Signature Tower

[skybolt900]

Monsoon is right on, there is no reason for Tony to build this tower! He tried to build another 1000+ foot tower here for HCA, it failed. 850+ feet is not much different. I can think of only one world city off hand that will build a 60 story building in 2010, and that may be Dubai...maybe.

If Tony were smart, he would build what he wanted to do 20 years ago and build the 10 story parking garage and retail center with a 150 foot clock tower on the same lot right after he tore down the Castner Knott building that had been there for almost 100 years. Tony is good about tearing down historical structures as is Alex Palmer and not building anything to replace them. That is Nashville's history...tear it down and HOPE to eventually build something. I know Tony, he is a class act and a fine gentleman, but he is a dreamer. The Viridian, Cumberland, and Encore were done with Novare's help. He has not done anything of any large scale on his own yet, but he is a great salesman. But he has his limits.

Alex Palmer did exclusively 3 story style suburban office buildings, and yet he wanted to do a 25 story 400+ foot twin tower development called West End Summit? His 18 story Palmer Plaza took 20 years to get leased.

Face it Nashville built environment freaks, Nashville is a small city. We are built out. Kudo's to Monsoon who has the where with all to try to keep us grounded. Most projects like these outside of NYC, Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, San Fransisco do not get built. There is no need for them.

When Tony embarks on a building that is actually needed, it will get built.

[Memphis4ever]

Monsoon is right on, there is no reason for Tony to build this tower! He tried to build another 1000+ foot tower here for HCA, it failed. 850+ feet is not much different. I can think of only one world city off hand that will build a 60 story building in 2010, and that may be Dubai...maybe.

If Tony were smart, he would build what he wanted to do 20 years ago and build the 10 story parking garage and retail center with a 150 foot clock tower on the same lot right after he tore down the Castner Knott building that had been there for almost 100 years. Tony is good about tearing down historical structures as is Alex Palmer and not building anything to replace them. That is Nashville's history...tear it down and HOPE to eventually build something. I know Tony, he is a class act and a fine gentleman, but he is a dreamer. The Viridian, Cumberland, and Encore were done with Novare's help. He has not done anything of any large scale on his own yet, but he is a great salesman. But he has his limits.

Alex Palmer did exclusively 3 story style suburban office buildings, and yet he wanted to do a 25 story 400+ foot twin tower development called West End Summit? His 18 story Palmer Plaza took 20 years to get leased.

Face it Nashville built environment freaks, Nashville is a small city. We are built out. Kudo's to Monsoon who has the where with all to try to keep us grounded. Most projects like these outside of NYC, Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, San Fransisco do not get built. There is no need for them.

Whe Tony embarks on a building that is actually needed, it will get built.

Nashville is not necessarily a small city they have just built to many high rise condos at one time. The market is over saturated and if they stopped now it would probably take about 2 years for those buildings to fill up. I think they should put more money into making the streets in downtown pedestrian friendly with more storefronts and bars and things that make people want to live downtown first. Right now there are lots of office buildings and that gets a little sterile when your trying to get people to live downtown. There needs to be an emphasis on atmoshpere. As far as signature tower I dont think people in tennessee are quite ready to live 1000 feet in the air, especially when nothing else is remotely that tall. I think a descent mixed use hotel, apartment, office, condo building about 650ft tall would be feasible in Nashville right now. Office is doing well and rental units are a little cheaper and provide a more affordable alternative to the condos and with little credit hassles.

[nashvylle]

skybolt- I will be the first to serve you smoked crow.

[donNdonelson]

The building that stood at the corner of Church Street and Fifth Ave. was home of the Cain-Sloan Department Store and was not a historic structure. The historic Castner-Knott building still stands at the corner of Church Street and Capital Ave. and is fully renovated and home to Morton's Steak House and office space.

Monsoon is right on, there is no reason for Tony to build this tower! He tried to build another 1000+ foot tower here for HCA, it failed. 850+ feet is not much different. I can think of only one world city off hand that will build a 60 story building in 2010, and that may be Dubai...maybe.

If Tony were smart, he would build what he wanted to do 20 years ago and build the 10 story parking garage and retail center with a 150 foot clock tower on the same lot right after he tore down the Castner Knott building that had been there for almost 100 years. Tony is good about tearing down historical structures as is Alex Palmer and not building anything to replace them. That is Nashville's history...tear it down and HOPE to eventually build something. I know Tony, he is a class act and a fine gentleman, but he is a dreamer. The Viridian, Cumberland, and Encore were done with Novare's help. He has not done anything of any large scale on his own yet, but he is a great salesman. But he has his limits.

