Davidson West: Bellevue, Bordeaux, Green Hills, MetroCenter, Nations, N Nashville

[KJHburg]

Never even see this neighborhood before today the Nations.  I was on the Off the Beaten path development tour that sees the real city.  Very interesting area.   What will become of the old huge prison and what about the quarry?  Atlanta just turned on of their old quarries into a park with huge water storage for the city. 

Like that huge mural of a long time resident.  When we talk about Nations back in Charlotte it relates to native Americans as we have Nations Ford which was a crossing of the river.  

 

[markhollin]

The Lloyd (3 stories, 8 units) update: topped-out.

Looking SW from intersection of West End Ave. and Leonard Ave:

Community Foundation (2 stories) update: roof going on.

Looking NW from intersection of Woodmont Blvd. and Belmont Blvd:

Looking NE from Woodmont Blvd. at Richards St:

[markhollin]

Premier Radiology update: complete.

Looking NW from Crestmoor Rd., 1/4 block east of Cleghorn Rd:

 

[markhollin]

Nashville General Hospital CEO Dr. Joseph Webb shares his vision for the new location in the Metro Center area at 720 Mainstream Drive in an interview with NBJ.  

Regarding the location: "We are in the process of seeking out the key decision-makers, gathering information … and putting it all together. … Transfer of the land is part of it. We have targeted through November to have a lot of our preliminary work behind us. By the end of November, we should have all these pieces so we can start moving forward with some execution."

"We are going to need some behavioral health space. We will remain at 150 total beds, we won’t increase that. We probably need to look at something that’s more state-of-the-art with our forensic services."

"We have financiers that are interested in financing this project. I couldn’t tell you exactly what that’s going to cost, but these are people that have, in most cases, financed hospital buildings before, so they have a pretty good idea."

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2022/09/20/nashville-general-ceo-joseph-webb-on-new-hospital.html

[markhollin]

Green Hills Station (3 stories, 8 units), Phase II update: skin and cladding work underway.

Looking SW from Lone Oak Rd. at Shackleford Rd:

[ThunderOne]

On 8/30/2022 at 9:20 AM, Bos2Nash said:

I think it is perfect the way it is. Folks just need to drive slow on these residential streets and move to the side when another car is coming? One could argue that the narrower street makes for slower traffic which is perfect for a residential neighborhood.

except there are no sidewalks there so now you must walk on the same 12ft wide section of usable roadway as two oncoming cars that must jockey for position on who gets to go first

Edited September 21, 2022 by ThunderOne

[markhollin]

The Whites Creek property in NW Davidson County once home to The Inn at The Fontanel and the Carl Black Chevy Woods Amphitheater is up for auction.

Today, the mixed-use property spans 221 acres and is anchored by a 30,000 sq. ft. custom log mansion formerly owned by Country Music Hall of Fame member Barbara Mandrell. The house has six bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, five fireplaces, two kitchens, and an indoor pool.

Now let’s get to the bidding. The listing on Whites Creek Pike goes up for auction on Sat., Oct. 26 and will be divided into six parcels. The Fontanel Mansion is considered its own parcel, and the other five range between 5-47 acres. Bonus: Parcel 4 includes the building that once housed the Fontanella Restaurant and Bar + Fontanel Winery.

https://www.bobparksauction.com/auctions/detail/bw89167
 

[smeagolsfree]

Something is close!

[donNdonelson2]

1 minute ago, smeagolsfree said:

Something is close!

Are you trying to tell us a story?

[MLBrumby]

1 hour ago, smeagolsfree said:

Something is close!

Storyville Gardens? 

[smeagolsfree]

On 9/21/2022 at 11:55 AM, ThunderOne said:

except there are no sidewalks there so now you must walk on the same 12ft wide section of usable roadway as two oncoming cars that must jockey for position on who gets to go first

Along with 70% of the rest of the streets in Davidson County… No sidewalks.. It may even be a higher percentage than that. The rural areas I can see, but the urban services portions not acceptable.

[Bos2Nash]

On 9/21/2022 at 11:55 AM, ThunderOne said:

except there are no sidewalks there so now you must walk on the same 12ft wide section of usable roadway as two oncoming cars that must jockey for position on who gets to go first

What I meant by my statement is that the narrow roadway is fine for slower traffic. Sidewalks should be built in the Nations and it is an absolute fail on the developers and the city that they weren't

[smeagolsfree]

11 hours ago, Bos2Nash said:

What I meant by my statement is that the narrow roadway is fine for slower traffic. Sidewalks should be built in the Nations and it is an absolute fail on the developers and the city that they weren't

Metro will never admit they were wrong about anything. I agree they should have never allowed the builders to do the in lieu of fees for sidewalks there. The fees they are paying is a real bargain compared to the amount it really cost to put the sidewalks in, especially if it is 20 or 30 years down the road. I think that program should be ended as it is a developers dream come true and benefits them greatly as they make three times what they build the homes for over there.

