Davidson Southeast: Antioch, Century Farms, East of Brentwood

[Baronakim]

On 7/29/2019 at 7:43 AM, PaulChinetti said:

From Colby Sledge's newsletter.

"Speaking of the Fairgrounds, work continues on the new expo facilities that will host their first events next month. They look great!"

Most of the taste of Mr. Colby Sledge must reside in his mouth.  This looks like an auto repair shop should be moving in instead of an exhibition venue.  There has been a long degradation in the quality of the fairgrounds experience here in Nashville.  This is icing on the cake.  Of course, the great Tennessee State fairground fire in 1965 changed everything.  I remember well the the excitement and interest fair goers experienced  in the aging Victorian exhibit halls.  There was a sense of elegant decay in the exhibition buildings, of course the new facility lacks any elegance at all, so there can be no real comparison.  The dome and clerestoried  halls were several stories tall and allowed much variance in exhibition experience.  The clerestories capped a 3 story atrium which had a large permanent  raised goldfish pool and fountain on the ground level.  Exhibits were on the open galleries on the upper levels.  You could spend hours walking through the spaces and never be bored.  The new single story space looks architecturally to be a racetrack zoo with no real opportunity to study or contemplate any of the competitions.  Even the existing (Has It be demolished yet?)  had more character with its' central large space which even looked good at the annual garden shows.  I do not hold out much hope for this new warehouse space to be as pleasant.   Of course the Victorian buildings that burned were  tired and in need of repair and new paint, but even in their decrepitude , they had great vitality....vitality which I think will be utterly lacking in the new facility.    In the third photo, crowds surge up and down the hill up to the grandstand and exhibit halls from Fair Park and the Midway.  This street was lined with all the food venues, cotton candy, saltwater taffy, corn-dogs. and such.  More substantial fare like burgers and plate foods was in the grandstand building just over the tent top in the middle of the photo.  You had to ascend steep steps from the steep street continuously up to the upper concourses.  You would sit on long benches of 2x6 width back to back between the vendors work area.  Unbelievably tight and crowded, but a real State Fair experience.  At the top of the street you can see the three passages under and through the exhibit buildings leading to the Coliseum  and animal exhibits.   Perhaps it would have been better to abandon the fairground altogether for exhibitions and be satisfied with the County fairs, many of which retain charm and interest than to the cramped and very mundane facilities being provided as a sop to the soccer and flea market set.  Of course relocating the State Fair to Rutherford will be viable, but it will only be a ghost of the grand fairs of the past.

Edited August 4, 2019 by Baronakim
spelling/ add concluding statement

[titanhog]

^^Just not sure we'll ever have state fairs quite like they did back then.  Too many other entertainment opportunities...and even as the fair board stated...they need way more acreage now than what is available at the Fairgrounds.  So...I'm guessing what they are building is going to be purely utilitarian only, since it's likely the state fair will soon be moved anyway.  

But...I do agree it would be great if we were able to have more beautiful architecture being built today...but I'd guess that more often than not, we're going to get cookie-cutter, low cost structures that meet the bottom line.

[PaulChinetti]

This is an upgrade from the current structures in my opinion. But I agree definitely not from those grand old structures. They should have replaced them post fire, why didn’t they then, cost, desire?

Of course the current flea market selling  knickknacks and knock offs is a far cry from that time also. 

[MLBrumby]

During the mid 1960s anything old was either destroyed or covered up with 'sleek' metal siding. I'm sure there was no will to replace those buildings with Victorian style structures. 

[bigeasy]

Not the most entertaining video, but it shows a lot of the fairgrounds while it pans over the bike race. (Not filmed by me)

 

 

Edited August 5, 2019 by bigeasy

[PruneTracy]

3 minutes ago, bigeasy said:

Not the most entertaining video, but it shows a lot of the fairgrounds while it pans over the bike race.

Hadn't thought about this before but there aren't any velodromes in the area (perhaps even in the state). Is that a necessary thing? How many people bike race? Is this race supposed to take place on one?

[GregH]

Velodromes are used for Track Cycling, which is a different style of racing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_cycling . I think you are correct that there are none in the state, looks like the closest might be Atlanta or Indianapolis. I'd love to have one here but I'm not sure there's enough local interest. I have an acquaintance that volunteers at a track in another state and he says the cost to build an outdoor track is not that large relative to other recreational facilities, but they require a ton of volunteer organization to run and maintain. 

[bigeasy]

3 hours ago, PruneTracy said:

Hadn't thought about this before but there aren't any velodromes in the area (perhaps even in the state). Is that a necessary thing? How many people bike race? Is this race supposed to take place on one?

These are Criterium races (Music City Crits)  which are different than track cycling as they are on closed circuits and the racing is based off of time instead of laps/distance. They typically have more races during the summer than this year, but scheduling with the speedway was difficult so there were only 9 race days. There are 5 different races/categories with the largest having around 40-50 riders. A cyclist for one of the professional teams (EF Education First Cycling) raced in 3 this year. Years ago these races were in Nissan Stadium parking lot, but that was back when they didn't used it for parking.

