BROADWEST (former West End Summit), 36 story Conrad Hilton Hotel/condo tower, 22 story/510,000 sq. ft. office tower, 4 story/125,000 sq. ft. retail/office, 1 acre plaza, 2,500 car garage, $490 million

[timmay143]

Oh snap, is this true?

 

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20131217/BUSINESS/312170091/HCA-moving-Parallon-Sarah-Cannon-headquarters-North-Gulch-site?odyssey=mod{sodEmoji.|}breaking{sodEmoji.|}text{sodEmoji.|}FRONTPAGE&sf20748583=1

HCA plans to buy nearly 11 acres off Charlotte Avenue in the North Gulch area near downtown and will invest $200 million in new headquarters space for two of its subsidiaries.

On Monday, Palmer said he hadn’t received any communication from the hospital chain on that subject. However, he added: “If HCA decides to do something different, we’ve got several backup plans.”

[MLBrumby]

HCA tells Palmer to take a hike... they're going forward with their own complex at North Gulch.  Fail, ASP!!   This will also result in some squatty box at the edge of downtown too.... huge disappointment.  "Thanks" Alex Palmer for not having your act together.

 

11 Acres... more suburban cr@p.  And don't even expect the numb-n!ts running the city to see the opportunity there for a streetcar network along Charlotte.  Duh!!!!

Edited December 17, 2013 by MLBrumby

[dmillsphoto]

Geez. I... eh, whatever. I knew that was the case about six months ago. Merry Christmas, Urban Planeteers.

 

400k Sqft is still going to be needed for them, so don't expect a squatty box necessarily in the redesign.

[henburg]

Wow, it looks like Palmer really blew it. It's a shame about West End Summit, but I'm really excited to see the plans for the North Gulch with this added to the mix. 

[smeagolsfree]

Not a big surprise. One thing that is interesting is that HCA is building and investing the money as they are buying the land the buildings will sit on. I guess Palmer is just a control freak and didn't want to let them have any control. I hope this teaches him a lesson. Just a little interested in the backup plan he has in place, and we have heard that before too. Good grief! I think maybe he needs to just sell the site to someone that has the means to develop it. I did hear that NW Mutual is in the market for more land. JK

[mirydi]

400k Sqft is still going to be needed for them, so don't expect a squatty box necessarily in the redesign.

Let's also not forget the $200 million dollar budget for this project. That's a huge amount of money to develop an office tower or two. With that kind of money, I don't think a typical squatty box office building is what we're going to end up with here. I'm actually feeling pretty optimistic about this announcement.

[BnaBreaker]

“If HCA decides to do something different, we’ve got several backup plans.”

 

Like hell you do.  Creating a natural mosquito breeding ground by letting your hole of shame fill back up with water does not count as a backup plan, by the way. 

 

In regards to HCA's new plan, I, too, am skeptical that we'll see an honest-to-goodness tower out of this development if they're buying up 11 acres.   But at the same time, I can't imagine there will be anything "suburban" about any development these days that sits THAT close to downtown.

Edited December 18, 2013 by BnaBreaker

[nashvillwill]

Opening 2016?! Wow. That's soon! Seems like they already have plans in the works. If that's true, I would expect groundbreaking in the next few months.

[dxfret]

Another huge failure for Alex Palmer & Co.

A very good day for HCA , NW Mutual, Boyle

More great news for Nashville!

More growth and density will shift toward the north Gulch areas linking to the ballpark and north Nashville developments and neighborhoods. West End Ave/Broadway will continue to be the prime corridor.

The Capitol View project sounds much like Atlantic Yards in Atlanta. 2000 jobs from HCA alone is just the start.

[elguapo731]

Face meet palm.... ugggg.. Fail AP, Fail.... so sad.

[FrankNash]

IMO, HCA moving to the north gulch is great news. We always complain about companies going to suburbia. Well the tide has changed and our surface lots are finally being filled with office, retail, sport stadiums, and residential developments. For Nashville to have a true urban feel we need to fill the CBD inside the interstate loop first rather than what Atlanta did where they ran development down Peachtree for 6 narrow miles DT to Buckhead. More like San Fran less like Atlanta!

[MLBrumby]

The dismay expressed here I believe has more to do with the trade from a pair of urban towers at WES to what will surely be shorter, squattier, suburban-style (Boyle has only done suburban projects) bland building(s).  And not to put too fine a point on things here, these jobs are locating in Nashville with a very large bribe.   Does this prospective development beat SCRI/Parallon going to Williamson?  Meh... sure!

 

Regarding the former WES site, I would expect Mr. Palmer to sell the property and (maybe) at some point in the future a capable developer may build something appropriate there.

Edited December 18, 2013 by MLBrumby

[Paramount747]

Not surprising. I wonder if they considered OneC1ty?

[dmillsphoto]

 

 

Regarding the former WES site, I would expect Mr. Palmer to sell the property and (maybe) at some point in the future a capable developer may build something appropriate there.

 

Selling the property would admit defeat. He will only accept an offer of no less than $75M for it.

[CenterHill]

Great news. I'd much rather have the NW Mutual site built out with office and residential than a big box store (Ikea, Target or otherwise) and a sea of parking and fast food. Great for the Charlotte corridor and downtown. Add some seats to the Sounds stadium!

As for WES, it's been a long, slow death, but it's time to end life support and let go. Ive sort of been over it for some time.

