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Inner Loop - CBD, Downtown, East Bank, Germantown, Gulch, Rutledge


smeagolsfree

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22 minutes ago, rookzie said:

They actually have in Florida.  Money talked there, with state govt. stepping in, and CSXT had a viable alternative pre-existent.

I like the sound of that.  I would be interested in knowing how much it would cost for Metro (and other surrounding counties) to pay CSX to operate a commuter rail system v/s build out a Metro-owned rail system.

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On 10/24/2019 at 3:05 PM, markhollin said:

Bark Public House will operate in the building that used to house The Agenda nightclub at 609 9th Ave. South and offer boarding and grooming for dogs.

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/retail/article/21093895/dogcentric-business-slated-for-the-gulch
 

Screen Shot 2019-10-24 at 3.01.14 PM.png

I noticed last week that work on this site is moving ahead quickly.  They've painted the exterior, removed some old awnings, etc.  The Bark House banner on the front has been there for over a year I'm guessing.  Happy to see this moving forward.

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4 hours ago, Armacing said:

I like the sound of that.  I would be interested in knowing how much it would cost for Metro (and other surrounding counties) to pay CSX to operate a commuter rail system v/s build out a Metro-owned rail system.

CSX would never operate such a system, under it's current board of directors and foreseeable leadership.  CSX did form an agreement to sell off a 61-mile segment of its "A-Line" (formerly Atlantic Coast Line RR), to the State of Florida for use by the SunRail commuter system between DeBary and Poinciana, Fl.,  via downtown Orlando.  That was considered a tenable concession because CSX previously had roughly parallel routes ─ the A-line and the "S-Line" (formerly Seaboard Air Line RR).  Both routes serve major points along the East Coast.  During the pre-merger years, long before the forming of the 1987 CSX Transportation mega-merger, the two lines were separately competitive carriers extending from Richmond, VA into Florida.

The CSXT arrangement for the sale of that A-Line R-o-W segment to the State of Florida for SunRail allows CSX to run freight trains on the A-Line only during weekends and in the middle of the night on weekdays.  CSX therefore was able to transfer most of its freight trains to the “S-Line” route.  This was a matter of historical redundancy within CSXT operations resulting from previous mergers, and it presented a unique and rare opportunity for the State of Florida.   But all SunRail is operated by the  Central Florida Commuter Rail Commission (CFCRC), a consortium of  Orange , Volusia, Seminole and Osceola counties ─ not by CSXT.

I brought this up a year or two ago (or four) in a different post.  Middle  Tennessee never has had such "advantage" of parallel CSX routes. 

Edited by rookzie
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44 minutes ago, PaulChinetti said:

So they only did it because there was a redundancy and they still get to use it most of the time. 

Yes, unfortunately.  I think CSX had them on they knees, when squeezing their b@!!s ─ in fact I know so.  That deal was reached in 2009, but it was delayed until liability concerns by Amtrak could be settled, and the property was sold in 2011.  Amtrak used and still uses that A-Line segment.  There is some indemnity in the arrangement, such that SunRail does not become accountable for any CSX or Amtrak mishap determined to be fault of the latter two.   But it is the sad truth that any such deal had to be made at all, as far as allowing CSX use of the sold-off property, as that can complicate or forestall plans to expand service to weekend commuter runs.

In 2015 CSX said it's willing to sell two additional lines in the Tampa Bay area:

1) the "Clearwater line" ─ downtown St. Petersburg  to downtown Clearwater then east past Tampa International Airport ending near downtown Tampa.

2) the "Brooksville line." ─ Tampa, passing University of South Florida, through Land O'Lakes, and into central Hernando County near Brooksville.

CSX determined that those two routes carried minimal freight traffic and could be used for passenger rail.  As yet nothing has actually transpired, but at least Tampa passed a transport referendum late last year.  So HART (Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority) recently (last month) revisited consideration of purchasing one or both those lines.

Again, I know this belongs in the Transportation thread, but the Ped Bridge itself also is transport related.

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6 hours ago, UTgrad09 said:

The Gulch bridge was really an unnecessary project. Given the budget situation, nixing it seems like a no-brainer.

I will readily admit that I'm probably not giving due respect to those concerned about the metro budget situation, and that's on me.  If there truly isn't enough money for schools and whatnot, then okay, perhaps some frugality is in order.  However, just in principle I don't agree with this notion that public monies shouldn't ever be spent on things unless they're absolutely "necessary."  After all, often times the things that make cities livable, vibrant, exciting places to be aren't typically what anyone would consider "necessary."  We could just devote all our money to filling potholes and fixing sewers... but then, what would be the fun in that?  Were Millenium Park or the Lake Michigan Bike Trail or Oak Street Beach "necessary" investments here  in Chicago?  Of course not... but the city sure wouldn't be the same place without those treasures.  I suppose it parallels our personal lives to a degree.  If we're struggling to pay the electric bill every month, then sure, perhaps it's time to tighten the belt for a time... but that doesn't mean we should never spend money on a new TV or a vacation or... ahem... DELICIOUS CRAFT BEER. ;)

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49 minutes ago, donNdonelson2 said:

Considering Chicago's budget situation, I think we'd do better to follow the example of a better steward of the people's money.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chicago-budget/chicago-mayor-warns-of-hard-choices-to-deal-with-838-million-budget-deficit-idUSKCN1VK043

No doubt we have a nasty budget situation, but those projects aren't the reason for it, and that wasn't really the point of my post anyway... you can choose whatever city you'd like.   Basically what I'm saying is that the public realm is the secondary living room of everyone living in a particular city, so it's worth it to invest in making that realm a better place to be for everyone.  Having a comfortable couch isn't technically a "necessity" either, but who really wants to go through life sitting on a milk crate, ya know?  

