Amazon: The Thread | 5,000 Jobs | 1M SQFT in Nashville Yards

[smeagolsfree]

The foundation was going to be dug anyway for the garage for the large building and it would have covered the entire footprint according to what I could make out from the original renderings.

 

[Hey_Hey]

I am torn by this. I would have loved to have a another tower in the 600-700 ft range, but I also love the fact that we now have two relative tall buildings adjacent to each other that will activate the street better than a single tall boy. 700 footers look good from a distance but they don't change the pedestrian's experience at all.   I would also think there is going to be a healthy amount of foot traffic between the buildings.  That, in and of itself, will make this part of downtown feel very vibrant. 

 

[Mr_Bond]

3 hours ago, nashvylle said:

Most cities (Dallas, Houston, Atlanta) do the opposite. They have very tall pretty towers, but surrounded by huge surface lots. Now they are playing catch up and trying to make their downtown more walkable. 

Our downtown tourist crowd and MCC convention goers have given us a more walkable, safer downtown, even while the number of downtown residents are few and locals avoid downtown except for concerts.  Now, Amazon, the Yards, 5+B, and The Gulch are creating a vision of a downtown where you can truly "live, work and play" (Nashville Downtown Partnership's slogan).  The "live" part is becoming real.

[donNdonelson2]

I don’t know about safer...we had not had a murder in the CBD for decades until the tourist was gunned down near the Omni a couple of years ago (at least that’s my recollection). I felt much more comfortable walking late nights in the 1990s than nowadays.

[KJHburg]

I really thought they would go higher with the initial building and this could give you the tenant that would give you the new tallest or almost tallest.  Are both towers going to be built at the same time or one right after the other?   Amazon has or is building a lot of buildings in the 30-35 story range in Seattle around 500 or so feet tall.  With projections of 1M sq ft needed surprised they did not do an initially larger building.  Our major utility in Charlotte Duke Energy just announced today a 1 M sq ft tower of 39 stories to consolidate their office employees into one location.   Should be in the 600-700 foot range.   If Amazon expects to attract additional businesses I wonder why the developer would not want to do a larger taller building to attract some of those supporting businesses.  

It is true that a taller building is more expensive to build after 20-25 floors but it makes it easier to have most employees in one building. 

[titanhog]

30 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

I really thought they would go higher with the initial building and this could give you the tenant that would give you the new tallest or almost tallest.  Are both towers going to be built at the same time or one right after the other?   Amazon has or is building a lot of buildings in the 30-35 story range in Seattle around 500 or so feet tall.  With projections of 1M sq ft needed surprised they did not do an initially larger building.  Our major utility in Charlotte Duke Energy just announced today a 1 M sq ft tower of 39 stories to consolidate their office employees into one location.   Should be in the 600-700 foot range.   If Amazon expects to attract additional businesses I wonder why the developer would not want to do a larger taller building to attract some of those supporting businesses.  

It is true that a taller building is more expensive to build after 20-25 floors but it makes it easier to have most employees in one building. 

I was actually surprised, too.  I figured they would want a tall structure with the word "Amazon" sitting high and proud.

[smeagolsfree]

9 hours ago, KJHburg said:

I really thought they would go higher with the initial building and this could give you the tenant that would give you the new tallest or almost tallest.  Are both towers going to be built at the same time or one right after the other?   Amazon has or is building a lot of buildings in the 30-35 story range in Seattle around 500 or so feet tall.  With projections of 1M sq ft needed surprised they did not do an initially larger building.  Our major utility in Charlotte Duke Energy just announced today a 1 M sq ft tower of 39 stories to consolidate their office employees into one location.   Should be in the 600-700 foot range.   If Amazon expects to attract additional businesses I wonder why the developer would not want to do a larger taller building to attract some of those supporting businesses.  

It is true that a taller building is more expensive to build after 20-25 floors but it makes it easier to have most employees in one building. 

This has happened before when Bridgestone built their HQ here. The original building was to have been about 40 stories then they decided the current version would be the one they needed and then they found out the needed more space....mmmmm ten more floors. I guess the powers that be in this city convince them in some way shorter and two is better than taller and one.

This has happened several times and thus out frustration with getting a tall boy here. 

 

I think the buildings are going to be built at different times as there seems to be a phase I and II now. After being here and seeing all that is going on, you can see why we are frustrated about getting a new tallest here. We get announcement after announcement and all these companies seem to want to do is go with the status quo and be afraid to do a statement piece and say we are here now or they go to the suburbs and build a sprawling campus on farmland in the middle of nowhere.

 

[samsonh]

1 hour ago, smeagolsfree said:

This has happened before when Bridgestone built their HQ here. The original building was to have been about 40 stories then they decided the current version would be the one they needed and then they found out the needed more space....mmmmm ten more floors. I guess the powers that be in this city convince them in some way shorter and two is better than taller and one.

This has happened several times and thus out frustration with getting a tall boy here. 

 

I think the buildings are going to be built at different times as there seems to be a phase I and II now. After being here and seeing all that is going on, you can see why we are frustrated about getting a new tallest here. We get announcement after announcement and all these companies seem to want to do is go with the status quo and be afraid to do a statement piece and say we are here now or they go to the suburbs and build a sprawling campus on farmland in the middle of nowhere.

 

Or bridgestone realized that having back office IT support is cheaper in antioch than adding ten floors and a new elevator bank to a building. These are businesses and don’t really care about adding 5 or ten floors to a building. And it would be much better to  be a little space constrained than having vacant space in your namesake building.

[Vrtigo]

2 hours ago, smeagolsfree said:

I think the buildings are going to be built at different times as there seems to be a phase I and II now.

This is a very good point. The renderings clearly indicate two phases to these buildings.