Alex Palmer did exclusively 3 story style suburban office buildings, and yet he wanted to do a 25 story 400+ foot twin tower development called West End Summit? His 18 story Palmer Plaza took 20 years to get leased.

Face it Nashville built environment freaks, Nashville is a small city. We are built out. Kudo's to Monsoon who has the where with all to try to keep us grounded. Most projects like these outside of NYC, Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, San Fransisco do not get built. There is no need for them.

When Tony embarks on a building that is actually needed, it will get built.

[nashvylle]

Thank you donNdonelson.

I love short buildings as well as skyscrapers, but people just because a building is old and short, does not automatically make it historic!!!

TG is not trying to tear down all the historic buildings on Broadway for his towers! This is 5th and Church, the place is screaming for a skyscraper!! I would love another clock tower, but not there. We need a blend of skyscrapers, shorties, high and low rises to add variety to our city; Not all of one thing. 5th and Church deserves a skyscraper.

[producer2]

AND, out of 700+ units in the Nashville market, Novare has less than 40 left on the market. Whatever is going on in other cities, Nashville is not a problem for them. Encore sold 14 units in the last 40 days or so and although they have lowered pricing to early pre-construction levels until the end of the year the program has obviously worked. Mortgage rates are down again and hopefully lenders will again loan money. Pricing is always going to be more expensive than in the burbs. And so it goes....

[15895]

I have been following Signature Tower for some time. I was just curious to see if this thing was still planned to be constructed at some timely manner so I looked on wikipedia (not a reliable source, I know) and it said Signature would be half it's height and still has not solid timetable at the moment. Are there any updates or status as to what may become of this project?

[Nashville_maestro]

I don't blame you for not wanting to read through 145 pages of people saying "It will break ground on xx/xx/xxxx!" to no result.

Basically the story was that Giarratanna didn't get enough pre-sales back before the housing bubble burst and so the banks didn't give him a loan to start construction. Last I heard, he was redesigning the tower and working on luring some corporate interests into leasing a bunch of office space in it. Even with that, I doubt any bank is going to give out a monstrous loan to start construction on this thing until the economy is thriving again. It's basically dead for the foreseeable future as far as I know.

[dmillsphoto]

I don't blame you for not wanting to read through 145 pages of people saying "It will break ground on xx/xx/xxxx!" to no result.

Basically the story was that Giarratanna didn't get enough pre-sales back before the housing bubble burst and so the banks didn't give him a loan to start construction. Last I heard, he was redesigning the tower and working on luring some corporate interests into leasing a bunch of office space in it. Even with that, I doubt any bank is going to give out a monstrous loan to start construction on this thing until the economy is thriving again. It's basically dead for the foreseeable future as far as I know.

I agree with the assumption that it is dead for the foreseeable future. In logic of thought, it will not be a possibility for another two years given that we have to work our way through the toxic securities and assets that banks are currently holding before anything new, short of the Lionstone development (which has equipment on site) and MCC/Hotel, can even be considered to rise. Especially when the condo market in downtown has ground to a screeching halt.

[nashvylle]

I don't know where the rumor began that the redesigned tower was going to be half the original height, maybe it's true, but I watched a video with Tony Giarratana himself stating that the new tower would be just "a little bit shorter, but with the same great architecture".

Either way, the timing of Signature Tower was just off. If TG had started construction a year earlier, we'd be seeing it almost complete now. He did get an extension on the loan for the parking lot at 5th and Church, so when the economy turns around, so will this project.

[15895]

Thanks for the reply guys. It's a real shame it couldn't be built, but Nashville is still a very beautiful city with a bright future.

[monsoon]

.....

Either way, the timing of Signature Tower was just off. If TG had started construction a year earlier, we'd be seeing it almost complete now. ....

Or another possibility is that you would have a 1/2 finished tower that is abandoned now.

[nashvylle]

Or another possibility is that you would have a 1/2 finished tower that is abandoned now.

Very true. I just still have no clue how The Vue in Charlotte is getting built right now.

[Nashville_maestro]

Does anyone else find it odd that the website is still up and running? Doesn't look like it's been updated though.

Signature Tower Website

[smeagolsfree]

I have to admire Tony for not giving up. Here is part of an article in the NBJ about the new revised Signature tower plan.

http://nashville.bizjournals.com/nashville.../04/story1.html

If he can pull off a 807' tower, in this economic turmoil, then he will be a miracle worker.

Sorry I dont have a lot of time to spend here now. Working 70 plus hours a week going on 8 months now.

[franktown]

No balconies? Seriously? I'm sorry, this building is turning into a joke

[nashvylle]

No balconies? Seriously? I'm sorry, this building is turning into a joke

Getting financing for an 807 tower in this current economy might be a joke, but please, an 800Ft. tower and Nashville's (and Tennessee's) new tallest building would not be a joke at all. If it's built, I hardly expect people to say it's bad because there aren't any balconies. If that's what it takes to get 5th and Church built, I'll take it. I just really want a nice Spire.