Are you listening Brett. Repeal this program. Stop making it easy for these developers to screw Metro.

[BeaveStirs]

I think the city needs to take ownership for the planning mistakes in the past for not developing the infrastructure correctly. The planning here was non-existent, raise taxes and improve the r.o.w. sidewalks, curbs, streetlights, trees etc. Don't put it on the developers to fix your past mistakes in planning just like affordable housing, developers are a for profit industry they need to make money putting the burden of affordable housing or infrastructure upgrades is not the private sectors responsibility. That's what taxes are for.

[MLBrumby]

When I read that the Rug Shop in Green Hills is closing, I was reminded of something I had wondered about. The shopping center where it is located and the Trader Joes are right in the middle of what could be a huge solution to the biggest traffic snafu in GH, the dog-leg drivers must navigate to go from Abbott-Martin to cross Hillsboro heading east toward Richard Jones Road.  That would be a new connector from Bandywood to Hillsboro to align with RJ Rd.  I guess the route of Bandywood is a legacy of its residential origins, but with all the retail on the street now, I've seen it get really clogged. And I have sat on Hillsboro for three full cycles on a busy day trying to turn left onto Richard Jones.  

With the new residential towers at the corner of Hillsboro/RJ, it seems that the property where Trader Joes is would be worth even more if it were suddenly endowed with two corners.  I'm not sure how much property would be left after a road were cut through there, but it seems a savvy developer would see an opportunity for air rights over the street for a mixed-use building.  An urban style shopping center with additional stories of parking would be expensive, but that's probably the highest priced commercial land in the city.  With two more residential towers about to go up across Hillsboro, it appears that the cost-benefit is favorable for that side. I expect it would even promote walkability in GH, which is non existent today. 

Contrast this idea with what I think Metro has been mulling of late, and that's some bypass-link from Abbott-Martin and Hillsboro to run behind the Levy's/Donut Den shopping center and behind Green Hills Grill to hook into Richard Jones.  At least I think I've seen that from some Metro proposals.  Anyway, too many turns and a complex matter of wrapping around that shopping center without having to demolish it completely. 

Edited September 23, 2022 by MLBrumby

[GregH]

I don't think the in-lieu portion of the sidewalk bill is the Nation's major problem (though it's not helping). I think it was just bad timing for the neighborhood and there was no sidewalk requirement at all until a large portion of the new builds had already happened. It was even called out for that in the Walk Bike Nashville news post celebrating the bill's passing.

 

Quote

The Tennessean recently estimated that the Nations neighborhood has built 5,000 homes in the last six years alone. If we estimate these are narrow homes with 25 foot street frontages, and had this bill been in effect, it would have added over 26 miles of sidewalks, or about $12 million to the in-lieu fee. By comparison, in reality only around $1 million city-wide has been contributed to the in-lieu fee in the past 10 years.

 

[Luvemtall]

On 9/22/2022 at 2:14 PM, MLBrumby said:

Storyville Gardens? 

Just my opinion, but putting Storyville Gardens in this location isn’t  a very good choice. Access is limited, lot of residential surrounding it and visibility from a major interstate is lacking. Plus the high tax base and I’m sure it’s going to be quite expensive 

[donNdonelson2]

2 minutes ago, Luvemtall said:

Just my opinion, but putting Storyville Gardens in this location isn’t  a very good choice. Access is limited, lot of residential surrounding it and visibility from a major interstate is lacking. Plus the high tax base and I’m sure it’s going to be quite expensive 

I think the neighborhood would fiercely resist.

[rookzie]

On 9/23/2022 at 1:18 PM, MLBrumby said:

When I read that the Rug Shop in Green Hills is closing, I was reminded of something I had wondered about. The shopping center where it is located and the Trader Joes are right in the middle of what could be a huge solution to the biggest traffic snafu in GH, the dog-leg drivers must navigate to go from Abbott-Martin to cross Hillsboro heading east toward Richard Jones Road.  That would be a new connector from Bandywood to Hillsboro to align with RJ Rd.  I guess the route of Bandywood is a legacy of its residential origins, but with all the retail on the street now, I've seen it get really clogged. And I have sat on Hillsboro for three full cycles on a busy day trying to turn left onto Richard Jones.  

