River North, 105-acre Cowan Street corridor, Phase One: five 4-7 stories, 650 residences, 85 K sq. ft. retail, 50 K sq. ft. office, mile long riverfront park; Phase Two: two 12 story office buildings, pedestrian bridge across river

[SumnerCountian]

Can someone please explain to me the reasoning behind height restrictions for buildings in this area?

[henburg]

While there is a great chance that this is just a vision for the site, I am just excited that a developer is finally taking the East Bank seriously as a new frontier for development. I feel that it has been overlooked for way too long, and a development anything close to what the renders show us would be a fantastic use. I hope that this development can be the first step towards a sort of canyon of urbanity/greenspace surrounding the Cumberland. 

[Vrtigo]

You can absolutely count me among those who would be beyond thrilled to see this happen, but I'm enormously skeptical that we'll see anything close to what's shown in the renderings during our lifetimes. We can't even get buildings that tall three blocks from KVB in SoBro, let alone all the way north of Jefferson on the East Bank.

Plus, the developer is mighty optimistic with his connectors over the interstate. The interstate is already above grade in those locations and a connector that doesn't go under the interstate would be soaring way up in the sky...

But it's also a mile from my house. It'd be great for me!

[Nashtitans]

31 minutes ago, Vrtigo said:

You can absolutely count me among those who would be beyond thrilled to see this happen, but I'm enormously skeptical that we'll see anything close to what's shown in the renderings during our lifetimes. We can't even get buildings that tall three blocks from KVB in SoBro, let alone all the way north of Jefferson on the East Bank.

Plus, the developer is mighty optimistic with his connectors over the interstate. The interstate is already above grade in those locations and a connector that doesn't go under the interstate would be soaring way up in the sky...

But it's also a mile from my house. It'd be great for me!

Exactly!! Everytime a tall proposal comes to the core Metro tries hard to lower the stories, but the looking at the renderings, the smallest buildings looks like 25 stories, the tallest is probably 45-50+

[Neigeville2]

I think the pics show they anticipate the flood issue, I would expect some cars may need to be moved when the flood waters are on the way but they're fully cognizant.  I think this is feasible as hell, it is like the Gulch.  They have deep pockets, they're in it for the long haul, and they own the whole thing, it's not going to fall apart because some bank doesn't want to finance a building. No NIMBY's there because there's NOTHING there.  It'll take some time, but I bet in a few years there's something significant in place.   

Edited January 11, 2017 by Neigeville2

[titanhog]

22 minutes ago, Neigeville2 said:

I think the pics show they anticipate the flood issue, I would expect some cars may need to be moved when the flood waters are on the way but they're fully cognizant.  I think this is feasible as hell, it is like the Gulch.  They have deep pockets, they're in it for the long haul, and they own the whole thing, it's not going to fall apart because some bank doesn't want to finance a building. No NIMBY's there because there's NOTHING there.  It'll take some time, but I bet in a few years there's something significant in place.   

Yes...I imagine it will be a little more like the Gulch than like the CBD.  10-20 story buildings with some low-rise infill.

Edited January 11, 2017 by titanhog

[Flatrock]

A random thought: 50 acres to the city - could this be a potential site for an MLS stadium? With greenways and bridges, accessibility to the CBD, East Nashville, SoBro, Germantown, etc. could open up lots of possibilities for a stadium. Just sayin'.....

[smeagolsfree]

15 hours ago, SumnerCountian said:

Can someone please explain to me the reasoning behind height restrictions for buildings in this area?

I don't think there has been much reasoning behind some of the height restrictions in Nashville. It is hap-hazard at best, IMO.  The good news for this development, if it happens, is that Metro is considering extending the Downtown Code into this area, which would allow for much taller buildings.

[Titans10]

8 hours ago, Flatrock said:

A random thought: 50 acres to the city - could this be a potential site for an MLS stadium? With greenways and bridges, accessibility to the CBD, East Nashville, SoBro, Germantown, etc. could open up lots of possibilities for a stadium. Just sayin'.....

That's a really good idea and location. 

[SumnerCountian]

3 hours ago, smeagolsfree said:

I don't think there has been much reasoning behind some of the height restrictions in Nashville. It is hap-hazard at best, IMO.  The good news for this development, if it happens, is that Metro is considering extending the Downtown Code into this area, which would allow for much taller buildings.

Thank you for the answer. 

[Rockatansky]

On 1/10/2017 at 3:27 PM, smeagolsfree said:

The flood wall would have only affected the West Bank and not the East Bank.

Which is why I framed the Flood Wall as a start to the process.

