Station East (1,400 residential units, 600 hotel rooms, 1.2 million sq. ft. office, 225,000 sq. ft. retail; numerous 15-30 story towers on 18 acres)

[smeagolsfree]

TA will be closing the truck stop as the State has been notified of layoffs and closure of the facility effective March 31st.

 

[markhollin]

TravelCenters of America truck stop is now completely closed and evacuated.

Looking east from North 1st St., 1/2 block north of Main St:

Looking north from Main St., 1/2 block east of North 1st St:

Looking west from intersection of North 2nd St. and Howerton Ave:

[WebberThomas4]

The owners of the lot applied for a demo permit today for the old truck stop.

[smeagolsfree]

The demo will take a while as there is a lot of asbestos removal to take place according to the permit. The top dogs of RMR will be in town this week as well!!!!

I set WW the permit yesterday when I saw it. Glad to see it moving forward. I do not think the office components will break ground anytime soon though. My guess is we will see a hotel and a residential/mixed use building or two in the first phase.

[smeagolsfree]

BTW, I think they have revamped the website here with a new video. It may be new. I have seen so many videos and renderings now that they all sort of look the same now.

Station East Nashville

[nashville born]

This picture adds great perspective on what this project could mean (photo courtesy of Fox17.com).

[Sean blackdog]

Sunday evening. 
All gone. 

[nashville born]

1 hour ago, Sean blackdog said:

Sunday evening. 
All gone. 

I'm confused.  Where is this? 

[FluffyP13]

1 hour ago, nashville born said:

I'm confused.  Where is this? 

See two posts above 

[smeagolsfree]

The demo permits were pulled about two months ago for the TA site. They had to do the environmental abatement work first.

[nashville born]

20 hours ago, FluffyP13 said:

See two posts above 

What's confusing me is the two hotel looking structures in the photos.  I'm looking at the T/A site on Google Maps and don't see those structures so it made me question what I was seeing.  Maybe I'm just missing them or need to change my vantage point.

Update:  Got it.  Old image shows red brick looking surface and updated photos show white from rehab work.  Sorry.

Edited June 21, 2023 by nashville born

[markhollin]

Jesse Abair, VP of Development at RMR Group, does an in depth interview regarding their plans for connectivity at Station East:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2023/06/30/rmr-group-transit.html

[markhollin]

Station East is on hold indefinitely until Metro finalizes its transit infrastructure plans for the nieghborhood. 

“We need to know how they're getting funded, where they’re going and when they’re going there. If we can do that, we can take our project out to the market. It's hard for us to do anything until then,” says Jesse Abair, VP of Development for The RMR Group. 

The RMR Group has been working with Metro over the last six months to identify the East Bank’s infrastructure needs, but the question has now become how the city pays for it.

“We're essentially partners on this in the sense that the city needs to see the development play out the way everybody plans on doing it. That's how they're gonna get the tax revenue to to repay the stadium bill. … They have been listening to us in terms of what we perceive our needs to be, and they have been incorporating those needs in the infrastructure,” Abair said.

The biggest issue facing the developer is James Robertson Parkway which creates a large barrier at the southern end of the Station East site.

“That has to come down. Knock down the elevated highway and turn it into basically an urban boulevard. We can't build something next to this massive piece of infrastructure,” Abair said.

He says the team hopes to break ground in 2025, but it would take a “mad dash” over the next year to achieve that goal.

“The reality is we're frightened because we're a little bit away from putting a shovel in the ground, and we don't have a defined project yet that we could take to investors,” Abair said.

The developer has a “no man is an island” outlook on East Bank development. Numerous adjacent projects are being designed and planned simultaneously which lends to the complexity at-hand for infrastructure planning.

“The city wants to see all this development. We want to see the development. There's a lot of big stakeholders over there doing big things with differing interests. In a very real sense, our futures are tied together,” Abair said.

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2023/12/11/east-bank-infrastructure-station-east-rmr-group.html

[Luvemtall]

This is understandable, a master plan needs to be made with all parties involved. Makes no sense to go rogue and start something that likely will not work out in the end. Metro created this, now the ball is in their court and it better be a 3 point play! 

And before any one comes out with the adult in the room crap, this has nothing to do with the freaking economy!

[TNinVB]

1 hour ago, Luvemtall said:

This is understandable, a master plan needs to be made with all parties involved. Makes no sense to go rogue and start something that likely will not work out in the end. Metro created this, now the ball is in their court and it better be a 3 point play! 

And before any one comes out with the adult in the room crap, this has nothing to do with the freaking economy!

I’m curious how JRP can be redone. Doesn’t it have to be elevated due to the bridge crossing the river?

