The Velocity

[wvs3]

Courtney's blog: Intown Report

[southsideJ]

the former ICON sales center is currently going from ICON orange to Velocity Red--I'm sure that means a model or at least a rendering should be moving in soon too.

As for anticipated frenzy over this project--I think I remember reading how Bristol was taking steps to avoid a high amount of flipper involvement, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was equal frenzy over Velocity considering that these units are a step down in price--that means a (potentially?) new demographic, and one that hasn't had as much action as of yet.

[southsideJ]

Gulch news from Richard Lawson: Bongo Bob headed to the Gulch

anyone have anymore info?

Richard, will this story be made available to non-subscribers anytime?

thx

[Hankster]

Gulch news from Richard Lawson: Bongo Bob headed to the Gulch

anyone have anymore info?

Richard, will this story be made available to non-subscribers anytime?

thx

[NewTowner]

Village Real Estate folks have started calling all of the people who signed up on the Velocity VIP list. Apparently, while no renderings are available yet (or so I'm told), a bunch of stuff is going to come out and hit all at once around May 17 or thereabouts.

I'm optimistic about the courtyard! Nashville's climate is way too balmy for our city not to take advantage of it with gobs and gobs of open spaces for beers and chatting and the like...

[southsideJ]

I got a mailer today from 123 Lofts--on one side it was advertising for real estate agents for Velocity and on the other side was a rendering of a condo building--of course it doesn't say this is Velocity but I don't immdiately recognize it as anything else. Here's a photo I took of it with my camera which is a very difficult piece of crap with focusing sometimes. I don't know if this is Velocity or not but it looks to be about right height.

[Nashvegas06]

If that is Velocity, I think it will fit in wellin the Gulch. Nice ground level activity. If it is not let's hope they include something that does offer a good street level. I think that we have to be very concerned what kind of development happens on the edge of the CBD. I feel that is more important to the life of downtown than a couple of towers, although that will be nice.

Could you imagine New york without the outer boroughs? If NY only only had the business district , I don't think that it would be any different than most dead downtowns at night in the United States.

We have something special in the Gulch and SoBro that will determine the direction of downtown and Nahville's future.

[ATLBrain]

What is 123 Lofts? Is that a newsletter of some sort? If so, why would you think this is Velocity? I thought Velocity is supposed to have 6 floors.

[elguapo731]

123 Lofts is a Real-Esate site that provides info for Lofts and Condos, they have a few condo buildings in their development section

http://123lofts.com/

[it's just dave]

This might be it. A member of the Velocity staff told me the rendering was to be released in the next few days...that was a few days ago.

We'll see. I personally hope it is.

[smeagolsfree]

Looks to be inthe 8 story range and very massive. I think another good addition.

[Hankster]

Looks to be inthe 8 story range and very massive. I think another good addition.

[smeagolsfree]

If it is not Velocity, then I don

[MidTenn1]

The style of architecture indicates to me a 'Velocity' type of development.

Bristol is apparently marketing this development toward younger, more transient people who might find living in the gulch to be the edgy, bohemian lifestyle that suits them best. The art deco/industrial 1930's look of the building shown in the brochure suggests a converted to lofts type of building in line with an energizing name such as Velocity.

The rendering is very reminiscent of the PF&S Building in Philadelphia or Frank Loyd Wright's Johnson Wax Building in Racine, Wisconsin and built in the 50's. If this is indeed the proposed design, it would certainly add to the odd, electic assortment of structures going up in the gulch.

[smeagolsfree]

^ I agree. I think it would be a good fit in the Gulch with the older buildings there. How tall does it look to you? I am concerned that it may block some veiws from the Icon, but that depends on how close to the street it is, as Icon sits on the curve and on the hill about 15 to 20 feet above the level of the Velocity. Either way this will bring some much needed density to the area.

[wvs3]

I find it very hard to believe that Bristol (the developer) and Village (which is now marketing the project) would allow the first publication of the Velocity rendering to occur this way. After all, keeping the design under wraps has been a big part of the initial marketing strategy (builds anticipation, forces anyone even slightly interested in the project to give over their email address). 123Lofts.com is the personal website of a former Village agent. He appears to be one of the annointed ones Richard Courtney wrote about last week ("early appointments will go to prospective buyers with 'Realtors with a proven track record of bringing qualified, motivated buyers to the sales center that are comfortable executing a purchase agreement on the spot'), but his role is writing up orders, not marketing.

[ATLBrain]

I'd be quite surprised if this is the Velocity. From all that I've heard and seen of Bristol's projects, this drawing looks too substantial to be something they would do... just my feeling. I'm expecting something around 4-6 floors and similar to the blocks of apartment buildings in the McKinney Ave./Midtown section of Dallas. While they are better than the suburban style, garden apartments, they are very cookie cutter and have a 20-30 year life expectancy. It's hard for me to explain, but I expect that Bristol will take the same approach with Velocity. The drawing above looks too elaborate for one of their properties.

[jice]

I recieved the above mailing as well. When I first glanced, the thought didnt enter my mind that the rendering might be Velocity. It looked, to me, more to be the "logo" for 123Lofts. Actually, on the side of the mailing that the rendering is included on, the Velocity isn't mentioned at all... just 123 Lofts and their contact info, etc.

