Signature Tower

[uptownliving]

the sig was footnoted in a wsj article today on the nashville office market. tony was quoted as saying he still only has about 100 sales and is now forecasting a summer 08 start. its hard to see how things can drag on for years but they are so i guess they can.

If he doesn't start until summer 2008 does that mean he will have to cancel and reissue the sales contracts? There is a federal law that if construction doesn't start within 2 years after the contract is intiated then it has to be cancelled.

[The Tot Pack]

This is pretty absurd, since in Louisville - I heard they have already broke ground for the ugly monstrosity that is the "Museum Plaza"

I'm losing faith in Siggy.

[ATLBrain]

But that building got a huge, huge chunk of tax money. You don't want that to happen in Nashville!! Bad idea! From what I know about Nashville, downtown living will continue to thrive without government subsidies.

FWIW, put me down in the column of ppl who think Signature will not happen.

[Vertigo]

The tax money being used for the Museum Plaza project is for general improvements to the surrounding area. A new flood wall must be constructed, River Road must be re-routed, and a new plaza/park will be constructed. The develpers requested assistance with these projects from the start. It was granted because the lot is virtually useless due to flooding concerns at the moment and the city's long term plan was to make these improvments at some point in the future anyway.

The tower itself is being funded privately. Then again the developers are billionaires so that was never really an issue to begin with.

[cmwheelock]

Just a little FYI... Drove by the site today and the parking lot was empty mid-day (230 pm 1-7-8). Could it be a sign? or were they going to take someone up in the balloon?

[Plasticman]

Just a little FYI... Drove by the site today and the parking lot was empty mid-day (230 pm 1-7-8). Could it be a sign? or were they going to take someone up in the balloon?

That's interesting news. Not sure what it would mean. I've been optimistic to a fault through most of this but I just dunno anymore. I just don't have excessive confidence in gimmicky sales pitches. My optimism will improve when they start digging a hole.

[smeagolsfree]

They were shooting a music video inthe lot yesterday.

[4thgen]

They were shooting a music video inthe lot yesterday.

They were shooting still photos for new ad campaign for Sig.

[smeagolsfree]

Glad you knew. I saw the piano in the lot and just assumed it was a music video, as often as videos get shot in town.

BTW, welcome to the site.

Do you have an inside track to the project?

[nashvylle]

went by the sales center today. Signature Tower is just incredible. They have more than 102 contracts, although the WSJ stated they only have 102. The subprime market and credit crisis took its affect, but i talked to a civil engineer and he said the market for ST is definitey improving.

[Nashville_maestro]

That's good to hear. That breathes a little hope back into this project. I think most of us were/are beginning to despair on this one.

[Richard Lawson]

went by the sales center today. Signature Tower is just incredible. They have more than 102 contracts, although the WSJ stated they only have 102. The subprime market and credit crisis took its affect, but i talked to a civil engineer and he said the market for ST is definitey improving.

Wait until you see what I have in the CP on Monday. Hint: Not bad news

[Hankster]

Wait until you see what I have in the CP on Monday. Hint: Not bad news

I am waiting with baited breath!

[nashvylle]

uhhhhh Richard Lawson when I saw that you had highlighted my post I thought you were going to say something bad but I'll take your post as good news!

[ATLBrain]

Nashvylle, don't be such a pessimist ... It could always be worse, I just got home from a head-rattling trip to Chuck-E-Cheese's with four squealing rugrats. I look forward to Richard's news on Monday. Although, I'm probably the biggest skeptic on this building by now.

[nashvylle]

Well I'm one of the optimists. And im sorry about chucky cheese's, maybe someday you could just drop them off at the Signature Tower pool instead

[monsoon]

Please read the rules guys. Posts that are nothing but a link to a newspaper article will be deleted.