[Luvemtall]

20 minutes ago, TNinVB said:

I’m curious how JRP can be redone. Doesn’t it have to be elevated due to the bridge crossing the river?

That’s a question that our friend MidTenn 1 might have the answer for you. I’m no engineer and been thinking the same thing. 

[UTgrad09]

4 hours ago, TNinVB said:

I’m curious how JRP can be redone. Doesn’t it have to be elevated due to the bridge crossing the river?

Make it like Woodland St. It doesn't need a quarter mile of viaduct as it approaches the river.

[Bos2Nash]

18 hours ago, markhollin said:

Station East is on hold indefinitely until Metro finalizes its transit infrastructure plans for the nieghborhood. 

“We need to know how they're getting funded, where they’re going and when they’re going there. If we can do that, we can take our project out to the market. It's hard for us to do anything until then,” says Jesse Abair, VP of Development for The RMR Group. 

The RMR Group has been working with Metro over the last six months to identify the East Bank’s infrastructure needs, but the question has now become how the city pays for it.

“We're essentially partners on this in the sense that the city needs to see the development play out the way everybody plans on doing it. That's how they're gonna get the tax revenue to to repay the stadium bill. … They have been listening to us in terms of what we perceive our needs to be, and they have been incorporating those needs in the infrastructure,” Abair said.

The biggest issue facing the developer is James Robertson Parkway which creates a large barrier at the southern end of the Station East site.

“That has to come down. Knock down the elevated highway and turn it into basically an urban boulevard. We can't build something next to this massive piece of infrastructure,” Abair said.

He says the team hopes to break ground in 2025, but it would take a “mad dash” over the next year to achieve that goal.

“The reality is we're frightened because we're a little bit away from putting a shovel in the ground, and we don't have a defined project yet that we could take to investors,” Abair said.

The developer has a “no man is an island” outlook on East Bank development. Numerous adjacent projects are being designed and planned simultaneously which lends to the complexity at-hand for infrastructure planning.

“The city wants to see all this development. We want to see the development. There's a lot of big stakeholders over there doing big things with differing interests. In a very real sense, our futures are tied together,” Abair said.

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2023/12/11/east-bank-infrastructure-station-east-rmr-group.html

I'm very glad to hear that RMR is playing ball and not just steamrolling ahead with their project. To a certain extent they can't because the infrastructure really isn't there for residential and/or mixed-use. This is also a relatively smart financial move, because even though they are waiting on building anything tare playing up the fact that Metro is looking to bring the infrastructure for such developments to their front door. This development will also benefit from the overall East Bank redevelopment so from an operations/lease up stand point it is smart to stand pat I would think. 

15 hours ago, TNinVB said:

I’m curious how JRP can be redone. Doesn’t it have to be elevated due to the bridge crossing the river?

There was already an RFP issued and awarded for the re-design of JRP to ground it. I think I saw a graphic somewhere (maybe in the Nashville Scene) that says the river span would remain while grounding the approach. Not really sure how that would work out unless we ended up with a decently steep grade between 1st and the river.

Here is the graphic that was posted over in the East Bank thread. I have been saying for years that JRP needs to be rebuilt, and then when the EB plan came out this would be crucial for the success of the EB.

Looking more closely, Woodland and JRP are pretty close in slope, so the approach to the JRP bridge may just be a similar slope to the Woodland approach.

[smeagolsfree]

The entirety of the East Bank infrastructure plan is one biq question mark. I don't think Metro still know how it is going to be done after all of the studies that have been done. CSX is still a huge question that has to be answered and it still lingering, and the State as always will drag their feet. 

If goes without saying that infrastructure is something that is not done overnight or even in five years and the plan was ambitious to start with. Funding was not in place and without funding a timeline is out of the question.

Needless to say, Freddie inherited a mess. But he was part of the family at least and knew what was going on.

[smeagolsfree]

3 minutes ago, Bos2Nash said:

I'm very glad to hear that RMR is playing ball and not just steamrolling ahead with their project. To a certain extent they can't because the infrastructure really isn't there for residential and/or mixed-use. This is also a relatively smart financial move, because even though they are waiting on building anything tare playing up the fact that Metro is looking to bring the infrastructure for such developments to their front door. This development will also benefit from the overall East Bank redevelopment so from an operations/lease up stand point it is smart to stand pat I would think. 

There was already an RFP issued and awarded for the re-design of JRP to ground it. I think I saw a graphic somewhere (maybe in the Nashville Scene) that says the river span would remain while grounding the approach. Not really sure how that would work out unless we ended up with a decently steep grade between 1st and the river.