I'm no fortune teller, but it's very possible that plans could change by the time the second phase begins. Unlike with Bridgestone, who realized they needed more space only after it was too late to do anything about it, Amazon can kick-start their presence here with the first structure and then make more educated plans down the road about their needs for the second.

[KJHburg]

In terms of your Bridgestone example keeping IT in the suburbs is probably cheaper but it boxes Bridgestone in if their business takes off or they expand by acquiring another company.  In Charlotte the big banks always build bigger building than they need to and fill the other space with other tenants.  What has happened here of late is that Bank of America is pushing tenants out of its main building to take over the space themselves and Wells has done the same. 

And yes since Amazon is a consumer company you would have thought they would have wanted a taller building with their logo on top for all the skyline shots of the city.  

[Hey_Hey]

I just think the marginal costs of anything over 30-35 floors in Nashville don't make sense. Statement pieces built because of ego are rarely built at this point (Devon Tower is a good example) because the same square footage could be developed and occupied for less money. It would likely take a private company awash in cash with an ego-driven owner to build a true statement piece.  Publicly traded companies have a legal responsibility to use shareholder cash in the most efficient manner possible, and as a shareholder in a company I wouldn't be very happy if they took some of that money and spent it to satisfy someone's ego. 

IMO, residential is still the most likely target as our new tallest because people are willing to higher prices for higher floors.  The marginal costs increase as the number of floors increase but so does the marginal revenue.  This is true even in a really expensive office market like NYC.  The tallest buildings being built in Manhattan now are all residential, not office.

Edited December 8, 2018 by Hey_Hey

[OnePointEast]

29 minutes ago, Hey_Hey said:

I just think the marginal costs of anything over 30-35 floors in Nashville don't make sense. Statement This is true even in a really expensive office market like NYC.  The tallest buildings being built in Manhattan now are all residential, not office.

Is the Central Park Tower a residential? I thought all along that it would be office. 

[Hey_Hey]

26 minutes ago, OnePointEast said:

Is the Central Park Tower a residential? I thought all along that it would be office. 

It's primarily residential with prices starting above $1 million.  There is some commercial space available as well, although I don't know how much.

[dReAmWiELdEr]

This is a very good point. The renderings clearly indicate two phases to these buildings.

I'm no fortune teller, but it's very possible that plans could change by the time the second phase begins. Unlike with Bridgestone, who realized they needed more space only after it was too late to do anything about it, Amazon can kick-start their presence here with the first structure and then make more educated plans down the road about their needs for the second.

Yes, I too was thinking something along these lines. I figured that by the time they got to the second phase, they would need more space and thusly build a taller tower for the second one. I think this may also allow for smarter planning with regards to hiring the initial employee base then ramping up the effort later as needs progress.

[satalac]

11 hours ago, KJHburg said:

In terms of your Bridgestone example keeping IT in the suburbs is probably cheaper but it boxes Bridgestone in if their business takes off or they expand by acquiring another company.  In Charlotte the big banks always build bigger building than they need to and fill the other space with other tenants.  What has happened here of late is that Bank of America is pushing tenants out of its main building to take over the space themselves and Wells has done the same. 

And yes since Amazon is a consumer company you would have thought they would have wanted a taller building with their logo on top for all the skyline shots of the city.  

The banks also do their own financing, so it makes it a bit easier to build more.

[MidTenn1]

Atlanta recently landed the Norfolk Southern Railroad HQ relocation and was expecting a large tower. However, they just learned there will be two 22 story buildings instead housing the company.  

[Dale]

10 hours ago, PHofKS said:

Atlanta recently landed the Norfolk Southern Railroad HQ relocation and was expecting a large tower. However, they just learned there will be two 22 story buildings instead housing the company.  

For some reason Atlanta has gone stubby this cycle. 

[Tennessine]

23 minutes ago, Dale said:

For some reason Atlanta has gone stubby this cycle. 

What do you mean by that? Is their growth slowing?

[Dale]

1 hour ago, nativetenn said:

What do you mean by that? Is their growth slowing?

Not at all - and infill is impressive - it’s just stubbornly 300 feet or so range. By contrast, here in smaller Charlotte, we’re getting plenty of infill, but also high rises up to 700 feet or so.

[Tennessine]

2 hours ago, Dale said:

Not at all - and infill is impressive - it’s just stubbornly 300 feet or so range. By contrast, here in smaller Charlotte, we’re getting plenty of infill, but also high rises up to 700 feet or so.

Gotcha- you mean stubby in terms of height

[Dale]

12 minutes ago, nativetenn said:

Gotcha- you mean stubby in terms of height

Correct.

[U_R_]

On 10/18/2017 at 11:14 PM, Martinman said:

This pic is a lilttle old. But everyone in Atlanta is upset because Midtown is staring to plateau with a ton of 20-30 story towers, but nothing taller. We have a few projects in the line that are going to break this plateau, but it won't be for a little bit.. This is why everyone is a little annoyed because we thought the NS tower could be on of those, but alas it isn't going to be. 

Edited December 9, 2018 by Ric0_0

[BnaBreaker]

Midtown Atlanta needs density far more than it needs height.  

[Dale]

14 minutes ago, BnaBreaker said:

Midtown Atlanta needs density far more than it needs height.  

Don’t see why you can’t have both. For example, the just announced (likely) 700-footer, for Charlotte, is going to swallow up a two acre surface parking lot in the CBD.

[Tennessine]

14 minutes ago, Dale said:

Don’t see why you can’t have both. For example, the just announced (likely) 700-footer, for Charlotte, is going to swallow up a two acre surface parking lot in the CBD.

Charlotte knows how to execute the whole height and density thing.