Rebuilding Second Avenue

[markhollin]

Ron Gobell, previous co-owner of GHP Environment + Architecture, is named project manager by Metro to oversee recovery of Second Avenue after the bombing.

Gobbell, who sold the architecture firm to his daughter in 2016, is a member of the Metro Planning and Historical commissions. He’s also known for shepherding the creation of the Nashville Sounds ballpark.

In addition to appointing a project manager, Metro also intends to form a citizens advisory group to gather public feedback as developers, business owners and historical preservationists look ahead. Anyone who wants to join should contact Tom Turner, CEO of the Nashville Downtown Partnership, a nonprofit focused on developing the area.

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2021/01/25/2nd-ave-project-manager.html?cx_testId=40&cx_testVariant=cx_34&cx_artPos=1#cxrecs_s

[markhollin]

Permits worth a collective $1.5 million have been issued for 150 and 154 2nd Ave. North (B.B. King's, Buffalo Billiards, Coyote Ugly, Dicks's Last Resort, Lyft offices, and The Quarters Condos) have been issued for Case Restoration to begin work.

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/construction/article/21145734/permit-patrol-1-february-2021

2nd Ave. business owners regain control of properties:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2021/02/01/metro-update-2nd-ave.html?cx_testId=40&cx_testVariant=cx_34&cx_artPos=1#cxrecs_s

[markhollin]

The Small Business Administration is offering low-interest disaster loans for businesses  damaged in the Christmas bombing:

https://wpln.org/post/disaster-loans-available-regionally-after-outages-caused-by-christmas-bombing/

[titanhog]

Ok…this is a bit of overkill…but this is kinda what I’m thinking would be a cool facade for the east view of the AT&T communication building that was damaged in the bomb.  Bricks and fake windows…something that fits in with the buildings along the river.

[nashvylle]

I would rather have an iconic mural. 

[Flatrock]

4 hours ago, nashvylle said:

I would rather have an iconic mural. 

You could do both. In truth, the painted facade suggestion by Titanhog  IS a mural. Not necessarily like those shown below, but maybe you could put some Nashville LIFE into the windows. 

[titanhog]

An interesting little mention in this Tennesseean article about the city wanting to possibly close down 1st Avenue parts of the day to allow pedestrians to meander around riverfront businesses (which there really aren’t many riverfront businesses now…correct?).  If this is true…then maybe this is the perfect opportunity for me to mention to them my idea of Paris-style cafes along the riverfront?  I photoshopped this image below a few years ago and shared it here…and my thoughts were that you could close down 1st during parts of the day and allow some of the businesses along 2nd Ave to have cafes in the back of their long buildings and create a new district along the river.

My question is who should I contact and send this photoshopped photo to?  Who will actually listen?  I know Butch Spyridon a little (we were in Leadership Music together in 2007)…but it’s been 10 years since I’ve talked to him…so he may barely remember me.

Here’s some of The Tennessean article:

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2021/02/12/divergent-visions-emerge-future-downtown-nashville/6723011002/

Metro Planning officials are working with the Civic Design Center to envision the long-term future.

They're talking about closing down 1st Avenue along the river for at least portions of the day to allow pedestrians to meander around businesses. 

Considerations also include connecting downtown's many alleys and bringing new business to the riverfront.

On the other side of the Cumberland River, construction is underway on a major redevelopment of old industrial sites into modern restaurants, stores, offices and homes. 

"We have to find middle ground that does the best job of preserving what we can and keeping the character and authenticity of the street," Spyridon said. "Everybody needs to win here."

Residents will be asked to weigh in on these ideas during a series of yet-to-be-announced visioning sessions with the Civic Design Center. 

Edited February 12, 2021 by titanhog

[smeagolsfree]

Here are the key take a way's IMO: The below statement revel the cracks in the plan. It may ne too expensive to do what Historic Nashville want to do & we may end up with nothing being rebuilt if some leeway is not given or there is some sort of TIF. 

But the high cost of rebuilding to historic standards increases the likelihood some of the wounded structures will be brought down to the ground, canceling historic protections.

"We have the legal power to compel the owner to repair these," Historic Nashville President Elizabeth Elkins said. "We're hoping the owner understands."

"For anybody to redevelop that, they've got to be able to make it profitable," Spyridon said. "I'm a huge fan of adaptive restoration, but it has to make sense to the person writing the checks. I would suspect the renovation of a couple of those buildings is cost-prohibitive."