Here is the graphic that was posted over in the East Bank thread. I have been saying for years that JRP needs to be rebuilt, and then when the EB plan came out this would be crucial for the success of the EB.

Looking more closely, Woodland and JRP are pretty close in slope, so the approach to the JRP bridge may just be a similar slope to the Woodland approach.

Again, goes to the point that they do not know how it will be done. Just a study at this point in time. How long does design work take, then construction?  Are we then looking at an entire bridge redesign? 

What about the other side of the coin with CSX and will that be included with the funding pack? Also has any of the design for infrastructure work been voted on?

[Bos2Nash]

17 minutes ago, smeagolsfree said:

The entirety of the East Bank infrastructure plan is one biq question mark. I don't think Metro still know how it is going to be done after all of the studies that have been done. CSX is still a huge question that has to be answered and it still lingering, and the State as always will drag their feet. 

If goes without saying that infrastructure is something that is not done overnight or even in five years and the plan was ambitious to start with. Funding was not in place and without funding a timeline is out of the question.

Needless to say, Freddie inherited a mess. But he was part of the family at least and knew what was going on.

It is a question mark, but a solvable one. I really don't understand the "mess" comment, because in reality it is a long range plan that was always going to take multiple years to work through. While governments do love their studies, the information to spend public dollars needs to be very plentiful, if nothing else to bury the typical resident in so much info they don't know what to say anymore.

7 minutes ago, smeagolsfree said:

Again, goes to the point that they do not know how it will be done. Just a study at this point in time. How long does design work take, then construction?  Are we then looking at an entire bridge redesign? 

What about the other side of the coin with CSX and will that be included with the funding pack? Also has any of the design for infrastructure work been voted on?

Similar to the Transit Referendum, they didn't really know how the trains would run (those routes were never really going to work), but they were trying to pass the dedicated funding to further those designs. The Vision Plan is the Master Plan for the East Bank that needed to be passed prior to any funding being put in place. That process is now ongoing and takes time. Bringing it back to the RMR interview "we're a little bit away from putting a shovel in the ground, and we don't have a defined project yet that we could take to investors". If we didn't have the Vision Plan, we wouldn't even be able to have the conversation about the funding. It isn't a mess, it is a long range plan that is going to take time to work through. The difference between the Transit Referendum and the EB Vision Plan is you don't pass a master plan for a transit system first and then get funding, you go in one shot. Land development breaks those two elements up into different phases. 

I don't believe we are looking at an entire bridge re-design. Please re-read the last part of my post that speaks to the idea of the JRP river crossing staying in place and the approach being re-engineered for an at-grade solution. I believe that is very plausible. My presumption is CSX is not going to re-route their trains around downtown (although I would be curious about the status of the feasibility study for that). That would either require a rebuild of the approach & bridge or digging the boulevard under the CSX tracks. To me the only plausible solution would be the latter, if nothing else due to cost. Digging down to accommodate the Boulevard's ROW may very well still require a new train bridge over the Boulevard, but that is an opportunity to have something very unique on the EB. We failed to have a design competition for the Broadway Viaduct, but I think if we opened that specific train bridge up to a design competition (international could really bring in some great ideas) we could really elevate a piece of an otherwise intrusive element to the EB.

[nashville born]

Hopeful that a master infrastructure plan can be accelerated.  That might allow RMR to solidify its plans and even begin construction on the northern portions of the tract.  That would allow time for any Robertson changes to be completed in conjunction with the southern parts of Station East.  Uneducated thought!

[Luvemtall]

I’m thinking the same!

[Bos2Nash]

Another reason it is smart for RMR to stand pat and wait on the JRP re-design is they will be able to work with Metro on additional buildable land. Looking at the site plan from the May 2021 SP documents, the inclusion of Main Street would go away and the RMR property would be fronting JRP. This adds a bit to the complexities (if the infrastructure didn't add enough) as that land is owned by Metro and the ROW would need to be abandoned and RMR would presumably need to purchase. That purchase could be monetary (doubtful) or it could work essentially as a land swap to incorporate the Boulevard ROW  and possibly some infrastructure payments (who really, just spit-balling). If I was RMR, I would not want to start this project until the JRP project has started.

Nashville wants this development to slow down in order to capture a JRP re-design. It is better for the city for this development to work with Metro (as they have apparently been doing) and work through the complexities that exist with the site and with the East Bank as a whole.

[Luvemtall]

Does anyone know exactly why that monstrosity ( JRP) was built like that, when Woodland wasn’t? Seems like it might not be to terrible a fix , as many are suggesting to just tear it down and approach the span similar to what Woodland does. MidTenn , can you give us some insight into this?