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

[Paramount747]

Footers and Caissons going in on the western side of the Hilton Garden Inn site. They were working yesterday I guess to make up for lost time due to the cold weather last week. Had dinner at Fiesta Mexicana on Friday night and they are excited about the hotel, and she said, the lot across the street, for future business. I assume she was talking about The Bridges property being vacated.

[MidTenn1]

 

Apparently some announcement is coming this week for residential in the Gulch. No details given but "big and shiny" are words thrown out there. I'm wondering if it's a new project or maybe that The Laurel is converting to condos.

 

 

I would actually like to see something a little less shiny (glass) something built with more durable materials (stone or metal). Some of the buildings look nice (Gulch Crossings) but some renderings would be improved tremendously if they had more stone (Sheet Music, etc.).

 

It would help give the gulch a unique character as The Icon and especially the Terazzo have a nice mix of durable materials on their facades.

[Paramount747]

Wonder if we have a start date yet for the Pine Street Building. THis was the three story glass building to be behind the new small hotel. It was to wrap the corner. I forgot the name, but it was a very cool building.

[ariesjow]

^ That building would really help that part of the Gulch feel more complete. Love that design!

[timmay143]

Wonder if we have a start date yet for the Pine Street Building. THis was the three story glass building to be behind the new small hotel. It was to wrap the corner. I forgot the name, but it was a very cool building.

Yeah, I forgot about that one.  Been quiet for awhile.

[MidTenn1]

I've done a little research on the developers for the proposed Westin Hotel on the roundabout and found some interesting information.

 

From the Nashville Post ;

 

 

Nashville Hospitality Capital, which paid Clark Avenue $4.85 million, shares the same Midtown Manhattan address as Sentry Hospitality. That firm has developed numerous big projects, many of them including a conference center component.

 

So I checked out Sentry Hospitality and found out they specialize in conference centers. They have several owned by Goldman Sachs in the New York City area, but they have a few others in Niagara Falls, Atlanta, and resorts on the beach in NC.

 

I went to a conference center in Baltimore a few years ago and it is a place that offers an intense immersion in classroom, conference space and workshop activities for a period of time. It is much more than a hotel. It would seem they see Nashville as a destination space for organizations and corporations desiring to send employees to a 'resort' for intense training and education.

 

An example of what they built for Goldman Sachs in Manhattan; The 750 7th Ave. Bldg.  35 stories, 615 ft

 

 

We may be looking at something along these lines.

 

I feel more optimistic about this project. It serves a niche and is backed by people with a record of success.

Edited January 16, 2014 by PHofKS

[Paramount747]

If it's Nashville, our Westin will be 30 stories and 330 feet.

[CandyAisles]

And we have a name!  Twelve twelve.

http://www.tennessean.com/proart/20140116/business/301160106?pagerestricted=1

This is shaping up to be a great project, fwiw.

[Leif]

And we have a name!  Twelve twelve.

http://www.tennessean.com/proart/20140116/business/301160106?pagerestricted=1

This is shaping up to be a great project, fwiw.

Sort of hoping this stays rentals as there is a flood of poorly built new apartments, would be nice to have a few that aren't disposable investment vehicles.

[BnaBreaker]

I thought the name was The Mondrian?  Err...wait...is that the same thing?  I'm confused.  Or is that the very similarly designed proposal that is to go right across the street from The Mondrian? 

[fieldmarshaldj]

^Your sunny optimism is overflowing...

[timmay143]

Mondrian -> 12th and Laurel -> 1212 or Twelve Twelve

[Paramount747]

^Your sunny optimism is overflowing...

Just being realistic. Shall we review?

 

The Renaissance Hotel   31 stories and 385 feet

The Viridian 31 stories and 378 feet

James K Polk Office Tower 24 stories and 392 feet

Sheraton Hotel 28 stories and 300 feet (actually 25 stories as there is no 13 floor and no inhabitable 26th floor, and no inhabitable 27th. 26 is the closed sun deck, 27 is a mechanical & storage room, and 28 is the closed restaurant.)

UBS Tower 29 stories and 354 feet

USBank 23 stories and 346 feet

NCC1 27 stories and 404 feet

L&C Tower 31 stories and 409 feet

Pinnacle 29 stories and 417 feet

Snodgrass 31 stories and 452 feet

5th 3rd Bank 30 stories and 492 feet

ATT 28 stories and 617 feet (90 feet of spire)

 

We have 12 buildings between 23 & 31 stories over 300 feet. Do you think Nashville is actually going to build any higher? The Omni is 23 and 280, Service Source is 20 and 292, 1212 Laurel is 23 and 270. Nashville does not build high, so the Westin would surprise me if it broke the 350 mark.

 

Even @12 feet per floor, which is now the standard instead of 10 for high rise buildings, that would make the building 360 feet. If there were a taller lobby and a roof cap, I still see this building under 400 feet. Thus the Flat Skyline Society in Nashville is still correct.

Edited January 17, 2014 by Urban Architecture

[fieldmarshaldj]

I believe we will get something impressive sooner rather than later. I'm looking forward to Tony G's "Sheet Music." That will be the first to break 500 feet of actual occupiable floors, not just high spires on a shorter building. That's been an impediment since the L&C broke the 300 & 400 feet record in 1957.

[bwithers1]

Don't know. Morgan Park used to have an actual baseball diamond on it until a few years ago when that was ripped out and it became just a grassy lot. But softball games still happen there, as well as picnics and pick up games. Agree with you though, and would love to see the mayor's office spiff up the park with some basic improvements. What a great asset it could be for the neighborhood.