[Jeeper12]

I'd be quite surprised if this is the Velocity. From all that I've heard and seen of Bristol's projects, this drawing looks too substantial to be something they would do... just my feeling. I'm expecting something around 4-6 floors and similar to the blocks of apartment buildings in the McKinney Ave./Midtown section of Dallas. While they are better than the suburban style, garden apartments, they are very cookie cutter and have a 20-30 year life expectancy. It's hard for me to explain, but I expect that Bristol will take the same approach with Velocity. The drawing above looks too elaborate for one of their properties.

[southsideJ]

I agree with you. One only need to look at the Bristol on Broadway or even the almost finished Bristol West End to see what a failure of imagination afflicts this developer. These guys should stick to their sweet spot which is obviously mid grade suburban apartments. Village has given them quite the marketing makeover but when it's all said and done and the hip marketing campaign ends the buyers still have to live in a Bristol development....I hear the ICON, the company's first ever high rise, is giving them fits and is now expected to be over a year late and several million dollars over budget.

[Jeeper12]

I see no failure of imagination with ICON. As for the delay, I believe this building is slated for completion in late 08 or early 09 or something like that and there have been no indications that they won't meet that timetable.

[Hankster]

That is because they haven't finished it yet. You're drawing a conclusion based upon an artistic rendering. I have drawn mine based upon every other finished building (over a dozen) of theirs I have had the misfortune to lay eyes on.

As to the delay, they sold all their units almost exactly a year ago (check the link on this forum). Their contract which I've seen only provided them with two years (see ST thread for more insight on the consequences of delivering outside that timeframe) from contract execution to deliver the project to their buyers, or April 2008. If you have been by the site lately and watched things progress you should be able to sense that they will not be delivering the project a year from now. Based upon what I see I wouldn't bet on a delivery before the very end of 2008 since a tower of this magnitude generally takes at least 9-10 months to finish once topped out. They are obviously nowhere near topping out. I don't know how or whether they have addressed this anticipated lapse in the contract delivery dates.

[southsideJ]

That is because they haven't finished it yet. You're drawing a conclusion based upon an artistic rendering. I have drawn mine based upon every other finished building (over a dozen) of theirs I have had the misfortune to lay eyes on.

As to the delay, they sold all their units almost exactly a year ago (check the link on this forum). Their contract which I've seen only provided them with two years (see ST thread for more insight on the consequences of delivering outside that timeframe) from contract execution to deliver the project to their buyers, or April 2008. If you have been by the site lately and watched things progress you should be able to sense that they will not be delivering the project a year from now. Based upon what I see I wouldn't bet on a delivery before the very end of 2008 since a tower of this magnitude generally takes at least 9-10 months to finish once topped out. They are obviously nowhere near topping out. I don't know how or whether they have addressed this anticipated lapse in the contract delivery dates.

[Jeeper12]

The fact that ICON isn't finished yet doesn't mean it shouldn't be considered when looking at Bristol's work. Especially when you are making statements like this one: "These guys should stick to their sweet spot which is obviously mid grade suburban apartments."

You can look at the rendering and see it will be very different from anything they have done so far. Again as to the delay, you are making a guess--but there is no indication that they are a year behind as you claim.

[southsideJ]

I think I conceeded that it's very different from anything they've ever done before. Mixed-use high rise projects are a completely different animal than the 4-6 story cookie cutter suburban style product that Bristol has been doing for the last 6-7 years. Again, I think that probably explains a lot of the budget problems and delays they've been experiencing since getting started with Icon. I think it's completely appropriate to look to the previous projects (from their website: "18 projects covering five states, providing 4.3 million square feet of residential development" etc. etc.) a developer has COMPLETED rather than getting swept away gawking at a prospective rendering. The devil is in the details my friend and good details cost lots of money. One only need to refamiliarize one's self with Bristol's final Bristol on Broadway renderings to be able to see how artistic rendering and contractor reality can often collide. And assuming all the cost overrun scuttlebutt is true then that can prematurely exhaust developer contingency budgets and create unfortunate pressure on Bristol to go the inexpensive or cheap route when faced with the hundreds of detail decisions developers face throughout a project. Given my optimism and excitement about the Gulch in general I'm hopeful that in the end some or all of my Bristol concerns are proven to be too gloomy. The Gulch needs Icon to live up to its potential.

Regarding the delay issue...I noted in an earlier post that they appear to have a contractual deadline of 4/08 for almost all of their units. Here was their initial press release about the sellout had to say about completion: "Icon is under construction on the corner of 12th Avenue South and Division Street and slated for completion in 2007." Anyone reasonably knowledgable about construction schedules for these type of projects would wager almost anything with you that, short of working double shifts 7 days a week, this developer has no chance of delivering the Icon even a year from now. I think finishing in 2008 would now be an achievement for them given the job's history and current status. So, given the circumstances and, despite your comment, I don't think I'm sticking my neck out very far to say that they will be about a year late relative to their original estimate to their buyers.