With the new residential towers at the corner of Hillsboro/RJ, it seems that the property where Trader Joes is would be worth even more if it were suddenly endowed with two corners.  I'm not sure how much property would be left after a road were cut through there, but it seems a savvy developer would see an opportunity for air rights over the street for a mixed-use building.  An urban style shopping center with additional stories of parking would be expensive, but that's probably the highest priced commercial land in the city.  With two more residential towers about to go up across Hillsboro, it appears that the cost-benefit is favorable for that side. I expect it would even promote walkability in GH, which is non existent today. 

Contrast this idea with what I think Metro has been mulling of late, and that's some bypass-link from Abbott-Martin and Hillsboro to run behind the Levy's/Donut Den shopping center and behind Green Hills Grill to hook into Richard Jones.  At least I think I've seen that from some Metro proposals.  Anyway, too many turns and a complex matter of wrapping around that shopping center without having to demolish it completely. 

That Abbott-Martin-to-Richard-Jones re-alignment was approved as a major component of a proposed Green Hills Plan of Transportation of 2011.  But it was deferred and basically eliminated with the adopted plan of 2014 ─ the same plan that I alluded to, when I complained in late August about the failure of Metro to take baby steps in efforts to acquire property for realignment of Shackleford Rd with Warfield Ave.

As with Crestmoor Road with Glen Echo Road, the realignment of the intersections of Abbott Martin and Richard Jones roads  was considered but only in the 2011 Plan.  Instead, the 2014 adopted plan "settled" for turning-lane "improvements" as "concessions by Southern Land Co. for constructing its tower at the SE corner of that "Debacle Quadrant".   Due to the discussion and debate on whether or not Hillsboro High School would resolve to move into new tower or to expand on its existing campus, followed with the eventual and now nearly complete reconstruction of the campus layout, reportedly it was deemed at the time that the high school was located too close to the proposed realignment area for the realignment to have been implemented during that period of uncertainty of the high school's expansion plan.

As an alternative in lieu of the realignment with Richard Jones, Abbott-Martin would have been shifted slightly north near its current east end,  cutting into the property of the existing 7-Eleven Exxon station at the NW corner with Hillsboro Rd, and a new Abbott-Martin Extension would have passed north of Fox's Doughnut Den and then along a path bordering the southern extent of the school campus proper, all the way to the campus' eastern boundary at Hillmont Dr.  In turn, Hillmont Dr. would have intersected with a then-to-be realigned Lone Oak Dr. at Richard Jones, transforming the current "dog-leg" offset signalized intersection into a standard 4-way set-up.  That would have eliminated the current separate signal timing allocation for each of 4 legs in the cycle sequence.  Also, Benham Ave. would have been extended past its T-intersection with Glen Echo to intersect with the new Abbott-Martin Extension and then terminate at Richard Jones.  The intent of all this would have been to provide a parallel bypass of Richard Jones and to add some grid structure to northeastern Green Hills commercial district. 

But not even that ever materialized and it probably never will at this point.  The upgraded high school football field stands in the way of the Benham Rd extension, since the high school decided not to build a new tower complex and to move its extracurricular activities to an off-campus site.  It took 'til Kingdom Come before the new CVS began construction in preparation for the eventual Glen Echo Rd realignment component of the greater plan.  Then too in all fairness, CVS might have been under some lease-term agreement such that Metro determined it best to defer the project.  That said though, there just no longer seems to be a "Greater" plan, as it were ─ at most just a few chunks of upgrades at best.

Edited September 24, 2022 by rookzie

[MLBrumby]

3 minutes ago, rookzie said:

That Abbott-Martin-to-Richard-Jones re-alignment was approved as a major component of a proposed Green Hills Plan of Transportation of 2011.  But it was deferred and basically eliminated with the adopted plan of 2014 ─ the same plan that I alluded to, when I complained in late August about the failure of Metro to take baby steps in efforts to acquire property for realignment of Shackleford Rd with Warfield Ave.

As with Crestmoor Road with Glen Echo Road, the realignment of the intersections of Abbott Martin and Richard Jones roads  was considered but only in the 2011 Plan.  Instead, the 2014 adopted plan "settled" for turning-lane "improvements" as "concessions by Southern Land Co. for constructing its tower at the SE corner of that "Debacle Quadrant".   Due to the discussion and debate on whether or not Hillsboro High School would resolve to move into new tower or to expand on its existing campus, followed with the eventual and now nearly complete reconstruction of the campus layout, reportedly it was deemed at the time that the high school was located too close to the proposed realignment area for the realignment to have been implemented during that period of uncertainty of the high school's expansion plan.

