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A document Fallon submitted to Metro notes the phase one component could offer up to 60 percent of the future residences as affordable. The first building could be fully affordable housing (380 units) with 30,000 square feet of retail. A mid-2027 delivery is envisioned. Subsequent additions during the first phase could include two hotels and two residential buildings. Joining the Fallon team are James Corner Field Operations, KPF, and the Nashville offices of Barge Design Solutions, EOA Architects, Holladay Ventures and Pillars Development. Selection of Fallon follows Metro’s having recently awarded HDR Engineering Inc. the contract for “program management for the implementation of the East Bank vision plan,” according to a Department of Finance notice of intent to award document. More behind the Nashville Post paywall here: https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/metro-taps-east-bank-master-developer/article_675f216a-5185-11ee-a25f-a3aa0c03d28c.html NBJ states that initial projects will start in 2025 and could include: a 40-story hotel with 450 rooms, plus retail; a 16-story hotel with 325 rooms and retail; a building with 550 apartments; 25 of them would be affordable housing units; a building with 175 apartments, all of which would be affordable housing units. Final details are subject to upcoming contract negotiations with Metro. Also in the pipeline is a WeGo transit hub with 380 apartments above it, all affordable housing units. Plans also call for the Tennessee Performing Arts Center to relocate to a site likely near the Korean Veterans Boulevard bridge and the Cumberland River waterfront. Other phases of construction would continue into the early 2030s. More at NBJ here: https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2023/09/12/fallon-co-east-bank-development-plan.html Some renderings that were part of Fallon's proposal:

Congrats to Freddie O'Connell (an Urban Planet Nashville contributor and attendee at our monthly Meet-Ups) on winning the run-off election yesterday to become Nashville's Mayor. More at The Tennessean here: https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/elections/2023/09/14/nashville-mayor-runoff-results-freddie-oconnell-alice-rolli/70833215007/ More at NBJ here: https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2023/09/15/nashville-mayor-election-freddie-oconnell-rolli.html More behind the Nashville Post paywall here: https://www.nashvillepost.com/politics/elections/freddie-oconnell-wins-mayoral-race-besting-alice-rolli/article_3937f7e3-e1c1-5372-ab1a-b66a746320ae.html

This past weekends view from the Goodyear blimp and boy does the city look good.

Sir, this an urban development forum, not a talk radio comments page.

^ ^ ^ Here are some screen shots from that report:

I took both of these photos on September 14 one in 2017 and one today in 2023. Just 6 years but many differences.

It is the first 0f two cranes and this one will work on both. The second crane will go up in a few months.

First off all, I'm unable to reliably post from my laptop this week, so I apologize for an abbreviated response. I'll try to post something later, but I want to put something out there now. I hate it when people use city limits, county limits, or any other relatively arbitrary boundry for population density purposes. It's not completely useless, but it requires a great deal of context. In this case, it further aggravates me that the author used density per acre, and then used an entire large city's boundaries to make their argument! The main problem with this is going to be thar this number is going to vary by the city's land usage. Airports, railyards, parks, industrial zones, cemeteries, golf courses... all of these are going to significantly dilute your population density. Every city has them, but their quantities differ. On top of that, population density alone does not factor in job density or hotel density. But back to the article... Subway density is listed at min 47 people per acre. That's roughly 30,000 per square mile. New York City has an overall population density of 29,300 per square mile. So using the author's example of Baltimore lacking the density for light rail, New York City is not dense enough for a subway system. Let me repeat that. NEW F@$&ING YORK CITY IS NOT DENSE ENOUGH FOR A SUBWAY BASED ON THE NUMBERS IN THE ARTICLE. Now, a lot of that is because of Staten Island, but the author made no exceptions for Baltimore, so why do it for the Big Apple? Light rail density needs to be 28-60 per acre? That's ~18,000-38,000 per square mile. Excluding smaller urban suburbs, mostly around NYC, the list of major cities that qualify for this mode of transit consists of....New York and San Francisco. Transit is going to be based on areas or corridors. What is most important imo is what is the density within a walking distance of a transit line (or also, how many jobs or hotel rooms)? I don't necessarily disagree with the baseline numbers here (per acre), but I question how many acres are relevant. Even in super un-dense Nashville, you are going to find pockets of density that meet these numbers... The Gulch, Rolling Mill Hill, parts of Midtown, Church St.... The problem is that the effective areas for that are relatively clustered and don't expand evenly with distance. I do like your plan of gradual change closer to the core. I think we need to rethink the idea that every block downtown needs to be accessible by car. Some streets would be better off if they were for transit only. Church St comes to mind. People will flip their sh!#, but it would be better served as bus, bike, streetcar, whatever from 8th Ave to 1st. The density of that street is just begging for a high frequency transit line. A while back, I had envisioned a streetcar loop from downtown to midtown using Church and Demonbreun/Division and connecting on 21st and 2nd or 1st. Or even extend the loop through the Vandy campus and connect on Elliston Place. That loop would hit the densest residential, commercial, and hotel areas as well as 3 major hospitals and a university and the convention center. I would still do BRT or LRT down Broadway/West End, but I think this would be a winner for loop traffic in the most developed part of the city. P.S. - no current census tract in Nashville approaches 18k per square mile, but I am very confident that will change in 2030. I think both downtown and midtown will have tracts or divisions in the 20-30k range. And after the East Bank plan is realized, they will, too.

