The Westin Music City - 27 Floors/320', 452 Rooms

[Paramount747]

Thought I would start an individual thread for this.

 

 

After going through the website, I don't see anything spectacular here. They have a Westin in Huntsville, and soon Chattanooga! Looks like a typical Marriott style property owned and managed by Starwood. I did not look at every one of the properties on the site, but most are in the 5-10 story range and rather generic. The one in Birmingham is 8 stories. The only one architecturally significant that impressed me was a 25-30 story one in Charlotte.

 

I don't see anything here like an Omni or a Loews, (which we have had since 1988).

 

What is the fuss?

 

[timmay143]

Yeah, the one in Huntsville is nothing to get overly excited about.

[MLBrumby]

Yes, I have to say that they are inconsistent... but the better ones are right up there with Hyatt.  I sometimes stay at the Chicago Westin on Michigan Ave (at Delaware), and it's absolutely one of my favorites.

[e-dub]

almost every time i go to detroit i stay at the book cadillac, and i LOVE that hotel.

 

eric b

[CenterHill]

I've stayed in the St. Louis Westin, which is nice.    Next to Busch Stadium and located in some of the converted Cupples warehouse buildings, a complex of 100 year old heavy brick warehouses, similar to our Voorhees building but with more character.    As hotels go, it's pretty unique given the industrial shells they had to work with - large rooms, high ceilings, it's one seriously solid building.   

[ariesjow]

I'm sure our Westin will be much nicer than the ones in Birmingham and Huntsville. With the Hyatt proposal dead, this is starting to look like the most viable proposed full service hotel proposal for SoBro. 

 

almost every time i go to detroit i stay at the book cadillac, and i LOVE that hotel.

 

eric b

 

I'm so happy to hear about the successful redevelopment of the Book Cadillac building in Detroit!

[timmay143]

I've stayed in the St. Louis Westin, which is nice.    Next to Busch Stadium and located in some of the converted Cupples warehouse buildings, a complex of 100 year old heavy brick warehouses, similar to our Voorhees building but with more character.    As hotels go, it's pretty unique given the industrial shells they had to work with - large rooms, high ceilings, it's one seriously solid building.   

That's nice!  Maybe they will be willing to incorporate the Cokesbury building into the design.

[Paramount747]

That's nice!  Maybe they will be willing to incorporate the Cokesbury building into the design.

Surely you mean the Keeble Building and NOT the bookstore itself? The bookstore supposed to come down anytime now. The parcel for the Westin is the parking lot between the Keeble Building and the bookstore.

[timmay143]

Surely you mean the Keeble Building and NOT the bookstore itself? The bookstore supposed to come down anytime now. The parcel for the Westin is the parking lot between the Keeble Building and the bookstore.

Yup, that's what I meant.

 

I see, I didn't know what had been or is going to be bought yet.  Confusing piece to me!

[CenterHill]

Surely you mean the Keeble Building and NOT the bookstore itself? The bookstore supposed to come down anytime now. The parcel for the Westin is the parking lot between the Keeble Building and the bookstore.

 

I think the Westin parcel that Fee is assembling includes the bookstore, the parking lot next to it and several parcels behind it on 9th.    It's not clear to me that it includes the Keeble building that Terra Verde had under contract.   At least not as of now. 

[Lexy]

Yes, I have to say that they are inconsistent... but the better ones are right up there with Hyatt.  I sometimes stay at the Chicago Westin on Michigan Ave (at Delaware), and it's absolutely one of my favorites.

 

Correct.  The "W" property in Buckhead is fantastic and very modern.  The better ran Westin's are nice and are preferred by many business guest over the higher priced outlets.

[timmay143]

I think the Westin parcel that Fee is assembling includes the bookstore, the parking lot next to it and several parcels behind it on 9th.    It's not clear to me that it includes the Keeble building that Terra Verde had under contract.   At least not as of now. 

Ok.  Wasn't sure if they were going to go after the whole kit and kaboodle since they were planning on purchasing whatever TV had.

[MLBrumby]

Would be nice if the developers kept the old brick buildings at the back of that property and made that section sort of an "old town" area.  It make a great pedestrian entrance to the new pedestrian bridge to the Gulch.  I think that Swerdling's backing out of the Hyatt project helps the chances of this project getting built and look to the roundabout becoming the nexus of SoBro activity in the near term.

[Paramount747]

Agreed ML. I love that brick area. Kind of wish they would do a type of town center there with Cummings station, but damn, there is a lot of surface parking there!

[timmay143]

Agreed ML. I love that brick area. Kind of wish they would do a type of town center there with Cummings station, but damn, there is a lot of surface parking there!

Yeah, I could definitely see a somewhat large area there be a nice retail center.  I've always hoped for that anyways.

[CenterHill]

Agreed ML. I love that brick area. Kind of wish they would do a type of town center there with Cummings station, but damn, there is a lot of surface parking there!