 

[titanhog]

12 minutes ago, smeagolsfree said:

Here are the key take a way's IMO: The below statement revel the cracks in the plan. It may ne too expensive to do what Historic Nashville want to do & we may end up with nothing being rebuilt if some leeway is not given or there is some sort of TIF. 

But the high cost of rebuilding to historic standards increases the likelihood some of the wounded structures will be brought down to the ground, canceling historic protections.

"We have the legal power to compel the owner to repair these," Historic Nashville President Elizabeth Elkins said. "We're hoping the owner understands."

"For anybody to redevelop that, they've got to be able to make it profitable," Spyridon said. "I'm a huge fan of adaptive restoration, but it has to make sense to the person writing the checks. I would suspect the renovation of a couple of those buildings is cost-prohibitive."

 

Yes…if you allow an out-of-state investor who owns some of the properties to have the choice between a tear-down and rebuild ($) vs. save the structure and painstakingly put the pieces back together ($$$) they’re probably going to choose the former since it’s cheaper.  This is part of the reason I was saying from the beginning we should have had an immediate fundraiser started (similar to the funds that rolled in for Notre Dame in Paris) to help cover the costs above what insurance will pay.  I really doubt insurance is going to pay the full cost of rehabbing the buildings when tear-down and rebuild is way cheaper.

[smeagolsfree]

This is going to get really messy and unfortunate. I am afraid for the District.

[jmtunafish]

Is there no way to rebuild these structures from scratch and still make them "look" original?  Is it really that much more expensive?  I mean, so what if they don't look exactly like the structures they replace as long as they look like they could've been built 100 years ago?

[NashRugger]

If Three Thirty three in The Gulch is any indication, a brand new building can look like it's been there for a very long time. It's going to take a lot of work & it won't be easy, but I think it can be done right. 

[markhollin]

Butler's Run at 138 2nd Ave. has been granted a permit worth $740,000 for rebuilding from the bomb damage. City Construction LLC will do the work. 

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/construction/article/21146008/permit-patrol-15-february-2021

[Luvemtall]

On 2/12/2021 at 7:48 AM, smeagolsfree said:

This is going to get really messy and unfortunate. I am afraid for the District.

This is truly unfortunate. how messy and entangled in dispute it becomes, depends on if it moves forward with clear minds or broken and saddened hearts. Of course, we all have a sad broken heart. But IMO , we have to understand the business aspect of the property owners. We have to put ourselves into their shoes. This situation has been forced upon them, and as much as they might want to rebuild to pre December 25th , they also have to have it make financial sense. The historical aspect has been both broken and lost. Think for a minute, if the original portrait of the Mona Lisa gets damaged and they painstakingly restore it, it still no longer is the original. The historical aspect no longer exists, and the time and money to do so only benefits those who hold the memory of what it was. Therefore as much as it hurts, that the fact is probably unfolding to be that it might become financially impossible to restore these properties without a huge influx of city money. 

[titanhog]

25 minutes ago, Luvemtall said:

This is truly unfortunate. how messy and entangled in dispute it becomes, depends on if it moves forward with clear minds or broken and saddened hearts. Of course, we all have a sad broken heart. But IMO , we have to understand the business aspect of the property owners. We have to put ourselves into their shoes. This situation has been forced upon them, and as much as they might want to rebuild to pre December 25th , they also have to have it make financial sense. The historical aspect has been both broken and lost. Think for a minute, if the original portrait of the Mona Lisa gets damaged and they painstakingly restore it, it still no longer is the original. The historical aspect no longer exists, and the time and money to do so only benefits those who hold the memory of what it was. Therefore as much as it hurts, that the fact is probably unfolding to be that it might become financially impossible to restore these properties without a huge influx of city money. 

Part of the reason there should have immediately been a fundraiser after the bombing.  At that moment, corporations and citizens around the world would have donated to help rebuild.  We know insurance isn’t going to cover the all cost to do it the way it should be done.  They’re going to give you enough to build something cheap that looks kinda the same…but it would be nice to have the extra money to actually attempt to save as much as you can and do some of the painstaking work that needs to be done to save some of the buildings that can actually be saved.

[bnacincy]

4 hours ago, titanhog said:

Part of the reason there should have immediately been a fundraiser after the bombing.  At that moment, corporations and citizens around the world would have donated to help rebuild.  We know insurance isn’t going to cover the all cost to do it the way it should be done.  They’re going to give you enough to build something cheap that looks kinda the same…but it would be nice to have the extra money to actually attempt to save as much as you can and do some of the painstaking work that needs to be done to save some of the buildings that can actually be saved.