[UTgrad09]

In re: HCA purchasing 11 acres for SCRI/Parralon, I'm cautiously optimistic here. I know we were looking forward to a couple of 20+ story towers at WES, and this will probably not be in the 20 story range. But I'll hold any cringes until some sort of site plan is released. 11 acres does seem like a lot (nearly 480.000 sq ft of space by itself) -- but let's consider this possibility: This will still likely be 2 separate buildings. Parking for 2,000 employees is still part of the equation (and I'm going to guess that at least most of it will be structured parking -- whether stand alone or incorporated in the building design), HCA might also be looking to keep some of this space open for a park for their employees, and I would guess that they would reserve some space for future expansion (either for SCRI/Parralon or even HCA itself). 

 

The size of the land does not alone determine that this will not be a nice urban development. Even with a 'campus' style setting, that doesn't necessarily mean it will resemble a suburban office park. I can think of several examples of urban office campuses that look rather nice.

 

We'll just have to see. In any case, I do think this is good for the NW Mutual site. 

[Neigeville2]

11 acres is an alarming amount of space, but surely they want to be visible and not be dwarfed by the subsequent development around them, after all it's not unlikely some of the residential component will go fairly tall.  I'm just concerned that buying 11 acres means they're envisioning a significant surface parking component.

[UTgrad09]

11 acres is an alarming amount of space, but surely they want to be visible and not be dwarfed by the subsequent development around them, after all it's not unlikely some of the residential component will go fairly tall.  I'm just concerned that buying 11 acres means they're envisioning a significant surface parking component.

 

Even if it does in the short term, that doesn't mean they aren't planning future expansion that would cover those lots.

 

Still -- I hope they include very little -- or no -- surface parking.

[nashmoney]

Great news. I'd much rather have the NW Mutual site built out with office and residential than a big box store (Ikea, Target or otherwise) and a sea of parking and fast food. Great for the Charlotte corridor and downtown. Add some seats to the Sounds stadium!

As for WES, it's been a long, slow death, but it's time to end life support and let go. Ive sort of been over it for some time.

 

I agree. As much as we all wanted to see WES built, I think if done right, the NW Mutual site would be a great asset to the core, especially with the residential and retail portion of the project. If we can get at least 10-20% of the 2,000 workers to live within walking/transit distance of the site, that would be great for the area. There are a lot of apartment and condo projects - (farmers market project, Federal Reserve Building, 12th and Laurel) that are completed or being built that are in close proximity to the site. the closest residential sites for WES are in Midtown and music row. Trying to cross the west end/broadway split during rush hour is not fun!

 

Also, I would like to see the HCA buildings built right up to Charlotte, rather than in the middle or back of the site.

 

Guess we will have to wait and see in mid January what they decide to do.

[erdichia]

I'm a long time lurker, but first time poster. I've had my eye on the WES site for a while now. Personally I am optimistic about the NW site. I know that a lot of people are concerned about the amount of land HCA purchased, but one thing that I'm curious about is whether or not this area would fall under any kind of urban design ordinance.

 

With all the hoopla recently about the McDonald's on Broadway is there any chance that HCA will have to conform to urban design standards when building their new buildings?

 

By the way.... it looks like it's time to create a new thread. I welcome the addition of the Capital View neighborhood.

[smeagolsfree]

Thanks for posting and welcome to the forum.

I was about to start a new thread yesterday, but got sidetracked.

New thread coming.

[mirydi]

Palmer issues statement.

 

http://nashvillepost.com/blogs/postbusiness/2013/12/18/palmer_reaches_for_the_rose_colored_glasses

Alex Palmer just issued a statement on the heels of the announcement that HCA will not have its Parallon and Sarah Cannon Research Institute subsidiaries be tenants in his long-planned West End Summit.

Though he is known for his always-upbeat demeanor, the developer has placed a robustly (and almost bafflingly) positive spin on the situation given the disappointment he must feel in the wake of the setback.

Here is Palmer's statement in full:

 

 

“While we’re disappointed in HCA’s decision, this creates a real opportunity for our company to realize the original vision for West End Summit – to create a Class A office building and four-star hotel on the site.

“We have maintained conversations with potential tenants for the project over the past few months, and there is significant interest. While it took us longer than expected, we were successful in getting financing for the project in place with an excellent team of debt and equity partners.

“The economy is finally on our side.  It’s no secret that there is tremendous demand for Class A office space in Nashville, with a less than 5 percent vacancy rate at this time, according to market surveys. There’s also an equally strong demand for new hotel rooms, and our relationship with the Intercontinental Hotel remains intact and solid. They are ready to move forward on our timeline.

“We are in an excellent position to create a development at this site that all of Nashville can be proud of.”

Edited December 18, 2013 by mirydi

[dxfret]

I have confidence that HCA HQ, along with the power of the Frist family, will make certain this project will be another solid win for Nashville. They will do it right. It will transform a significant part of downtown and will link the Gulch to the north and new ballpark.

The West End Summit site will eventually sprout a larger version of the bland and boring Palmer Plaza.

Alex Palmer has failed again. This time he let the big one get away.

[FromParkAveToTN]

I am so disappointed in Alex Palmer. At what point does the city step in and say you need to do something about this big hole in the ground? Is this legal to leave this in place like that even if it is private property. I wish Alex would go ahead and retire and sell this land. He has really worked my last nerve with this project.

[MLBrumby]

Yes... there are a number of legal options any city can pursue against a developer who has not built what a site is zoned for... or even has been negligent.  I would expect that Palmer will be hearing from Metro about filling his hole, which certainly is a public nuisance.