W Hotel, 16 stories, 183', 350 rooms

[BnaBreaker]

3 hours ago, japan said:

I think Bridgestone is having second thoughts about building downtown especially after the pandemic.

What do being downtown and the pandemic have to do with each other?

[LA_TN]

3 hours ago, nashvylle said:

why?

Access in and out of that building is not good. Need the mass transit that doesn't exist yet. Chicken and egg. Same issue for the new Eakin office building and major complaint for the Caremark building 

2 minutes ago, BnaBreaker said:

What do being downtown and the pandemic have to do with each other?

Companies downtown have reported that productivity is up over 10% with employees working from home. While some want to return to the office, a large percentage of employees have stated they want to continue work from home. I have personally heard some numbers as high as 30-40%. That's some expensive office to let set empty 

[nashvylle]

52 minutes ago, LA_TN said:

Companies downtown have reported that productivity is up over 10% with employees working from home. While some want to return to the office, a large percentage of employees have stated they want to continue work from home. I have personally heard some numbers as high as 30-40%. That's some expensive office to let set empty 

Wait til those employees have kids... 

[titanhog]

I would only want to work downtown if I lived downtown.

[DDIG]

4 hours ago, LA_TN said:

Access in and out of that building is not good. Need the mass transit that doesn't exist yet. Chicken and egg. Same issue for the new Eakin office building and major complaint for the Caremark building 

Companies downtown have reported that productivity is up over 10% with employees working from home. While some want to return to the office, a large percentage of employees have stated they want to continue work from home. I have personally heard some numbers as high as 30-40%. That's some expensive office to let set empty 

There's pros and cons to this productivity increase. Much harder to create a culture virtually. Much harder to mentor and bring along younger employees. I believe some flexibility will stay, but sooner than later more will be back in office.

[Armacing]

11 hours ago, DDIG said:

There's pros and cons to this productivity increase. Much harder to create a culture virtually. Much harder to mentor and bring along younger employees. I believe some flexibility will stay, but sooner than later more will be back in office.

As much as I have enjoyed the coronavirus-induced era of work-from-home, I tend to agree with you DDIG that working in an office is not yet a relic of the past.   However I will say that probably 100% of employees who return to the office will not be happy about fighting traffic to get there.  That could, over the long term, result in either a greater push for mass transit, or more companies moving to the suburbs where traffic is comparatively lower.  Could coronavirus be the existential force that helps the Ovation project in Franklin reach its full potential?  I think there's a chance it could.

[japan]

16 hours ago, LA_TN said:

Access in and out of that building is not good. Need the mass transit that doesn't exist yet. Chicken and egg. Same issue for the new Eakin office building and major complaint for the Caremark building 

Companies downtown have reported that productivity is up over 10% with employees working from home. While some want to return to the office, a large percentage of employees have stated they want to continue work from home. I have personally heard some numbers as high as 30-40%. That's some expensive office to let set empty 

This is a good synopsis.  The parking issues for the Bridgestone workers suck.  Since they don't control the parking in their own building, they have to be out of the garage by 5:30 or 6pm or they get charged the going evening rates.  This was a big gripe before the pandemic and will probably reappear.

Edited March 25, 2021 by japan

[PruneTracy]

The problem from a traffic engineering perspective is that WFH doesn't automatically take vehicles off the road. You may remember if you were out and about back in April and May of last year that, especially during nice weather, traffic took on a weekend pattern of higher midday volumes as people went to the park, etc. Additionally, even if you're working from home, you may still have to get out to, for example, take the kids to school during rush hour. It's not that big of a deal from the perspective of capacity but it also introduces its own inefficiencies into a transportation network that is geared towards high directional traffic during a few hours in the morning and afternoon.

[LA_TN]

10 hours ago, Armacing said:

As much as I have enjoyed the coronavirus-induced era of work-from-home, I tend to agree with you DDIG that working in an office is not yet a relic of the past.   However I will say that probably 100% of employees who return to the office will not be happy about fighting traffic to get there.  That could, over the long term, result in either a greater push for mass transit, or more companies moving to the suburbs where traffic is comparatively lower.  Could coronavirus be the existential force that helps the Ovation project in Franklin reach its full potential?  I think there's a chance it could.

Answer: a greater push for mass transit

Companies want to be downtown for the workforce, in particular: millennials. In post pandemic there will be greater demand for downtown living. The workforce in downtown is very attractive to companies

The pandemic will not help Ovation nor 3 Franklin Park. They will eventually gain some relocations, but companies downtown will not move to the suburbs just to ease traffic. There would have to be more reasons than just traffic congestion to warrant that move. (Cheap) price per square foot is what built Cool Springs. That incentive has been long gone for a decade. And that is why growth there has slowed to nearly nothing over the past decade

[Armacing]

17 hours ago, LA_TN said:

Answer: a greater push for mass transit

Companies want to be downtown for the workforce, in particular: millennials. In post pandemic there will be greater demand for downtown living. The workforce in downtown is very attractive to companies

The pandemic will not help Ovation nor 3 Franklin Park. They will eventually gain some relocations, but companies downtown will not move to the suburbs just to ease traffic. There would have to be more reasons than just traffic congestion to warrant that move. (Cheap) price per square foot is what built Cool Springs. That incentive has been long gone for a decade. And that is why growth there has slowed to nearly nothing over the past decade

Good points, and I agree. 

On the subject of millennials... I have heard some opinions that the pandemic took the shine off of downtown living for a lot of millennials.  The pandemic forced them to suddenly become aware of the prosperity, security, and for lack of a better term "insular prestige" that upper-middle and upper class suburbanites enjoyed during the pandemic while the cities were in shut down/chaos mode.   From the perspective of the millennials who were suddenly in house-arrest in their downtown apartment, the rich suburbanites were like mythical beings who were unconstrained by worldly concerns like quarantines and social distancing because, by their very nature, the suburbanites life was already structured in a way that they don't need anybody's help or permission.  They have their own yard, they have their own pool, they have a neighborhood to bike or walk in.  The riots helped a little in this regard as well - the suburbs were unaffected.   