Edited by BnaBreaker
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I would like to know what % of the cost of the bridge was "air rights" purchase from CSX versus what % was building materials & labor.  The new mayor should share all of the numbers from the negotiation so the public can make up their own mind about whether or not CSX is playing nice.  Then, if it is revealed that CSX is an obstacle, at least the public will know how to calibrate their attitude towards CSX.  There is no law against an association of concerned citizens making demands of a company to do a certain thing.  It becomes a management decision about whether or not to ignore it and suffer the PR consequences, or accede to the public's demands.

Edited by Armacing
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I know people's attitude towards CSX in South Nashville, it's a resounding and deep seated hatred of their trains and crossings.

 

Are the air rights for buildings they could possibly build in the future on the land? It's not like trains can be super high with all the bridges and tunnels they use.

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21 hours ago, smeagolsfree said:

I also agree that in this time of Metro's budget woes a lot of things need to be on the chopping block and every area of town needs to pay it forward with some sort of sacrifice.

 

The thing is, cancelling the bridge won't save Metro any $$. They've already reallocated the $18M to other projects.

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1 hour ago, Armacing said:

I would like to know what % of the cost of the bridge was "air rights" purchase from CSX versus what % was building materials & labor.

A permanent aerial easement at typical rates from CSX for a bridge envelope this size/length would have been in the $800,000 to $1m range. I don't know how much the location or bargaining position factors into the cost, however.

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On 10/31/2019 at 8:30 PM, BnaBreaker said:

I will readily admit that I'm probably not giving due respect to those concerned about the metro budget situation, and that's on me.  If there truly isn't enough money for schools and whatnot, then okay, perhaps some frugality is in order.  However, just in principle I don't agree with this notion that public monies shouldn't ever be spent on things unless they're absolutely "necessary."  After all, often times the things that make cities livable, vibrant, exciting places to be aren't typically what anyone would consider "necessary."  We could just devote all our money to filling potholes and fixing sewers... but then, what would be the fun in that?  Were Millenium Park or the Lake Michigan Bike Trail or Oak Street Beach "necessary" investments here  in Chicago?  Of course not... but the city sure wouldn't be the same place without those treasures.  I suppose it parallels our personal lives to a degree.  If we're struggling to pay the electric bill every month, then sure, perhaps it's time to tighten the belt for a time... but that doesn't mean we should never spend money on a new TV or a vacation or... ahem... DELICIOUS CRAFT BEER. ;)

I don't disagree with the principle of what you are saying. I was on mobile when I made the post, so it was quite brief and straight to the point.

For me, the bridge never made sense to begin with. If you actually do the measurements, it really wasn't going to save much time except for those people that would literally be at the base of either end of it. The initial design was cool, yes. And I am in favor of spending a little more for good design. Not everything needs to be vanilla. But this project was in the Gulch, an area that has seen some pretty heavy public investment (note: I'm not a Gulch-hater, either -- I think the results are fantastic, even though there is little reason for me to spend time there). 

Downtown, Midtown, The Gulch, Germantown, etc. are on fire. I think a lot of Nashvillians appreciate what has happened there, and see the benefit of the public monies that have been invested -- but ultimately think that some of these investments need to be spread a little more around the county. So yes, given the budget situation, we need to be more selective about which projects we greenlight. There are a lot of deserving ones.

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Signage now up for CubeSmart Self Storage (6 stories, 95,500 sq. ft., ground level retail).

Looking west from 2nd Ave. North and Monroe St:

3rd Ave North Germantown Storage, Oct 19, 2019, 1.jpg


Looking north along 3rd Ave. North, 1/2 block north of Madison St:

3rd Ave North Germantown Storage, Oct 19, 2019, 2.jpg


Looking NE from 3rd Ave. North, 1/4 block south of Monroe St:

3rd Ave North Germantown Storage, Oct 19, 2019, 3.jpg


Looking SE from Monroe St., 1/4 block east of 3rd Ave. North:

3rd Ave North Germantown Storage, Oct 19, 2019, 4.jpg

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299 Broadway (5 stories, 19,500 sq. ft., built in 1900) is up for sale again.  It just sold for$18.5 million in April. The current owners are now asking $27 million.  Definitely a strong option for another country music themed bar, plus a possible music museum and/or boutique hotel on upper floors. 

The offering is the equivalent of about $1,385 per foot. If the building sold for that price today, the per-foot figure would rank among the highest marks related to a recent commercial property transaction in the city. For comparison, the April sale of the building was the equivalent of about $973 per foot.

More at The Nashville Post here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/commercial-real-estate/article/21095475/lower-broadway-building-listed-for-27m



 

Screen Shot 2019-11-04 at 5.32.44 AM.png

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Parkway Towers (21 stories, 261 ft. tall, 207,000 sq. ft. of office space and garage) at 404 James Robertson Parkway, has been purchased for $33.52 million. commonwealth Commercial Partners out of Virginia are the new owners.  It previously sold in 2015 for $19 million. 

More at TheNashville Post here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/commercial-real-estate/article/21095498/downtown-highrise-sells-for-about-335m
 

Screen Shot 2019-11-04 at 8.10.04 AM.png

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