Greer Stadium site/Fort Negley expansion/redevelopment

[markhollin]

^ ^ ^ Thanks for the background info, Baronakim.  And welcome to the forum!  : )

[MidTenn1]

Welcome to Urban Planet Baron. I always enjoy you knowledgeable insight on Skyscraper Page.

[thenorthchannel]

1 hour ago, Baronakim said:

The redesign of the Greer is certainly a great improvement; however, as to marking the locations of graves, that is quite problematical.   When Greer was built, the entirety of the south side of the Fort Negley  site was excavated massively.  The existing grades were dropped 20 feet or so as well as for the bowl for the playing field.  This excavation for the big parking area was down to bedrock so any trace of original burials was completely destroyed.  Now on the adjacent Fort Negley  Park on the city side and the north slope towards the railroad (where there was a huge homeless encampment a few years ago) there are likely grave sites.  I do not know if they have been located as of yet but they would not be disturbed.     The bruhaha over them  being covered in the proposed Greer redevelopment seemed ridiculous to me as the areas where burials could exist was out of the scope of the design area.  It is sad to realize that the efforts of the Nashville newspaper owner throughout his life allowed the 1930's complete restoration of the fort by the federal government to rot away to overgrown ruin.  What you see today is a moderate restoration effort in the past decade to  stabilize what remains.   There is a very nice but moderate visitor center for the park that is worth visiting if you are at the park but a Civil War museum there?  Iffy, I think as the new State Museum on Bicentennial  Mall has a more than adequate coverage of the war.    The Fort Negley location was built by Federal forces and never figured in the final battles.  There were several other forts on the hilltops south of downtown, including one that was demolished for the 8th Avenue S. reservoir.   I think that better interactive features on the walk around and into the fort would be more effective in  reaching more people than a museum buildingwould.  If you have a chance, by all means take a walk at the fort; the view of the city is quite spectacular.

Strong first post.  Welcome to the forum.   From my home in Wedgewood-Houston I have a beautiful view of Fort Negley.    The massive 35 star flag they fly on special occasions is a tribute to the flag that flew over the fort for most of the Civil War.    Next time I spot it ill try to grab a pic.

[Baronakim]

39 minutes ago, PHofKS said:

Welcome to Urban Planet Baron. I always enjoy you knowledgeable insight on Skyscraper Page.

Thanks, PH,  I attribute  my Nashville insights to two points.  One, I have been an architect for close to 50 years.   Two, being older than dirt and a native Nashvillian, I pretty much have dug up a lot about Nashville's history. When I was a boy growing up in Inglewood, the Farmer's market was held around the Nashville City Hall/ Courthouse building.  A great number of the farmers sold out of horse or mule drawn wagons!  I remember well when the Woodland Street Bridge has a steel superstructure  like the Shelby Street and  Jefferson Street bridges.   Many of the buildings on 3rd Avenue near Broadway (a block from Pinnacle) had DIRT floors (one now has a law firm occupying the erstwhile Hibbit's Salvage store).  Nashville as a city was very dirty back then (but not as bad as B'ham)  since TVA dams around the city did not yet exist and the whole city used coal.....which was fortunate as the Blizzard of 51 knocked out power for heating for about a week as I recall.  Nashville' s transformation these days has awed me.

[PaulChinetti]

This report was bouncing around at the time of the Cloud Hill back and forth. 

https://www.nashville.gov/Portals/0/SiteContent/MayorsOffice/docs/news/TVAR Greer Stadium Report.pdf

 

Here is the pdf not on my drive. 

ABSTRACT

Under contract with Metro Parks & Recreation, Nashville., Tennessee Valley Archaeological Research (TVAR) conducted historical background research and a ground penetrating radar (GPR) assessment of Greer Stadium in anticipation of potential development of the project area. Limited subsurface testing of the targeted areas was also conducted as a means to ground-truth the GPR data. The purpose of the investigation was to provide Metro Parks & Recreation with an assessment of the site in regard to previous disturbances and a recommendation about the potential preservation of archaeological remains in the project area.

Investigations resulted in the identi cation of strati ed archaeological deposits and intactcultural features, which likely contain human remains associated with the “contraband camps” thatwere part of the building of Fort Negley, a Civil War-era forti cation designated as archaeological site 40DV189.The GPR survey, coupled with subsurface testing, also revealed that signi cant portions ofthe project area have been subjected to extensive land alteration and leveling. The survey indicates that the southwestern portion of the project area includes intact deposits that potentially include human remains. Further, the survey indicates that, while there has been large-scale cutting of thehillside, segments of the pre-1937 hillside still exist underneath large amounts of ll.

TVAR is recommending that a portion of the project area be protected, with no land alter- ations taking place. It is suggested that this portion be reintegrated into Fort Negley Park. It is fur-ther recommended that during any land alterations of the project area that a quali ed archaeologicalmonitor be on-site due to the possibility that further sensitive archaeological deposits may be present.

 

 

Edited March 24, 2019 by PaulChinetti

[PaulChinetti]

It's a hell of a site. 

[BnaBreaker]

Whoa... forget the site, that's one hell of a skyline shot!!  That might be one of the most complete skyline shots I've ever seen.  

[titanhog]

I say just take down Greer and the asphalt...plant grass and trees with a lot of benches and signs telling the story of the Civil War and the site...and call it a day.  Just a nice, passive park near downtown.

[MLBrumby]

12 minutes ago, BnaBreaker said:

Whoa... forget the site, that's one hell of a skyline shot!!  That might be one of the most complete skyline shots I've ever seen.  