Basically, I think millennials are an observant group of people and the disparity of experiences between urbanites and suburbanites during 2020 did not go unnoticed.  I think it might change perceptions and behaviors over the long term.  If that happens, Cool Springs office parks will be back in business with a millennial workforce that lives in the suburbs as a result of their deliberate and rational decisions to abandon downtown and avail themselves of the financial and quality-of-life benefits they are newly aware of.   Your thoughts?

[Tim29tn]

On 3/26/2021 at 2:18 PM, Armacing said:

Good points, and I agree. 

On the subject of millennials... I have heard some opinions that the pandemic took the shine off of downtown living for a lot of millennials.  The pandemic forced them to suddenly become aware of the prosperity, security, and for lack of a better term "insular prestige" that upper-middle and upper class suburbanites enjoyed during the pandemic while the cities were in shut down/chaos mode.   From the perspective of the millennials who were suddenly in house-arrest in their downtown apartment, the rich suburbanites were like mythical beings who were unconstrained by worldly concerns like quarantines and social distancing because, by their very nature, the suburbanites life was already structured in a way that they don't need anybody's help or permission.  They have their own yard, they have their own pool, they have a neighborhood to bike or walk in.  The riots helped a little in this regard as well - the suburbs were unaffected.   

Basically, I think millennials are an observant group of people and the disparity of experiences between urbanites and suburbanites during 2020 did not go unnoticed.  I think it might change perceptions and behaviors over the long term.  If that happens, Cool Springs office parks will be back in business with a millennial workforce that lives in the suburbs as a result of their deliberate and rational decisions to abandon downtown and avail themselves of the financial and quality-of-life benefits they are newly aware of.   Your thoughts?

It’s true about suburbs/smaller towns during the pandemic. I live an hour away from Nashville down I24 in Manchester and  the shutdown of bars, etc. only lasted about two weeks. People haven’t wore masks down here on a regular basis since after those two weeks. We have a select few places that still want you to wear them, but it’s been normal here since April of last year. 

[smeagolsfree]

Office buildings in general are changing regardless if they are downtown or in an office park in Cool Springs due to Covid. People will have more choices as to if they want to work fro home or from an office building.

What will save downtown Nashville is mass transit. Again, all of these people debating the mask issue will be forgotten in a few years and it will be back to business as usual. Traffic will be the main concern.

[markhollin]

More glass being installed on street level.

Looking north from intersection of 12th Ave. South and Pine St:

[markhollin]

Looking NE from 12th AVe. South, 1/4 block south of Laurel St:

Looking SE from 12th Ave. South, 1/2 block north of Pine St:

[markhollin]

"W" signs up on  east and west sides now, as well as the north side.

Looking SE from intersection of 12th Ave. South and Laurel St:

Looking east from surface lot between Laurel St.and Pine St., 1/2 block west of 12th Ave. South:

Looking NE from intersection of Pine St. and 12th Ave. South:

Looking north from 12th Ave. South, 1/2 block north of Division St:

Looking west from 11th Ave. South, 1/2 block north of Pine St:

Looking SW from Laurel St., 1/4 block west of 11th Ave. South:




Looking west from intersection of Lea Ave. and 10th Ave. South:

[UrbanWes03]

Will these W’s be lit from behind or will they have no light at all? I would hope this kind of hotel would do some form of lighting for its logo. 

[dmillsphoto]

1 minute ago, UrbanWes03 said:

Will these W’s be lit from behind or will they have no light at all? I would hope this kind of hotel would do some form of lighting for its logo. 

Every W I have stayed at/seen has the W lit up, I don't think this one will be any different.

[nashvylle]

Great shot @markhollin love the trains in the foreground.

[Mr_Bond]

It's been almost eight months since the cranes came down.  Why is this building taking so long to finish?  I drive or walk by several times a week and it seems like no change has happened on the 12th Ave side FOR-EV-ER!

[markhollin]

Looking east from intersection of Laurel St. and 12th Ave. South:

Looking south from intersection of Laurel St. and 12th Ave. South:




Various views along 12th Ave. South looking SE:

[markhollin]

Interesting metal devices over main entrance along 12th Ave. South.  I'm guessing signage will be hung from these.

Looking east from 12th AVe. South, 1/2 block north of Pine St:

Looking NE from intersection of 12th Ave. South and Pine St:

[Bos2Nash]

On 6/6/2021 at 9:46 AM, markhollin said:

Interesting metal devices over main entrance along 12th Ave. South.  I'm guessing signage will be hung from these.

Looking east from 12th AVe. South, 1/2 block north of Pine St:

These look more like canopy supports than signage. My guess is the bottom of the canopy will align with the step-down that is at the right side of the image.

[FrankNash]

In the rendering it shows a canopy at this location.

[nashville born]

Really like this one.  Modern and sleek looking on the western elevation.  Cool mix of concrete/stone and glass on the eastern elevation.  Like that W signage.  Like the funky angles on the south end.  Like the concrete  work.  Just a sharp building.  Even at just 16 stories, great add!  Hoping for some tall adds with similar aesthetics!

[rolly]

I wonder when this will be open?

I stayed at a W in Mexico City years ago. Was so different from my usual Centro Historico Sheraton I usually would stay at (where I had a huge corner room for about $100 usd / 2005 era).

But they were booked one time so I went to the W.   The shower was wide open to the outside window, exhibitionist style. And there was a hammock you could string up across the whole room. Big purple and pink pillows. Fun place!