Maybe it's not too late for that to happen? Perhaps get the Chamber of Commerce involved and other entities. 

The UP community in Nashville might be able to take the lead on this if anyone had the right contacts to get it started.

As far as the AT&T Switching building is concerned, perhaps AT&T could build a much smaller, more secure building on 3rd Ave just behind the current building. Not a perfect solution but maybe it would be a viable alternative if it's too expensive to move the building out of Downtown.  It least it would get it off 2nd Ave.

[bnacincy]

On 2/12/2021 at 11:00 AM, NashRugger said:

If Three Thirty three in The Gulch is any indication, a brand new building can look like it's been there for a very long time. It's going to take a lot of work & it won't be easy, but I think it can be done right. 

I saw this in the Canal Ring in Amsterdam-it's very doable. 

[donNdonelson2]

Wildhorse Saloon was built in the mid-1990s and the facade blends well with historic structures that are adjacent. (Photo from the internet musiccitymike.net)

[Bos2Nash]

We’ve already discussed how re-construction can benefit the city. This was shared by a colleague over on LinkedIn who has been associated with the NCDC. Good thought process and diagrams that he’ll illustrate the possibilities. 
https://www.fablarchitecture.com/post/recovering-2nd-ave

[smeagolsfree]

3 minutes ago, Bos2Nash said:

We’ve already discussed how re-construction can benefit the city. This was shared by a colleague over on LinkedIn who has been associated with the NCDC. Good thought process and diagrams that he’ll illustrate the possibilities. 
https://www.fablarchitecture.com/post/recovering-2nd-ave

Thanks Craig, I just Tweeted this out too.

[donNdonelson2]

A night of wrestling with insomnia led me to dig a little deeper on the Wildhorse Saloon issue. Gaylord ruffled the feathers of preservationists with their decision to demolish two adjoining structures to make way for the touristy mega dance hall. One building was visually more impressive than the other, but apparently both were in really poor condition. The historic photos I found show that the brickwork detail from the nicer building provided inspiration for the design of the new facade. Although from the historic preservation standpoint the demo of the old buildings was considered criminal, the result was a look more consistent with that of the rest of The District. I hope that whatever emerges on the upper end of the street is similarly satisfactory.
As a side note, I worked at Opryland back in the time that Wildhorse was being planned. As I recall, the original site being eyed for the project was an old machine shop building at Third and Commerce, which was ultimately demolished for the construction of the building home to Baker Donelson.

(photos from state archives and Google street view)

[markhollin]

A "2ndAveStrong" fund has been created by The District Inc. and Metro Historical Commission Foudnation to help raise money/awareness concerning damage from the Christmas Day bombing. 

The goal is to ensure that as much original building material is reused as possible rather than being sent to a landfill. The District has hired Robbie Jones of New South Associates to oversee the sorting and the cataloging of salvageable materials. Alley Cassetty Brick has volunteered to evaluate the bricks and Metro General Services is donating space for storage.

Check out their Facebook page here:

https://www.facebook.com/2ndavestrong/


More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/article/21146073/of-note-17-february-2021

[markhollin]

Wildhorse Saloon will host a benefit concert to support 2nd Avenue's Restoration and Preservation Fund on March 26th that will also be broadcast live on NewsChannel 5. 

The concert will feature Old Dominion, Ashley McBryde, Lee Brice, and Scotty McCreery; the event will also take a look at the role Second Avenue has played in Nashville’s history. Mayor Cooper and Governor Lee are expected to make appearances.

The organization’s goal is to raise $2 million toward the $10 million overall goal for restoring the area. Along with the live broadcast from the Wildhorse Saloon, Grand Ole Opry and Metro Historical Commission Foundation will also share links to the livestream on their websites and social media channels.

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2021/02/26/wildhorse-saloon-second-avenue-relief-concert.html?cx_testId=40&cx_testVariant=cx_34&cx_artPos=4#cxrecs_s

[markhollin]

Ron Gobbell oversees recovery of 2nd Ave.

More at The Tennessean here:

https://www.tennessean.com/story/money/2021/03/09/ron-gobbell-oversees-second-avenue-recovery-after-bomb-devastation/4496218001/

Photos courtesy of Stephanie Amador at The Tennessean:

[Armacing]

On 2/12/2021 at 7:26 AM, smeagolsfree said:

"We have the legal power to compel the owner to repair these," Historic Nashville President Elizabeth Elkins said. "We're hoping the owner understands."

<Palpatine Voice> I think you'll find it is you, young Elkins, who are mistaken about a great many things! </Palpatine Voice>