Good luck with that.  Dean has done a great job of purchasing land for parks.  But they just remain open land, typically, with little or no improvements, as is the case with the Cornelia Fort Airpark space.  There's no money in the budget for improvements for most parks, and Parks staffing is cut to the quick.  Nashville needs to spend some of this increasing tax revenue on the neighborhood parks.

[bigeasy]

Good luck with that.  Dean has done a great job of purchasing land for parks.  But they just remain open land, typically, with little or no improvements, as is the case with the Cornelia Fort Airpark space.  There's no money in the budget for improvements for most parks, and Parks staffing is cut to the quick.  Nashville needs to spend some of this increasing tax revenue on the neighborhood parks.

There def has not been any improvements to the Cornelia Fort Airpark, but it is used TONS by cyclist ever since it was connected to the greenway. I have used it many times for short sprint runs on my bike.  A local bike shop was trying to use it to hold cycling races, but for some reason they would not get approved to do so. I can't remember the reason though.

Edited January 19, 2014 by bigeasy

[bigeasy]

Twelve Twelve is supposed to be high end apartments or condos right? I don't know if I am the only one, but that name really bugs me. I understand why they chose it, but it just does not seem to fit the image for a building like that.

[smeagolsfree]

Its a work in progress. I would rather see the city wait till it has the funds to do C. Fort right than to just put a hap hazard plan together. The site has a lot of potential.

[BnaBreaker]

I'm not really a huge fan of 'naming' buildings at all.  It already has identification in the form of an address.  Why does it need a name like it's a Kia or something?

[Hey_Hey]

I don't think I could keep them all apart if they just used thire address. Icon, Adelicia, and Viridian are much easier to remember and keep straight than trying to remember their street name and number, especially when some streets will have multiple developments.

[volsfanwill]

I like how a lot of older buildings are named for or known by their original occupant or purpose, not some made up name like is the trend now.  Knoxville has "the medical arts building" which i believe has been law offices for decades, or the Sears tower, who really calls it the willis tower?.  or our own L&C tower.

we also have buildings like the castner knott building.

 

those names make sense. 

[BnaBreaker]

I don't think I could keep them all apart if they just used thire address. Icon, Adelicia, and Viridian are much easier to remember and keep straight than trying to remember their street name and number, especially when some streets will have multiple developments.

 

 

Sometimes, there is a reason for a name.  Like volsfanwill said, if a building has a expressed purpose that the public needs to know about (arts, medical etc.), or if it is the headquarters of a corporation, I get it.  Name that sucker.  But otherwise, why do we need to have a special name for each development? 

 

In the end, it's not really a big deal, and developers can do whatever they please.  I just feel like it's more a product of an environment where urban development and urban life are still seen as 'trends' rather than just another way of doing things.  I mean, I'm not trying to compare Nashville and Chicago here, but just to use Chicago as an example, most of our streets are on a grid, meaning that they are long and as a result, there are hundreds upon thousands of developments on each street.  To me, it would be kind of silly if each and every sizable structure had a special name.  Why does a non-resident of a building need to be able to 'tell it apart' in their heads from another building?  But regardless of need, is a series of numbers really more difficult to remember than a series of letters? 

[Hey_Hey]

I too agree that it isn't a huge deal either way, but I don't think it's only Nashville. It is happening in Chicago too. Aqua, River Point, Wolf Point, The Legacy, and the Elysian are all new construction with names that aren't their addresses. It seems like newer construction is more likely to have names as opposed to construction pre-2000, although there were notable Chicago buildings built in the 70s that also had names like Marina City and Harbor Point. It may have more to do with residential vs commercial space with residential buildings more likely to have catchy names as opposed to commercial buildings. That would also explain why Chicago has seen more of it recently since the bulk of the construction recently in Chicago has been residemtial. Marketing to potential tenants is much more important for residential as opposed to commercial. I would contend that walking by a sign and seeing an advertisement for Aqua is easier to remember than if it said 225 N Columbus.

[titanhog]

I guess it's not that important either way...but I know that I'll always remember the name of a building over the address.  I'm not opposed to something like 12th & Porter.  That makes way more sense than Twelve Twelve.

[BnaBreaker]

I too agree that it isn't a huge deal either way, but I don't think it's only Nashville. It is happening in Chicago too. Aqua, River Point, Wolf Point, The Legacy, and the Elysian are all new construction with names that aren't their addresses. It seems like newer construction is more likely to have names as opposed to construction pre-2000, although there were notable Chicago buildings built in the 70s that also had names like Marina City and Harbor Point. It may have more to do with residential vs commercial space with residential buildings more likely to have catchy names as opposed to commercial buildings. That would also explain why Chicago has seen more of it recently since the bulk of the construction recently in Chicago has been residemtial. Marketing to potential tenants is much more important for residential as opposed to commercial. I would contend that walking by a sign and seeing an advertisement for Aqua is easier to remember than if it said 225 N Columbus.

 

Yeah, that's a good point.  There are many more new projects in Chicago though that are simply going by their address, though.  Also, those projects named in Chicago are pretty major skyscraper projects.  Also, I don't have a problem with names that are references to the design (Aqua) or the location (Wolf Point).  But to name a building "Velocity", for example...I don't know, it just strikes me as weird.  What does that even mean?  What does that have to do with the building?    In any case, I guess this is sort of a silly issue to be debating.  haha