Edited August 5, 2019 by bigeasy

[Mr_Bond]

On 8/1/2019 at 7:54 AM, Edgehill resident said:

Anyone know what ever happened to the Elmington Capital project on Edgehill/Hillside/8th to replace the old Park at Hillside apartments? There seems to have been no activity or word on that project in months. 

Welcome to the forum!

[markhollin]

Goal of NASCAR's return to Fairgrounds is 'within reach.'

More at Nashville Post here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/sports/sports-business/blog/21081208/goal-to-return-nascar-events-to-fairgrounds-speedway-nashville-within-reach

[markhollin]

The Olympic (5 stories, 50 units) update.  3 stairwell/elevator shafts are topped out.  Starting 2nd floor.

Looking NW from Olympic St., 1/2 block west of 8th Ave. South:

[markhollin]

Millwood Commons (8 buildings, 280 units, 26 acres) at 900 Brittany Dr. in Antioch area has landed several permits totaling $19.25 million to start construction.

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/construction/article/21081849/permit-patrol-12-august-2019

This screenshot from Smeagolfree's excellent development map shows the site highlighted in teal at the center of the frame:
 

[dmillsphoto]

I can see my old house in that view! 24/Bell Road is going to be the most congested onramp in the city with this much addition, which means HH Parkway can't open up soon enough. 

[PaulChinetti]

The automated parking garage at Bento Box looks nearly done. They are set for a November open I believe. 

We also visited B1281 this weekend which had a great vibe. https://www.instagram.com/bar1281nashville/ as well as Nvr Nvr https://www.instagram.com/nvr__nvr/ both great reuses of older buildings. 

The Bento Box crew also plans to open a night club on the roof of Bento Box as well as a few other restaurants in the immediate building and surrounding buildings as well as a possible athletic club in a warehouse next door that is currently used for construction staging. It should be a nice little complex over there. 

[Nash_12South]

Building permits - On 12th South, between Marine Layer and Madewell a permit for a "goop" (Gwyneth Paltrow's brand) store. This may be seen as a "get" as there aren't a lot of her stand alone locations. 

[DMilner]

From my morning walk around the neighborhood; they’re moving right along on 83 Freight. 

[PaulChinetti]

That's what I've heard and read multiple times. I can't think of one anywhere else and if someone else had one they would have definitely spoken up haha.

[PaulChinetti]

The Fair Park side of the Fairgrounds is seeing some flooding. The expo building side looked clear as far as I could tell. 

[markhollin]

Nathan Hysmith and Beau Fowler continue to accumulate property for their eventual large mixed-use development covering several acres in WeHo. They just purchased a .15 acre plot at 0 Merritt Ave for $750,000.  They currently have 4 parcels organized under their Swayze Properties LLC moniker for the eventual project that will include 300 residential units, 15,000 sq. ft. of commercial space, incorporating some existing industrial spaces as well as new construction.  No renderings available yet on the Smith Gee Studio designed development.

I'm sure this project as well as many others will be discussed at our WeHo Mini-Meet this Saturday morning from 10 AM to noon at Americano Coffee inside Houston Station at 434 Houston St.

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/article/21082378/weho-lot-part-of-planned-project-sells
 

This screen shot from Smeagolsfree's excellent development map shows the overall site highlighted in teal at the center of the frame:

 

[nashvylle]

Are there any rumors for the Vanderbilt Medical Storage site or the CSC Nashville / WESCO Distribution?

[PaulChinetti]

I think there was something a few pages back about that turning into an apartment complex or something like that (for the Vandy site). I'm drawing a blank on who was building it though.

[markhollin]

An unnamed 324 unit garden-style apartment complex on 16.5 acres near Eagle View Elementary School is going before Metro Planning for approval.  No renderings at this time. 

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/commercial-real-estate/article/21082778/nippers-corner-property-to-sell-for-623m

[PaulChinetti]

Looks like the old 312 Pizza space is getting a new restaurant this September. South Side Kitchen Pub.

 

https://nashville.eater.com/2019/8/14/20805964/south-side-kitchen-pub-berry-hill-coming-soon

[DMilner]

2 hours ago, PaulChinetti said:

Looks like the old 312 Pizza space is getting a new restaurant this September. South Side Kitchen Pub.

 

https://nashville.eater.com/2019/8/14/20805964/south-side-kitchen-pub-berry-hill-coming-soon

Meant to post this the other day! I think this will be a good addition to the neighborhood; more so than 312. We need a casual sports bar that’s not Smokin’ Thighs. 

[donNdonelson2]

51 minutes ago, DMilner said:

Meant to post this the other day! I think this will be a good addition to the neighborhood; more so than 312. We need a casual sports bar that’s not Smokin’ Thighs. 

Forgive me...I can’t resist.

How about Crankin’ Cankles?