[Flowers]

http://nashvillecitypaper.com/news.php?viewStory=58521

i'm a bit surprised that there wasn't more substance in richard's story. the fact that he plans to reduce the number of condos and increase hotel rooms is hardly suprising given how weak his sales have been. again, i think tony would help his cause greatly if he could be specific about who his lender is and upon what terms they have conditioned their interest. then we could get excited about seeing him get certain milestones behind him.

[monsoon]

If the story and news about the letter to owners are correct, then it really means there is no real plan to build this skyscraper. It's still in the early proposal stages and the suggestions that ground will be breaking this month this quarter or even in the first 1/2 of 2008 are very premature.

[smeagolsfree]

Please read the rules guys. Posts that are nothing but a link to a newspaper article will be deleted.

Sorry about that, I forgot to copy the rest of my text from my clipboard. Thats what happens when you get in a hurry.

As far as the tower goes, this is not a surprise as I had heard this news several weeks ago. If there is anyway possible, Tony will get this out of the ground. I agree that groundbreaking probably will not be the first quarter of the year. he would stall have to have 170 under contract and he has been very close to that number before.

[Richard Lawson]

http://nashvillecitypaper.com/news.php?viewStory=58521

i'm a bit surprised that there wasn't more substance in richard's story. the fact that he plans to reduce the number of condos and increase hotel rooms is hardly suprising given how weak his sales have been. again, i think tony would help his cause greatly if he could be specific about who his lender is and upon what terms they have conditioned their interest. then we could get excited about seeing him get certain milestones behind him.

No offense Flowers, but he doesn't have a lender yet that's why he's looking at the changes, to make it more attractive to lenders.

[Nashville_maestro]

Smart move if you ask me.

Whether this happens or not, you HAVE to admire Tony G's dedication. (I love saying his name like that -Tony G.- Eeeeeeeyyyyy! haha) If you ask me, Nashville is EXTREMELY fortunate to have a developer that actually has the balls to go out and take a risk with something like this. Dubai is full of developers like this and look at what is happening there. Extremely beautiful buildings are popping up like wildflowers with the burj being the crown centre! Not too many people know this but dubai actually has a population roughly equivalent to Metro Nashville (their current population is 1,321,453 [Source]) What makes a difference is the developers... well they do have a lot of money from oil exports as well but still. Food for thought...

[Richard Lawson]

Smart move if you ask me.

Whether this happens or not, you HAVE to admire Tony G's dedication. (I love saying his name like that -Tony G.- Eeeeeeeyyyyy! haha) If you ask me, Nashville is EXTREMELY fortunate to have a developer that actually has the balls to go out and take a risk with something like this. Dubai is full of developers like this and look at what is happening there. Extremely beautiful buildings are popping up like wildflowers with the burj being the crown centre! Not too many people know this but dubai actually has a population roughly equivalent to Metro Nashville (their current population is 1,321,453 [Source]) What makes a difference is the developers... well they do have a lot of money from oil exports as well but still. Food for thought...

I'm surprised more foreign money hasn't made it's way to Nashville, at least not that I've heard yet. That money likes the big cities I know. But .....

[monsoon]

^Foreign money is drying up because the $ is in free fall against the other major currencies. Any asset held that is bought in sold in dollars is losing value relative to the rest of the world. It makes for some good purchases here by foreigners, but speculative real estate development isn't one of them. This is one of the reasons the condo market collapsed in Miami.

[ATLBrain]

If the story and news about the letter to owners are correct, then it really means there is no real plan to build this skyscraper. It's still in the early proposal stages and the suggestions that ground will be breaking this month this quarter or even in the first 1/2 of 2008 are very premature.

Right on! The only reason that this proposal still has a heartbeat would be totally due to Mr. Giarratana's whimsical persistence. Sorry, guys, but I think it's time to move on from this. At least it's safe to assume that this project will NOT break ground this year. Perhaps, we'll see a scaled down proposal appear in the not-too-distant future.

My own take on this project FWIW is that it was a bit too ambitious for the location at the time. For now, anyway, it looks like it's on the back burner for all but Mr. Giarratana. Too bad, as I thought it was a beautiful design.