Imagine how complete it will look when Travis Kelty's stucco box is finished. 

Just now, titanhog said:

I say just take down Greer and the asphalt...plant grass and trees with a lot of benches and signs telling the story of the Civil War and the site...and call it a day.  Just a nice, passive park near downtown.

That would be nice, but I'd hope they plant lots and lots of trees. 

[bhibbs]

7 hours ago, Baronakim said:

Thanks, PH,  I attribute  my Nashville insights to two points.  One, I have been an architect for close to 50 years.   Two, being older than dirt and a native Nashvillian, I pretty much have dug up a lot about Nashville's history. When I was a boy growing up in Inglewood, 

I am def not "older than dirt", but, I am a native who also grew up in Inglewood...I feel like we are a rare breed these days!

[Mr_Bond]

Welcome to the forum, @Baronakim.

[e-dub]

2 hours ago, PaulChinetti said:

It's a hell of a site. 

So, Nashville Yards will fill in a decent chunk of the gap on the right, but will Broadwest fill any of the one on the left?

[melsko]

An excavation crew mobilized this week. All of the fencing panels went down last week to expose the appealing graffiti that has made a presence over the past few years. News 4 was flying a drone over the area on Tuesday.  I just want to know what is going on there!

[markhollin]

Welcome to the forum, melsko!  : )  

Thanks for the updates on what you've seen.  Please keep them coming.   We do our best to stay on top of everything...but there is an incredible amount of activity around town right now, so any help from various sources is much appreciated.  

[e-dub]

Welcome, @melsko!

[markhollin]

Demo equipment and trailer on site.

 

[Bos2Nash]

On 3/28/2019 at 11:10 AM, melsko said:

An excavation crew mobilized this week. All of the fencing panels went down last week to expose the appealing graffiti that has made a presence over the past few years. News 4 was flying a drone over the area on Tuesday.  I just want to know what is going on there!

Welcome to the forum and thanks for the update!

I'll beat Ron and Mark to the punch and invite to our monthly meetup the first Saturday of every month (next one is this coming weekend). Check out the "The Dave Luna / Urban Planet Forum Meet" thread

 

[MLBrumby]

On 3/24/2019 at 8:05 PM, PaulChinetti said:

It's a hell of a site. 

Love this pic. Paul, if it's not too much trouble, would you take another one like this soon, say after the main excavation work is done to Greer, and so we can see where the Broadwest crane fits into the skyline. I know I'm asking a lot here, but this would be a great photo to benchmark progress. So much of the new projects are visible from here. 

Edited April 1, 2019 by MLBrumby

[smeagolsfree]

37 minutes ago, Bos2Nash said:

Welcome to the forum and thanks for the update!

I'll beat Ron and Mark to the punch and invite to our monthly meetup the first Saturday of every month (next one is this coming weekend). Check out the "The Dave Luna / Urban Planet Forum Meet" thread

 

Glad you guys are starting to do the welcome wagon. One thing less I have to do or Mark has to do. Keep it up makes my worries less, as I dont pay as much attention as I use too. 

Welcome melsko!

[PaulChinetti]

51 minutes ago, MLBrumby said:

Love this pic. Paul, if it's not too much trouble, would you take another one like this soon, say after the main excavation work is done to Greer, and so we can see where the Broadwest crane fits into the skyline. I know I'm asking a lot here, but this would be a great photo to benchmark progress. So much of the new projects are visible from here. 

Will do!

[Mr_Bond]

On 3/28/2019 at 11:10 AM, melsko said:

An excavation crew mobilized this week. All of the fencing panels went down last week to expose the appealing graffiti that has made a presence over the past few years. News 4 was flying a drone over the area on Tuesday.  I just want to know what is going on there!

I'm a little late but welcome to the forum, @melsko!

[Baronakim]

Perhaps it has gone unnoticed, but I am seeing possible activity at the OTHER end of the Greer site.   A couple of years ago Metro devastated the mature tree cover at Fort Negley to 'solve' a problem with a massive homeless encampment on the East slope.  This did open up wonderful vistas of Nashville skyline, but I regret the loss of so much green forest so close to the city core.   Adjacent to the Metro property, there are several business structures against the CSX tracks.    One of these has requested a zoning hearing (the Global Market) and apparently wants to rework it  as a restaurant/bar venue.  Metro police has again cleared out a homeless camp  behind it very recently which may indicate there will be some activity (perhaps parking lot expansion) there.  Across Oak Street down the spur (Bass Street)  there are some very old buildings  that are very hidden that included a saw works(whatever that is).  This is behind an iron gate.  There seems to be a substantial cleanup of the scrapyard at the base of the hill by these establishments that has occurred since the  clearing of the trees.  Would anyone know if these areas are being considered for some entertainment reuse like the old buildings at nearby Ewing Street (TN Brewworks, the Winery, etc.)?

[Rockatansky]

22 hours ago, Baronakim said:

Metro devastated the mature tree cover at Fort Negley to 'solve' a problem with a massive homeless encampment

[PaulChinetti]

All the way through the 3rd baseline stands. And the building in the centerfield is all demoed. Also looks like they are pulling all the plastic seats off before they demo the concrete stands. I would guess for recycling purposes. 

[PaulChinetti]

https://www.newschannel5.com/news/on-the-rise/greer-stadium-guitar-scoreboard-moving-to-new-development

So it looks like the score board is heading to the Outpost development!