[theplanetsaved]

No balconies? Seriously? I'm sorry, this building is turning into a joke

About the balconies. They were only say about 5 feet by 10 feet and had a glass railing wall. Only a few people would go out on such a small balcony with a glass railing wall on the 30th or say the 45th floor anyway. Most people would be to scared to walk out on a balcony that high. This way that balcony space can be added to the interior and with the omission of the balconies the elevation will look better. Balconies make a lot more sense on low rise buildings where they can be large enough to enjoy.

[bruceman]

I wonder when we will get to see a rendering of the redesign? Does anyone know if the same firm is designing this latest attempt to get Siggy of the ground. I think that it would be a much better fit and considering it's proposed location, look a little taller than 800ft. I as well, hope that it is a stunning design with a nice crown with dramatic lighting. I would still be happy with the old design of the spire. Something needs to break the lid off of the flat box we call the Nashville skyline. Has anyone seen Charlotte's lately? Wow!

[nashvylle]

I wonder when we will get to see a rendering of the redesign? Does anyone know if the same firm is designing this latest attempt to get Siggy of the ground. I think that it would be a much better fit and considering it's proposed location, look a little taller than 800ft. I as well, hope that it is a stunning design with a nice crown with dramatic lighting. I would still be happy with the old design of the spire. Something needs to break the lid off of the flat box we call the Nashville skyline. Has anyone seen Charlotte's lately? Wow!

Tony Giarratana said in an interview the redesign would have the "same great architecture" so I think so.

[ariesjow]

I wonder when we will get to see a rendering of the redesign? Does anyone know if the same firm is designing this latest attempt to get Siggy of the ground. I think that it would be a much better fit and considering it's proposed location, look a little taller than 800ft. I as well, hope that it is a stunning design with a nice crown with dramatic lighting. I would still be happy with the old design of the spire. Something needs to break the lid off of the flat box we call the Nashville skyline. Has anyone seen Charlotte's lately? Wow!

Or Austin for that matter? Both cities have very impressive activity in their urban core. We're doing well but we have such a long way to go.

[nashvylle]

Or Austin for that matter? Both cities have very impressive activity in their urban core. We're doing well but we have such a long way to go.

We are on the edge of really breaking out as a city though. Of course we need the economy to improve drastically, but if we get this newly designed siggy, the convention center and 1 tall convention center hotel, that alone could make our skyline very comparable with charlotte and better than austin in my opinion. Siggy + CC Hotel + Pinnacle is a very nice addition. Hope it happens

[Hankster]

In case you didn't get to see the entire Nashville Business Journal article, some of the highlights are:

Tower looks very similar to old design, just 20 fewer stories. Spire basically looks the same, but may be a bit shorter to look balanced with the shorter tower

807 Ft - 50 Stories

Hotel portion expanded from 198 units to 304 units

Office portion - 172,000 Sq Ft

Condo portion - only 50 units all in the upper portion of the tower. The top five floors will be full floor penthouses.

Total cost $250 Million down from $350 Million for the earlier design.

Construction costs have dropped by an estimated 20%.

Financing is hoped to be obtained in 8 to 12 months.

Overseas investors are being sought.

I would estimate this tower is about 24 floors hotel, 10 floors office, and about 16 floors of condos. If Tony has secured an office tenant and can retain enough of the 105 or so people that signed contracts for the old design, I think there is a real chance he can make a go of this. We'll all have to see what happens. I have always said, that you can't just write Tony Giarratana off. He is very persistant and motivated.

[nashvylle]

He will definitely need some overseas investors... The thing that I am skeptical about is 24 stories of hotel. Thats awfully large, but if the Convention Center is passed, it makes it somewhat easier. I hope he can find a tenant and 50 millionaires looking to live there.

[monsoon]

.....I have always said, that you can't just write Tony Giarratana off. He is very persistant and motivated.

You didn't define success so if you mean that he is good about keeping his name in the press I will give you that. Not so much however in following through with building 70 story towers. This topic was started when he announced that he was going to expand a proposal that was already over a year old to 70 stories. That was over 3 years ago. Still no tower. If he can't find any investors in North America I am willing to bet that he won't find anyone overseas that is willing to invest in this kind of real estate project either. The high rise condo market in the USA is dead, and IMO, won't be coming back. The premium business hotel market is in similar shape. It never made sense outside of the bubble created by unsustainable leveraging of real estate. It has burnt as many investors from Europe and Asia is it has here.