As an alternative in lieu of the realignment with Richard Jones, Abbott-Martin would have been shifted slightly north near its current east end,  cutting into the property of the existing 7-Eleven Exxon station at the NW corner with Hillsboro Rd, and a new Abott-Martin Extension would have passed north of Fox's Doughnut Den and then along a path bordering the southern border of the school campus proper, all the way to the campus' eastern boundary at Hillmont Dr.  In turn, Hillmont Dr. would have intersected with a then-to-be realigned Lone Oak Dr. at Richard Jones, transforming the current "dog-leg" offset signalized intersection into a standard 4-way set-up.  That would have eliminated the current separate signal timing allocation for each of 4 legs in the cycle sequence.  Also, Benham Ave. would have been extended past its T-intersection with Glen Echo to intersect with the new Abbott-Martin Extension and then terminate at Richard Jones.  The intent of all this would have been to provide a parallel bypass of Richard Jones and to add some grid structure to northeastern Green Hills commercial district. 

But not even that ever materialized and it probably never will at this point.  The high school football field stands in the way of the Benham Rd extension, since the high school decided not to build a new tower complex and to move its extracurricular activities to an off-site.  It took 'til Kingdom Come before the new CVS began construction in preparation for the eventual Glen Echo Rd realignment component of the greater plan.  That said, there just no longer seems to be a "Greater" plan, as it were ─ at most just a few chunks of upgrades at best.

Wow!!! With 'foresight' like that, it's a wonder Metro has any credibility in their planning initiatives now. I'm  no trained traffic engineer, but some things are so obvious and have been screaming out for solutions for years. I just know that the fewer turns necessary to go from point A to B is usually the easiest to manage. At this point I doubt the cost of the land is even feasible now, even for a developer. But I've seen so many things I never thought possible happen in Nashville come to fruition. 

[smeagolsfree]

On 9/22/2022 at 2:14 PM, MLBrumby said:

Storyville Gardens? 

No not Storyville, that's for sure!

 

Back to the sidewalks though, if Metro had a sidewalk plan in all of the Urban Services Area, then we would not need an in-lieu process. The developers would be required to build the sidewalk to be tied in with the master sidewalk plan at some later date. The sidewalk plan for the Nations did not even appear before last year or it may have been year before last. 

This plan needs to be set in place ASAP and the in-lieu program needs to be ended because it does not work, and the amount that Metro collects will never equal the amount that it will cost to put the sidewalk in. If it does continue the fee should be a triple fee. You guys think I am always pro-developer on here and I am not. They need to pay their fair share, just like they should not be allowed to close the sidewalks during construction. I am not pro-Metro either. I take a commonsense approach to this stuff, and I am PRO Taxpayer. You guys are the ones getting screwed in these deals. 

The Soccer Stadium deal was pushed through with no parking or sidewalk plan in place. Complaints are starting to come in right and left now. The blame is on Colby, The Mayor, The Fairground Commision, The Council, and the Soccer organization for seeing this happen. Everyone wanted this deal, and we all knew it was going to be a big problem that was going to get a lot worse. 

 

We can continue this on the transportation thread.

[markhollin]

Crossroads Campus Residential (3 stories, 18 units) update: topped-out.

Looking south from intersection of Buchanan St. and 16th Ave. North:

[markhollin]

Clay Street Commons (two buildings, 3 stories, 61 units) update: exterior of Phase I nearly complete; pad for Phase II is ready.

Looking NW from 9th Ave. North, 1/4 block south of Clay St:

Looking SW from intersection of Clay St. and 9th Ave. North:

Looking SE from Clay St., 1/2 block east of 10th Ave. North:

Looking SE from intersection of Clay St. and 9th Ave. North:

[markhollin]

Grand Oaks at Great Circle (2-5 stories, 8 buildings) update: Phase I exterior nearing completion: sidewalks being set along Great Circle Drive.

Looking NE from Great Circle Drive,  1/4 block east of Athens Way:

Looking north from Great Circle Drive,  1/4 block east of Athens Way:




Looking east from driveway, 1/2 block north of intersection at Athens Way and Great Circle Drive:

Looking east from Great Circle Drive,  1/4 block east of Athens Way:




Looking west from Great Circle Drive,  1/4 block east of Athens Way:

[ThunderOne]

On 9/23/2022 at 4:35 PM, GregH said:

I don't think the in-lieu portion of the sidewalk bill is the Nation's major problem (though it's not helping). I think it was just bad timing for the neighborhood and there was no sidewalk requirement at all until a large portion of the new builds had already happened. It was even called out for that in the Walk Bike Nashville news post celebrating the bill's passing.

 

 

I've seen large sections of streets with new construction and the sidewalks are still very spotty, is WBN staying on them about this?

 

Edit: I will ask over in the transpo thread!

Edited September 26, 2022 by ThunderOne