Nashville International Airport Development thread

[Chato_reyes]

Snooped around a bit more tonight and have the following to report:

*Sobro brews+cocktails kiosk coming to the C dogleg.

*Pyramids cafe looks 2 weeks out if I had to guess. They have signage up on one of the pillars and a coke machine installed. This is between the old food court and C-12/13.

*Vino volo (just a guess, midmarket airports without a crappy wine bar are in violation of the Geneva convention) coming to the space directly across from C-12/13.

*BK lounge signage across from D-1, next to 8th and roast. No good snooping angles but that's the first official signage I've seen for them. "Landing June 2021" would put fraport in violation of their agreement as reported previously.

*Party fowl (another guess based on aesthetics) coming to D-3 area, next to minute suites. 2 pictures. I'd also say 10-14 days out but I've never built a chicken restaurant.

*District news coming to D-4/5 with what I have to assume is one giant store behind a pillar. I have to assume the random shelves and fridges between D-3 and D-4 will go away once this opens so it can be marketed towards a permanent tenant.

*Lastly, an angle of the roofing work from the end of the C concourse, 1.0 and 2.5 zoom levels, respectively.

TSA was smooth but some storms in Texas have some extra folks who are behind schedule milling around. Let's hope some of this sheetrock comes down soon!

[Bark At The Sun]

Not sure if it was advertised, but Economy Lot B was about half full on my way out of the airport yesterday.   Didn't see any shuttles entering or exiting, but figured since the airport was slammed over the weekend, it was necessary to open that lot up.

Edited June 1, 2021 by Bark At The Sun

[Sean blackdog]

Today this morning from Facebook Sky5. 

[Chato_reyes]

Pyramids Cafe is OPEN across from Starbucks and inmotion, and doing great business tonight. Gibson Cafe is closed, no net increase in eateries. Simply unbelievable.

Edited June 7, 2021 by Chato_reyes
Added details

[Chato_reyes]

A couple updates from the D gates:

-BK looks to be a week out, tops. The sheetrock has come down and the counter and menu screens are up. Permanent signage looks to be the only thing left for front of house. This is across from D-1 and immediately next to 8th and Roast.

-True to Tennessee is coming to the retail space next to D-3. I  had previously speculated Party Fowl would open here, but signage is up and it looks like it just needs to be merchandised. That would leave Party Fowl in one of the two shells in front of D-2, as District News has taken all the retail past D-4. The temporary newsstand is still up and both were doing good business tonight.

-(Gibson) Stage Cafe is permanently closed, with new sheetrock up. The space looks wide enough for two quick serve concepts or another sit-down concept. The space across from it has had sheetrock up for quite some time with no indication of future tenants.

Brisk business at all open retail in C/D. Starbucks is the last restaurant that has been open since 2019 with no renovation or relocation; given managements preference to close an outlet once another one opens, and with two local coffee concepts on C/D already and another 8th and Roast on the way, I have to wonder how long Starbucks is for this world.

Roof looks nice on both sides of the terminal, some of the skin is up on the airfield side and there are only a few pieces of structural steel left to install over the roadways. Got here too late to get a good picture.

[markhollin]

Terminal expansion update:


 

[Chato_reyes]

True To Tennessee opened in Concourse D across from D-3 recently, along with Urban Juicer across from C-14 and I can't quite pin down where Music Row Supply actually is, I will look around the C/D gates on Thursday but there's plenty of sheetrock up in A and B.  Lots of complaints Monday about security lines, I wonder if the race had anything to do with it or if it was a staffing issue? Long lines and limited options is a tough look all around. Website says both checkpoints have a 20+ minute wait at the moment.

Edited June 22, 2021 by Chato_reyes
Formatting

[downtownresident]

FAA distributed $8 billion in assistance to airports across the country. The entire list can be viewed here: https://www.faa.gov/airports/airport_rescue_grants/media/20210622_ARP_Allocations.pdf

 

BNA will receive $64,030,376. 
 

[Chato_reyes]

Music Row Supply as referenced above opened in the retail space adjacent to C-19. The former Gibson/Stage Cafe space adjacent to C-20 and Barista Parlor has Three Casks signage up. BK (across from D-2) had a paper sign up which hopefully means they will open soon. Airport is at full capacity and there's plenty of delays on the board from storms to the north. Safe travels to all this weekend.

[Chato_reyes]

Swett's BBQ looking good behind some sheetrock directly adjacent to Pyramids Cafe and facing the former food court. 

[samsonh]

4 hours ago, Chato_reyes said:

Swett's BBQ looking good behind some sheetrock directly adjacent to Pyramids Cafe and facing the former food court. 

More food options are desperately needed. Lines are long at the few current places. Management has dropped the ball on this one.

[RonCamp]

Delta SkyClub in B Concourse will resume construction later this summer, per the check-in agent.  It is still planned to be the largest non-hub club in the system.  He has been told that BNA will eventually become a focus city again at some point once Delta schedules ramp up.  Said something like, we can’t have a club this big without the flights to support it.  

[Chato_reyes]

9 hours ago, samsonh said:

More food options are desperately needed. Lines are long at the few current places. Management has dropped the ball on this one.

You're telling me. I average a trip every 10 days and it's just embarrassing. The new Music Row Supply has a wall of cold food that was picked clean last night, and the line for 400 degrees was bordering on a fire hazard. I hope Swett's and BK open soon to relieve pressure on the other outlets, I've heard 400 degrees has run out of food more than a few times. I haven't been to the A/B side in awhile but it wasn't bustling with commerce before the construction and pandemic. Whomever signed off on closing the C food court with no replacements should be relegated to traffic duty. 

