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505 CST - 545 feet - 45 Floors


smeagolsfree

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Going to srart a thread for the 505 CST tower as it will get a lot of focus over the coming year and or years.

First article from William Williams’ @ the Nashville Post

http://nashvillepost.com/blogs/postbusiness/2011/11/3/giarratana_unveils_trio_of_proposed_skyscrapers

Interview with Tony:

http://giarratana.com/ Giarratana Development

Will post my image when ever I am able to get into my photo bucket account. I think it getting too much traffic.

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This tower is an amazing piece of work and I really hope it is built. The main take aways form the interview Tony gave IMO, were the LEED aspects of the tower and the fact that they are going to try and lure a major Corp. Relocation to Nashville. He did say the Governors office as well as the Mayors office is aware of this. I think there will be a lot of co-operation to get this tower built. i would also say there will be TIF involved if and when it gets built.

The architecture firm has a great track record and I am very excited with their involvement. Here is a link to their web site.

http://smithgill.com/

They have some very stunning completed work.

Let’s get some discussion going here guys. I encourage any lurkers that look at the site to sign up and voice your opinion.

Thanks for posting the pixs jice.

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The interview was very interesting. Some of the main points (from Giarratana's point of view);

  • The SIgnature Tower was very close to a start. H.U.D. requirements delayed it and pushed the start into the early days of the recession when the lender increased its requirements for number of deposits.
  • Had the Signature Tower been built, it would have opened in the middle of the economic crisis and would have been a financial disaster.
  • 505CST is to be 38 stories and "will be the tallest" building in the City. (It is unclear if "tallest" is measured by number of floors or actual sidewalk to tip heighth)
  • The 505CST building was designed around the needs of a large corporate headquarters office which includes a five star hotel with large upscale meeting place.
  • The 505CST building 'twists' to allow the roof to be oriented on a true north/south axis so the solar panels mounted on the roof will receive optimum sunlight.
  • The 505CST building will import chilled water at night from the downtown thermal plant in order to receive lower rates. It will store the water underground, use it, then pump it back to the thermal plant during the day.

    My observations based on this interview are:

    • 505CST may be a lot closer to 600' tall than 700'. It may even be shorter.
    • 505CST is exclusively designed to attract a 'large' coporate headquarters or two. It seems like it may be a prototype for such a large speculative building.
    • We obviously don't know who the targets are, but I would think Tony G. has a wishlist. I would also think HCA may be on it.
    • I know there was speculation about Lockheed Martin moving here. I wonder if that is on the list.
Edited by PHofKS
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Thanks for the additional info Ron. I love the design which reminds me of a spinnaker and as much as I loved Signature, IMO this is much more successful all the way around in terms of Form, Function, etc. Not only would this be stunning for an office tower, it would be one of Nashville's greatest pieces of art/sculpture. I also believe that 505 would ultimately set a completely new standard and direction for the architecture in the CBD, away from the limestone and blue-green glass combination.

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Let’s get some discussion going here guys. I encourage any lurkers that look at the site to sign up and voice your opinion.

Thanks for posting the pixs jice.

I'll give it the thumbs up, it's pretty. Maybe Mr. G can relocate the Signature to the Tulane Hotel site at 7th & Church, which has shamefully stood vacant since its demolition in October 1956.

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Do I now qualify as a lurker, or just mostly missing in action? Nevertheless, it's great to see some of the folks popping back in, geek, fieldmarshall, et al.

I love, love, love this tower and hope to see it built. On another front, I think one of the things that's moved me about that last picture was the startling composition of the what we see in the rendering...things that represent different times in culture, politics, religion, finance. Looking at the image, you see the Ryman, built in 1889. You see the Presbyterian church who's beginnings and building predate the Ryman by a considerable amout; you then see the old SunTrust (Third National) from the late 60s, I believe. I wish we could see more of the L&C to represent downtown's stunning contribution to the 50s. Then, there's the current Marriott in the old J.C. Bradford building. The image seems to represent a running history of downtown where some things from the past remain and others stand where pieces of history perhaps should still be standing (i.e. The Cumberland). Even with the demise of the Tennessee Theater and the structure that held it, a new era dawned. I can stare at this rendering and each time, I see something different, and each time, my perspective changes. The iconic McKendree stands proud to complete an nearly spiritual bookending of the new building. For those of us who can see this image for what it brings back to us, and what it means for the future of downtown, we are a lucky group.

Nice to see you all.