[PruneTracy]

Re: the flood wall. One thing to remember is that building flood walls or levees, raising the ground level, etc. doesn't really solve the problem of flooding, it just pushes the flooding problems from one location to another. While it makes sense to protect areas with high property values, such as the CBD or potentially this project, the overuse of flood control structures can create more problems downstream, or in extreme cases, upstream as a narrow river channel flanked by control structures works as a sort of bottleneck for the flow of water. Obviously the developers of this project, like Metro in constructing the downtown flood wall, have to coordinate with stakeholders like the US Army Corps of Engineers and determine the potential impacts of altering the floodplain elevation and/or building a control structure in a flood situation, but ultimately a more cost-effective and simpler solution would be to avoid development and promote green space in floodplains regardless of the potential development value, giving floodwater a place to spread out and slow down and reduce the stresses on the places where you really need protection. Not saying it has to be this project (though I'll be a negative Nancy in saying that I don't see this project happening to this scale anyway), but it has to be somewhere.

[titanhog]

^^I definitely don't think any land near downtown should be left as "floodplain"...if at all possible.  I'm sure there are ways around going that far...as you mentioned working with the Corps to establish a plan that does not adversely affect those downstream.

[RonCamp]

On 1/10/2017 at 11:49 AM, smeagolsfree said:

In looking at the new bridges across the Cumberland and I 24, I am wondering how many of the residents in those neighborhoods will be hot on the idea of major traffic going into their respective neighborhoods. The biggest issue is the bridge that would go into Germantown. I think they would embrace the pedestrian bridge but not the auto bridge. It looks to be an extension of Taylor street.

The next concern would be where the traffic would go from the development. I would think there would need to be at least two exits off of the interstates into the project for ease of access.

 

Everyone that has driven that stretch of road knows it is a cluster most of the time, and it does not need to be rush hour.

Always worth remembering that, the more people that live, work, and play in a concentrated downtown area, the more (a) population density that makes public transport feasible and, (b) the more people that will walk or bike to more of their destinations, reducing traffic.  

I sure wouldn't mind living in Germantown and commuting to work in River North over the proposed pedestrian bridge, for instance.  

[PruneTracy]

16 hours ago, titanhog said:

^^I definitely don't think any land near downtown should be left as "floodplain"...if at all possible.  I'm sure there are ways around going that far...as you mentioned working with the Corps to establish a plan that does not adversely affect those downstream.

There are ways of turning this prospect into a value-added scenario. One example is the Trinity River Project in Dallas:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_River_Project

[MidTenn1]

A crude representation of the River North project in context to downtown. I did not attempt to show other buildings downtown or elsewhere.

 

[smeagolsfree]

Article From The Scene....

http://flip.it/zvfBvd

 

[markhollin]

Interview with Hal Clark from Civil Site Design, who is serving as one of the designers of the River North project.  Subjects covered include converting the Cherokee Marine building into a waterfront market/retail venue, the street grid,connectivity with Germantown and East Nashville, flood prevention, and more:

http://www.nashvillepost.com/business/people/article/20849089/qa-civil-site-design-groups-hal-clark

[Canuck87]

"Metro explores downtown Nashville's east bank extension"

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Extending the Downtown Code across the Cumberland River to the east bank is one option.
• This would allow the developer to build above an existing cap of 15 stories.
• MDHA is considering a new redevelopment district, which could allow tax incentives.
• Metro would be key in helping to build a pedestrian bridge over the Cumberland River to Germantown.

Article: http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/davidson /2017/01/16/metro-explores-downtown-nashvilles-east-bank-extension/96449526/

[smeagolsfree]

This is a rendering of the South Waterfront district in Portland mentioned in the Q & A above.

 

[bhibbs]

[Tim29tn]

1 hour ago, bhibbs said:

Oh wow, this is definitely not bad news. We'll be looking at 3 skylines in Nashville, TN if this is built as rendered. That's amazing.

[BnaBreaker]

Even if this winds up just being a tenth of the full proposed build out, it'll still have a major impact on both the skyline, and on the East Bank in general.  This is huge.  

[markhollin]

More details on the purchase of final 32 acres to finish the 105 acre assemblage for the entire River North campus.

http://www.tennessean.com/story/money/real-estate/2017/03/06/nashvilles-east-bank-developer-buys-32-river-north-acres-30m/98833626/

[markhollin]

The 300 yards long series of warehouses just north of the Cherokee Marine Terminal have been razed. 

Looking NE from Cowan Street:

 

Looking south from Pixel Flex manufacturing parking lot.  Those are the poles for netting around the driving range forTop Golf in the background:

 

Looking SW from Pixel Flex manufacturing parking lot.