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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


it's just dave

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16 hours ago, Jamie Hall said:

At the risk of once again raising hopes only to see them dashed against the rocks soon ...

A couple of new signs have gone up along the black net fencing around the WES site. One is for a new construction company (Brooks and something, which I didn't recognize), and one is for Alex Palmer & Co. It appeared that the signs for Turner were gone.

A small utility truck was at the site around 3 p.m. today with people walking around. Haven't seen that in a while.

It's a 50-50 bet whether this is a sign of progress or just another stab through the heart.

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(Don't take this personally).

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Every time I see this thread pop up I think should I or shouldn't I?? Lol i guess I can't help myself. Trying to keep hope alive. I hope the new rumor about the land being sold is true. I just wonder if a pre dug hole will hurt any potential development since so many of the new developments in Nashville are opting for podium parking. It seems as if they would have to design any future development around this huge hole. Thoughts?

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31 minutes ago, TNinVB said:

I just wonder if a pre dug hole will hurt any potential development since so many of the new developments in Nashville are opting for podium parking. It seems as if they would have to design any future development around this huge hole. Thoughts?

Future owners will absolutely have to design around the existing excavation and the cost of that will be reflected in the purchase price of the property. Further, it is too large to house cost-effective underground parking for a typical low- or mid-rise development and area demand doesn't yet warrant building additional parking as a revenue source. So the options at this point are (1) a development big/tall enough to need enough underground parking to fill the excavation or (2) a smaller, more typical development that follows filling in part or all of the excavation. Even at this point in the cycle it's hard to fathom that demand exists for the former.

The moral of this story is not to start site work, especially of this scale, until you lock down your financing.

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I would think the economics are favorable for underground parking if the hole is already there. Once the hole is dug I would think the cost of a parking structure is similar to one that began at grade. Of course, that does not mean that Palmer is going to recoup all of his costs of digging the hole, but if it's there somebody might as well use it.  I have a feeling that this piece of property will go very quickly once the finances for Mr Palmer demand it be sold. 

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12 hours ago, Hey_Hey said:

I would think the economics are favorable for underground parking if the hole is already there. Once the hole is dug I would think the cost of a parking structure is similar to one that began at grade.

In terms of cost having the excavation already there helps in removing the costs for earth-moving as well as mitigating the risks present from underground utilities, archaeological finds, unstable bedrock (especially here), etc. In other words you or your financiers don't have to worry about starting work just to find an Indian burial ground or a sinkhole halfway down.

At this point the two things that are going to make an underground car hole on the site more expensive than its at-grade counterpart are ventilation and sump pumping, both of which have up-front and ongoing cost components. You add that to the fact that you have to fill the entire space with something just to get to ground level and you realize Palmer has really pigeonholed development options with this one. It's going to have to be on the scale of the Intercontinental proposal and even right now the market for something like that is shaky.

11 minutes ago, UTgrad09 said:

I think putting a mega retailer there would be an absolute nightmare for traffic. Unlike an office building, you would have a high volume of traffic coming in and out all day long.

This, as well as the fact that it would be technically challenging to get the clear spans needed for big-box retail and still have structures above, unless a retailer is willing to compromise on their floor design and layout to accommodate many large columns (Target may be, don't see this working with IKEA).

Another option for hotels/offices above would be conference space. You can't really get large exhibit halls for the same reason big-box retail doesn't work but it would be possible to squeeze in classrooms, auditoriums, and smaller ballrooms. Not sure what the market for this is but I think this could fly for events like seminars, retreats, training, etc. that don't need trade show space.

If the area around were more developed, I would also say build the garage as public parking and make the ground level an urban park or plaza. Would look a little silly when it's surrounded by more parking lots, as it currently is.

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Saw some people putting new panels on the sign board at the NW corner of West End and 17th this morning. It looked like they were making a significant upgrade to the sign. It'll be interesting to see what is posted.

It's sad when this is news.  :tw_dissapointed: 

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8 hours ago, PHofKS said:

Saw some people putting new panels on the sign board at the NW corner of West End and 17th this morning. It looked like they were making a significant upgrade to the sign. It'll be interesting to see what is posted.

The new sign just has the fancy "West End Summit" logo and a phone number for Alex Palmer's company. Better than the dilapidated sign it replaces, but probably would've been more effective to put a sign up that says "Property for sale."

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On ‎8‎/‎11‎/‎2016 at 4:10 PM, bigeasy said:

This is the project that never ends

It just goes on and on my friends

Some people started believing in it, not knowing who Palmer is

And will continue seeing it forever just because....

quoting myself feels bad, but whatever

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