Virgin Hotel on Music Row, 15 stories, 262 rooms, music club

[MLBrumby]

How wise is it to have a "suspended catwalk" to/from a bar?  Might be very popular if Cat Woman lives there. 

[rookzie]

16 minutes ago, MLBrumby said:

How wise is it to have a "suspended catwalk" to/from a bar?  Might be very popular if Cat Woman lives there. 

That's what "Right Said Fred"

  ("..I'm Too Sexy...And I do my little turn on the catwalk...Yeah, on the catwalk, on the catwalk, yeah")

[MidTenn1]

They mowed the grass!!           

[markhollin]

New Virgin Hotel rendering.  Story behind paywall at Nashville Post:

http://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/article/20831971/image-shows-newlook-virgin-hotel

[titanhog]

Well...we go from a really forward-thinking design to this. 

[bhibbs]

[Nashtitans]

Wow nashville stay getting hit with these crappy designs. wtf....

[henburg]

From what I can see this new design isn't awful, but with the context of the previous design and the beautiful home it's replacing, it is very underwhelming.

[fieldmarshaldj]

This is a slap in the face, generic and bland as hell. They should rebuild that house that was needlessly demolished.

[titanhog]

If they could place a handle on top, it could be a boombox with tilting speakers on the end...and call it the "Virgin Boombox Hotel."  So...there's that.

 

[Flatrock]

This looks like any one of hundreds of generic buildings around Atlanta's northern perimeter 'burbs.

[MLBrumby]

A suburban Marriott Hotel, circa 1983. Sir Dickie ought to be embarrassed. 

No kidding. When I saw that rendering for Virgin, I had a deja vu moment... "I've stayed there before." 

For when you want that "Music Row" experience in... um, Dallas, TX.  Cutting edge 35 years ago.

https://www.gogobot.com/dallas/hotels/dallas-marriott-city-center

Edited August 26, 2016 by MLBrumby

[BnaBreaker]

I'm done.  What more is there to say?  This is just becoming comical, at this point.  Just imagine all of the stately, timeless works of art we've lost to bland boxes over the years, and all of the modern, truly inventive tower proposals that have been scrapped in exchange for the 'affordable' bland boxes of the present day...oh what a magnificent cityscape we could potentially have were it not for the scourge of lazy, unimaginative, uninspired, careless and cheap developers that dominate Nashville's real estate scene, and the leaders that are afraid to put their foot down and enact some sort of REAL design guidelines, and all of the local residents who are afraid of any sort of change from the norm.  It really pains me to think about.

The above is such a gargantuan step down from this:

...and an even more gargantuan step down from this (shockingly the best shot I could find of the Pilcher Hamilton House): 

Edited August 26, 2016 by BnaBreaker

[TNinVB]

WTF????

[Nashtitans]

That rendering is great... if they could've made it like 10-20 stories taller that would def be a landmark building for nashville. too bad we got this

[Nathan_in_DC]

Can we get a letter writing campaign or something going? Mayor Berry has an interventionist government streak, she should use it to fix problems like this. I don't see how they have gotten away with tearing down a beautiful antebellum mansion and putting up a 1980s office box. Hideous. Absolutely hideous. The architect should be ashamed.

[bigeasy]

I don't think I would be that disappointed with that if they wouldn't have come out with the previous design. And I guess I could be in the minority, but considering where this location is, I am not upset that the old building was demolished. Sure it was historic/old looking, but to me even a bland design like this is a better use of that lot.

 

(I feel weird though about being somewhat positive about a Nashville project. I must be getting sick)

[Vrtigo]

[dmillsphoto]

I'm sufficiently medicated (read: had enough beers) to comment.

 

[troyboytn]

Yet STILL not as atrocious as the Hensler/Eakins trolley barn site proposal. Just sayin...

[bmkTN]

I'm gonna reserve judgment on this one until we see more renderings or maybe even until it's done.  It seems like Virgin wants to maintain a certain cache with their hotel line, so I can't imagine they'd want some totally bland, uninspiring building to represent their brand in one of the biggest tourist markets in the country. But maybe I'm wrong.  I guess we'll see.

[titanhog]

[markhollin]

^ ^ ^ In studying this new rendering, here's are my initial takeaways:

1) The back section that parallels 17th Avenue South, is now 14 stories, as opposed to 13 in the original designs from a year ago.

2) The disjointed front section, which faces the point corner of 17th, Demonbreun, and Division, is now 12 stories.  Originally, it was going to be a separate, triangular-shaped  tower connected to the back portion on the first two levels and by an enclosed catwalk on the 9th level.

3) Since there are no longer condos as part of the menu, it would seem this front section might be made up of more expensive suites with higher ceilings in each room. It is difficult to ascertain if this front portion will still be triangular or not, but it definitely butts-up to the back portion at about a 45 degree angle, leading one to ponder how it might correspond to the angle of Division street on the northern side.  Are the darkened floors at the top where the fitness center is to be located?  Perhaps the rooftop lounge? Or could that be the live music venue mentioned in the first designs?

4) The top floor of the main block is also taller than the 11 floors immediately below it.  Could this be part of the fitness center, lounge, or music club?

5) There still seems to be a fair amount of lobby, retail, restaurant, and meeting space featured on the first two floors of both sections, which also have much higher ceilings than the upper portions of the structure.

6) It is hard  to say whether the parking garage is being wrapped by the two lower floors, or if it is part of the 2-3 story that lower structure on the right (north) side that extends along Division St.  Could this area be more more street activated retail/restaurant (let's hope!) with a garage behind it?  Could it be where the studio, music venue, and meeting space that were promised in the first concept are to be situated? Will there be a pool and amenities deck located on top of this area?

7) There also appears to be a 13-story portion on the back (south) of the primary hotel tower that looks to be a tad recessed off of the frontage along 17th Avenue. Perhaps it is to serve as a symmetrical bookend to the angled portion at the point-corner of the opposite (north) end.

8) Had we not seen the original mock-ups a year ago, we might not be as harsh about this particular design.  While it is boxy, it has the angled front silo that sets it apart, and (perhaps) somewhat matching echo on the south end. If the music venue were to be on one of the upper floors with vistas looking out over Midtown and/or downtown, that could be quite cool.

9) Overall, I think it will serve as an interesting counterpoint to The Element at the other end of the little corridor around the Musica Roundabout.

10) Will be anxiously awaiting further renderings/schematics, as well as a press release that fills-in more of the details. 

Story is out from behind the paywall now:

http://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/article/20831971/image-shows-newlook-virgin-hotel

[smeagolsfree]

This rendering had been out for a while before I ran across it yesterday and sent to WW. There will be new renderings very soon. The key takeaway from the article is the website says coming 2019.

My guess is the will not break ground till very late this year or early next year.

[titanhog]

19 minutes ago, smeagolsfree said:

This rendering had been out for a while before I ran across it yesterday and sent to WW. There will be new renderings very soon. The key takeaway from the article is the website says coming 2019.

My guess is the will not break ground till very late this year or early next year.

My biggest disappointment is that they ended up playing it safe after showing us the previous design, which was a bit more groundbreaking for Nashville.  This design just doesn't feel like Richard Branson, IMO.