemed to have tons of good things to say about Nashville. He makes it seem like it's really coming alive, calling it "The Boomtown of the New South." My new roommates in August will both be from Nashville and I can't wait to go up and visit, haven't been in years. It's an important element of southern culture.

Anyways, I'm currently in a coffeshop in Bham posting from my phone haha. I'm in the middle of taking pics for the Birmingham Development thread, will post them this week.

[Insighter]

Originally Posted by urbansouth

Hey fellas, I thought yall would find this relevant.
http://www.urbanophile.com/category/cities/nashville/
If you haven't heard of this blog, it's an urban planner who discusses current events in cities. Since 2008, he's seemed to have tons of good things to say about Nashville. He makes it seem like it's really coming alive, calling it "The Boomtown of the New South." My new roommates in August will both be from Nashville and I can't wait to go up and visit, haven't been in years. It's an important element of southern culture.

Anyways, I'm currently in a coffeshop in Bham posting from my phone haha. I'm in the middle of taking pics for the Birmingham Development thread, will post them this week.

Thanks, Usouth, and "welcome to Nashville" (when you come here). Keep up the good work on the Birmingham thread. That is a city I plan to get to know more about in the future.

You are right about Nashville being an important southern city (especially culturally). It is perhaps the most unique city in the region today, and (IMHO) has a fantastic "vibe". It is arguably the most creative large city in the country.

That website is interesting... I had read some of the author's observations before. He is a true "urbanophile" indeed.

I would say there are certainly other "The Boomtown(s)" of the South before I think of Nashville. Of course, there are also too many "Bust Towns" of late.

No doubt, we are in a "sweet spot" of good, healthy growth. Our metro population will be around 2 million in 2020, and there are a lot of initiatives (entrepreneurial, educational, technological, transportational, industrial, etc.) that should help build on that growth in the years to come. Growth rate is accelerating at a healthy pace, and there is more integrated planning between core and suburban communities than ever before. By many measures, we have the best academic medical center in the South... and it doesn't hurt that the seat of state government is here (no matter what you think of our lawmakers).

Similar to Dallas, Nashville is a conservative town (albeit traditionally a Democrat stronghold), so much of our infrastructure and big projects are not done with big federal funds (although the city has recently issued some breathtaking bonds for certain projects). But overall, this city is well-managed, and in this day of budget deficits galore everywhere you turn, Nashville compares well with its peers. It has a bloated Metro Council, but the flip-side to that is there is a lot of community involvement and awareness from the citizens in a sprawling county. There is also a recent effort from many camps to preserve those precious pockets of pristine wilderness that exist in the northern part of the county. So there is a distinct culture of country conservationism throughout this part of the state. Think gentlemen/women professionals during the weekdays and farmers and nature lovers in their spare time. It has been called often a "granola, but with country common sense". While I wouldn't consider "granola" anything to be much of a compliment (I went to college in Austin), I would say there is a lot of common sense in this town, and it's why I choose to live here.