 

I'd love to see the Westin do something that includes brick at the street level to tie in with Cummins station.    The 3 brick buildings on 9th that are in the Westin footprint are not architecturally significant or particularly interesting.    The one that is and I'd love to see preserved somehow is the ginormous UMPH warehouse building that fronts Demonbreun (not the Keeble building, the one next to it with parking(!) on the roof), but I'm not sure it's part of the Westin equation at this time.    The brick Brandau building at Clark and 10th is definitely a keeper also.  

Edited January 9, 2014 by CenterHill

[MLBrumby]

I really hope this building (project) is something Nashville has never seen before... in a good way!  The location has so much potential with/or without the UMPH complex.  BTW:  I saw a picture from the 1950s of the UMPH building and was surprised to see parking on top of that building even back then.  A really early example of urbanism south of Broadway.

[Lexy]

I really hope this building (project) is something Nashville has never seen before... in a good way!  The location has so much potential with/or without the UMPH complex.  BTW:  I saw a picture from the 1950s of the UMPH building and was surprised to see parking on top of that building even back then.  A really early example of urbanism south of Broadway.

I just hope the damn thing doesn't have a flat roof!  I'm growing tired of seeing high to mid-rise projects in this city get their crowns chopped off.  Think out of the box fellas and put a hat on that nice looking building!

[MLBrumby]

The downtown skyline is rather... flat!   I mean, it's as if a giant chainsaw dropped from the sky and swung across downtown a few hundred feet above sea level, got snagged a bit on the ATT building, and then continued across the rest of the buildings.  And another thing that lends to a boring skyline... the uniform use of bland colored materials.  My goodness, flat and bland boxes!!   If not for the Pinnacle, you guys would look like Richmond.

Edited January 16, 2014 by MLBrumby

[smeagolsfree]

No comment yet. I know a little but cant say yet. Stay tuned!!!!

[Paramount747]

The downtown skyline is rather... flat!   I mean, it's as if a giant chainsaw dropped from the sky and swung across downtown a few hundred feet above sea level, got snagged a bit on the ATT building, and then continued across the rest of the buildings.  And another thing that lends to a boring skyline... the uniform use of bland colored materials.  My goodness, flat and bland boxes!!   If not for the Pinnacle, you guys would look like Richmond.

I find myself agreeing with you again ML. Weird!  I have architecture friends that say Nashville is a member of the "Flat Skyline Society." Unfortunately with our city population number 26 in the country, and our metro way behind many others, I don't think we will have the population base for structures higher than we have now. So many companies prefer the suburbs for various reasons including the  Ceo's of these companies wanting to live and work in the same area.

 

Since we are an automobile rich society, and with people admonishing public transportation as evidenced by the AMP debate, our city center in our lifetime won't support the 600-1000 foot skyscraper. I hope I am wrong because Nashville needs a true iconic piece of architecture.

 

Many have tried to compare Nashville to cities like Austin, TX which is an impossible task. Nashville has 630,000 people and Austin has 842,000 including a university with a population of 60,000. Nashville's metro is 1.5, Austin's is 1.8. That is why Austin has a 683 foot condo tower and we don't.

Edited January 16, 2014 by Urban Architecture

[titanhog]

I find myself agreeing with you again ML. Weird!  I have architecture friends that say Nashville is a member of the "Flat Skyline Society." Unfortunately with our city population number 26 in the country, and our metro way behind many others, I don't think we will have the population base for structures higher than we have now. So many companies prefer the suburbs for various reasons including the  Ceo's of these companies wanting to live and work in the same area.

 

Since we are an automobile rich society, and with people admonishing public transportation as evidenced by the AMP debate, our city center in our lifetime won't support the 600-1000 foot skyscraper. I hope I am wrong because Nashville needs a true iconic piece of architecture.

 

Many have tried to compare Nashville to cities like Austin, TX which is an impossible task. Nashville has 630,000 people and Austin has 842,000 including a university with a population of 60,000. Nashville's metro is 1.5, Austin's is 1.8. That is why Austin has a 683 foot condo tower and we don't.

Actually, Austin and Nashville's MSA is nearly identical at just over 1.7 million...but you are correct on the actual city populations.

 

I think right now, Tony G and his efforts for a high rise in the CBD is our only hope for awhile.

[UTgrad09]

Austin is growing faster than Nashville, no doubt (and I wouldn't want to grow at that speed), but it's not like you can't make comparisons between the two cities. If you can't compare Nashville to Austin, then which city or cities can you compare it to?

[BnaBreaker]

Who knew that a metro population gap of a couple hundred thousand people was the difference between getting tall buildings and not getting tall buildings?

 

Really though...though I more or less share UA's general dismay with Nashville's relative lack of creativity or a trailblazing attitude on the urban development and transit fronts, there really are a great deal of holes in his logic. 

[chris holman]

I can't read the article but it says a company is moving from the Westin footprinthttp://nashvillepost.com/news/2014/1/16/sobro_company_within_westin_footprint_to_move_jan_31