Edited by it's just dave
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Dave, I think you are just MIA. Great to see you and the Geek and FMJ.

I will post this on the forum meet page, but I am going to try and see if we can get together for dinner and drinks sometime in December. I will get details to you guys and I will just need an RSVP when we decide where. Would love to see all the old faces again.

I think William will be talking to Tony sometome this next week and we may get more answers on this tower. I have a lot of respect for Tony and if anyone can get this built, he can. Best of luck for sure.

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Nice to see you all.

Thanks, Dave. I just revisited this website the other day and caught a glimpse of the rendering. It's now been about 17 years since the demolition of the Cain-Sloan department store on the lot, and I doubt few could've imagined such a prime piece of real estate would've remained as such for so long. It would be funny if Mr. G manages to get HCA to commit to this building, since that was the original idea back around 1994 or 1995 for the HQ of HCA to locate at this address with a 40+ story edifice. This design might turn out to be better than anything envisioned at that time (although no renderings ever came to light, as far as I recall).

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Wow, just a few weeks ago Tony kind of sneaked back on the scene with a low-key announcement for a modest residential building next to Centennial Park. Then, out of the blue, he hits us over the head with three hugely ambitious projects for the downtown core. (or in his view, one for the downtown core and two for whatever SoBro is) I'm super excited to see this and glad that he's rededicated to strengthening the urban core and not sapping it with projects like Maytown.

I'm not a height-monger like most on this site so 600ft, 700ft, whatever, doesn't really matter to me. I think this building is way more significant than the Sig. Tower would have been, regardless of height. I like that he went all out in terms of the architect, LEED certification and the like. He may be that more likely to land a high profile corporation that is cognizant of the sea change in environmental sustainability, both in terms of a building's design and its location in an urban vs. suburban setting.

I also agree with a lot of the people who are saying the building looks like something you'd see in London or elsewhere in Western Europe. It's just sort of cool, the opposite of the typical stodgy, conservative and imperious corporate high rise. It would be nice if Nashville, against all trends and probabilities, could attract some silicon valley IT firms. Maybe Google, Facebook and the like are thinking about a Nashville HQ? :)

Edited by Nashvillain
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Just for fun, I'm going to guess that the height would be 526' if built according to the renderings. I know 700' has been thrown out there but unless the floors are 18' on average...

If anyone else would like to offer a guess before it's official, Hankster? Hankster? I'd love to hear it.

If I may be allowed to purely speculate for the Skyscrapegeeky fun of it, I would guess that Tony was going to say (in the Lipscomb interview) that it would be taller than ATT minus the spires but decided to have that edited out for whatever reason. Who knows, maybe next week it'll be 1,053'. :whistling:

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I would hardly call this DOA. Its a bit early to be negative. Signature Tower did not come to fruition because of market, not on any failure on his part.

I suspect he already has a tenant, and I think I know who it might be but I am not going to say anything at this point. Let's just say, this tower is getting built.

Hint: Nashville has no state income tax, and right now California is in an economic and tax mess.

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Just for fun, I'm going to guess that the height would be 526' if built according to the renderings. I know 700' has been thrown out there but unless the floors are 18' on average...

If anyone else would like to offer a guess before it's official, Hankster? Hankster? I'd love to hear it.

If I may be allowed to purely speculate for the Skyscrapegeeky fun of it, I would guess that Tony was going to say (in the Lipscomb interview) that it would be taller than ATT minus the spires but decided to have that edited out for whatever reason. Who knows, maybe next week it'll be 1,053'. :whistling:

If the renderings are based on CAD drawings and have reasonably accurate perspective, I would estimate the 505CST would be nine floors plus equipment space higher than the 5th/3rd Tower peak (495'). That would add about 128 more feet in height making it 623 ft tall. Thus it would be slightly bigger than AT&T's 617'.

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Tony made it a point to mention how tall the ATT Tower is in the video. I could almost bet to a certainly he wants the tallest building in Nashville, and the State Of Tennessee. I am saying the building will be 640 feet. Just my guess based on the ATT tower being 28 floors and 617 feet with the spire. (The building has 33 floors, but 5 are underground.)

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Ron is likely correct. Matt Wiltshire, the mayor's point man for economic development, surely would be "in the know" if Tony had an anchor tenant. But I'm sure Tony is talking to multiple parties. My gut feeling is Tony sees 505 as more of a "down the road" development. Gives him time to do the hotel and apartment tower first AND let the economy improve. Now, if the Med Mart moves forward, that gives 505 some potential momentum (at least in theory).

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