[LA_TN]

3 hours ago, RonCamp said:

Delta SkyClub in B Concourse will resume construction later this summer, per the check-in agent.  It is still planned to be the largest non-hub club in the system.  He has been told that BNA will eventually become a focus city again at some point once Delta schedules ramp up.  Said something like, we can’t have a club this big without the flights to support it.  

This is consistent with what I've heard, but still thinking it will be a bit later than a summer start. That SkyClub is being built to cater to the high end clients traveling through BNA. Delta wants their business. Period. And BNA is the reliever for ATL, thus another reason, so I'm told

There have been rumors for years about Nashville being a focus city and a flight to Europe, etc. Delta is probably just trying to block the competition

[Mr_Bond]

If you would like a unique perspective on the developments at BNA, why not stroll out to Runway 2R/20L and walk around for an hour or two.  Impossible, you say?  Not on Saturday, August 21, 2021.  There are just over 1,000 spots remaining to participate in the BNA 5K on the Runway.  If any of you are participating, DM me or post on this thread and I'll compile a list.  Perhaps we can have a mini-meetup on the runway.

https://runsignup.com/Race/TN/Nashville/BNA5K

Edited June 30, 2021 by Mr_Bond

[Sean blackdog]

Yesterday morning from Facebook Sky5. 

[Mr_Bond]

On 6/30/2021 at 10:49 AM, Mr_Bond said:

If you would like a unique perspective on the developments at BNA, why not stroll out to Runway 2R/20L and walk around for an hour or two.  Impossible, you say?  Not on Saturday, August 21, 2021.  There are just over 1,000 spots remaining to participate in the BNA 5K on the Runway.  If any of you are participating, DM me or post on this thread and I'll compile a list.  Perhaps we can have a mini-meetup on the runway.

https://runsignup.com/Race/TN/Nashville/BNA5K

Update: If we have several UP-ers who are running, I can create an Urban Planet group for the race.  I'm not sure if that gives us a discount or not, so if you're interested in running, DM me before registration and I'll create a group.

[Chato_reyes]

Huge volumes of traffic last night poorly managed by the airport. Outer arrival lanes at the terminal closed around 830 and there were 3 lanes of traffic for all pickups and dropoffs. By the time I left around 845, the line to get in the airport was back to the eastbound I-40.  Airport comms is busy sending half-assed apologies to people on Twitter but it's a public safety issue if people are stopped on a highway. The steel contractors need to be shifted to a 10-6 or 11-7 schedule on Thursdays and Fridays when arrival traffic is high in the evening, there were 21 arrivals between 8 and 9pm last night. Management needs a swift kick in the rear end if not a full on shake up.

In other news, BK had their menu board lit up but has yet to open across from D-1/2, an eatery next to Swett's future home across from C-12 looks nearly complete - can't see any signage but they have a dark wood plank facade visible from above the sheetrock. No Party Fowl signage up at all but based on previous announcements, this will occupy both false fronts in the D gates between BK and the restrooms.

Safe travels to all this weekend!

[Chato_reyes]

Spy shot of progress of the central terminal area from the departure level. This normally would be the door with a clean view of the C/D exit and American's old ticket counters on the right. Have to say, I'm a little disappointed in the lack of progress. Maybe I had an unflattering angle, but I thought I might be able to see clean through to the other side by now. In more positive news, it looked like BK had a bread delivery inside their fencing so here's hoping it opens in the next few days. 

No new retail additions/subtractions in C and D, very ready for Swett's to open and to see who their neighbor will be.

[NashRugger]

At this point, it's going to suck regardless because of the construction & the unexpected absolute revival of leisure traffic at BNA. Folks just need to accept it at this juncture during the summer and expect lines, waiting, & inconvenience. 

I can also guarantee that those schedules for certain nighttime construction closures & construction that require more impediment to arrivals. This would've happened regardless if there had been no pandemic & post-peak surge in travel. The arrivals bunch after 8pm is still less of an issue to affect versus the originator flights before 8am that can have a domino affect on travelers that are heading outbound versus those coming in. 

[markhollin]

Brad Paisley and Gov. Lee partner on initiative to ramp-up Tennessee tourism with 10,00 free aririne vouchers at 4 state airports: Nashville, Memphis, Chattanooga, and Knoxville.

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2021/07/07/governor-bill-lee-brad-paisley-tourism-initiative.html

[nashvylle]

this.... just doesn't seem to be the best use of funds, IMO. 

[Chato_reyes]

It's an interesting promo, I clicked around and if you pay for the hotel through the site you get the voucher. So it's guaranteed work for hotels and guaranteed money going through the sales and hotel tax channels. Probably not an even trade on the surface, but an 85% occupied hotel has more staff working than a 60% occupied hotel which gets the economy moving further in the right direction. And I could have sworn Brad was from West Virginia...

[smeagolsfree]

Few people admit to being from West by god Virginia. JK

[Bos2Nash]

Not to drive too far off topic, but it seems funny to me that the state is willing to give travellers free vouchers but then turn around and tell residents of the state to go find a low paying job (because the state legislature rejects federal unemployment benefits) that wouldn't even pay them enough to travel if they wanted to. I do wonder how much they are paying Brad Paisley to help promote the "deal" as well haha. 

Besides I don't think we are "hurting" for travellers

To get back on topic... Maybe if they taken the money for this to incentivize businesses at the airport to hurry the hell up and get things open or possibly even further incentives to connect the airport with more airline destinations it would be a bit better spent.