We agree on some points, but I want to push back on your concern that the State would unfairly funnel Cocke or Campbell County taxes to Nashville. In reality, the subsidies work the other way around. In 2021, Nashville generated between $1.22 and $1.80 billion more in State tax revenue than the State spent back into Nashville. Nashville and its surrounding MSA subsidize the rest of Tennessee's counties, 79 of which (out of 95 total) take more funding from the State than they contribute. (See full analysis here.) We are a long way from needing to worry about unfairly taxing rural counties for Nashville's gain.

Told my friend to walk over to the Gulch and he took these. He went in the Union Station Hotel and that is beautiful inside. Photo of Nashville Yards from Broadway bridge.

If you are a mass transit enthusiast- buckle up (#dadjoke). Freddie has been keeping no secrets that he will be aggressively pursuing a mass transit system and have a referendum on his first term.

They're adding another row of glass on the Pinnacle Tower, it's becoming more impressive every day!

I noticed today that steel has been going up! That usually goes up pretty quickly! There's also a shot from the top of my building where you can see the latest floor on the Pinnacle Tower where new angled shape begins.

Beautiful sunset

The International Terminal will have ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sept. 25th, and the arriving British Airways flight on the night of Sept. 27th will be the first to use the facility's gates and its expansive underground area for customs. More at NBJ here: https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2023/09/18/bna-international-flights-arrivals-facility.html Photos courtesy of Adam Sichko at NBJ:

Another row of glass on the top section is being added as the top continues to take shape. Also, the top of the core is now visible.

Yay...verily I say, Yay! One of the ugliest structures in downtown Nashville has met its demise. Looking SW from 2nd Ave. South, 1/2 block north of Lea Ave: Looking west from intersection of 2nd Ave. South and Lea Ave: Looking SE from 3rd Ave. South, 1/2 block north of Lea Ave:

Carolina Theatre Marquee is going up inside the lobby

From CATS Facebook page:

My friend is in Nashville for a couple of days for the first time in about 15 years. I told him to take photos of everything. Here are some of the first ones.

Ballpark Village (6-8 stories, 363 units, 16,000 sq. ft. of ground level retail, internal garage) will now be known as Starling. It will have Social Cantina (5,500 sq. ft. with a 100 seat capacity patio overlooking the Cumberland River Greenway and First Horizon Ballpark) and Retrograde Coffee as the first two retail tenants. Some new renderings are available. More behind the Nashville Post paywall here: https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/ballpark-area-building-set-for-caf-mexican-eatery/article_06181030-50e8-11ee-9da8-8f6e145f569a.html And at NBJ here: https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2023/09/12/social-cantina-retrograde-coffee-slated-for-german.html

Today this evening.

From Carolina's manhandling of SC on Saturday night. What an outstanding college football game!!! And the QC shined as always. #GoHeels

The best cities on the list have strong mass transit systems. Less cars on the roads. Everything is related and the fact that there are streets close to the core that have no sidewalks speak volumes about the problems Nashville has. All you have to do is go to WEHO or walk down 4th Ave South. Totally unacceptable for a city of Nashville's caliber to have streets with no sidewalks in the core. This is a failure on the part of every mayor and city council person over the past 50 years. They need to fix it in the center and work outward on both sides of the streets. I challenge every one of them to get off their fat rear ends and walk the streets of the core. The new ones I do not blame YET! They have a chance to fix it.

Picture is gone from their website and I have been asked to remove it from here.

Looking south from I-24/65 at Trinity Lane:

Looking SW from Cowan Court North, 1/2 block west of Cowan St: Looking south from Cowan Roundabout:

Jason Wood is back at it with a new version of his 3D imaging of downtown. https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/nashville/future-nashville-skyline-3d-rendering?utm_source=wkrn_app&utm_medium=social&utm_content=share-link Hey Jason if you are reading, please post on the board!!! GREAT JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

https://www.urbandesignassociates.com/sauer

First of the twin residential towers is topped out at 28 floors. Looking SW from McGavock St., 1/2 block east of 12th Ave. South: Looking NW from intersection of 12th Ave. South and Demonbreun St: Looking west from Demonbreun St., 1/2 block east of 12th Ave. South: Looking NE from Demonbreun, 1/2 block east of 13th Ave. South:

Various angles from with the complex of various old packing plant structures. A very unique-to-Nashville public space thatmust look amazing at night with accent lighting.

Albion Residential will be going before Metro Planning Commission on Oct. 26th to seek the SP zoning. They still hope to break ground by the end of this year. More behind the Nashville Post paywall here: https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/real-estate-notes-planned-midtown-towers-project-progresses/article_4e7b71ce-533a-11ee-84c9-4f4754a6873d.html An additional ground level diagram:

Work continues on the rebar structure and new supplies have been delivered. They're digging deeper into the other end of the site as more rock is being hauled away. I'm wondering if those are six concrete forms for pillars in the last photo, it sure looks like it!

Today this evening.

From Dukes Mayo Bowl twitter. Heard the crowd was over 60,000 plus which is great.

Love the curved corner on this one.

It's very slow again today, I noticed some new Egyptian hieroglyphics in orange paint but I don't speak the language so I don't know what they say!

JR Dronset

See... This is how Nashville should do honorary street names. Don't rename the street itself, just have something smaller underneath that represents the honorary name.

Apartment blocks looking NE from Monroe St between 2nd and the CRG.

AEG Venue (4,500 capacity) update. Looking SE from intersection of Church Street Viaduct and Upper 10th Ave. North (Platform Way): Looking west from 9th Ave. North, 1/2 block north of Commerce St:

At night