Nashville's riverfront development

[ATLBrain]

Purcell is all for the stripped down plan for the river. But fake grass???!!!! I don't like the sound of that!

http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cf...p;news_id=53037

[MidTenn1]

Purcell is all for the stripped down plan for the river. But fake grass???!!!! I don't like the sound of that!

http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cf...p;news_id=53037

I hope they are talking about a porous pavement system where real grass is allowed to grow through a plastic mat filled with voids, as seen here.

It was used at Reliant Stadium in Houston and has been used in Kingsport Tennessee on a small road project where traffic has to occassionally cross the grass median. It has advantages of allowing a grass stand to survive vehicular traffic and slowing water runnoff during storms and helping to prevent flooding.

I think it needs to be used, well, almost everywhere. It is so much better than asphalt in so many ways. This needs to be accomodated in all zoning regs and design standards.

[franktown]

Well, I'm pleased that we're moving ahead on some form of the riverfront development, and I hope that the long-range plan isn't discarded as too outlandish. I really think that this will add significant amounts of intangible benefit to Nashville and will make it more asthetically pleasing...I would like some renderings though.

[QuietMike]

Check out the official metro website with links to all of the renderings and presentation materials for the riverfront redevelopment plan:

http://www.nashville.gov/mpc/riverfront/index.htm

There may be some cool stuff ahead for both sides of the river, if the city decides to embrace this idea.

[Hankster]

Thanks for posting. The plan is way more developed than I thought, and is quite exciting. A must is to view this link below which outlines the first phase of the project. Be sure to look at all the slides. I like it a lot!

Waterfront project first phase

[franktown]

OMG, that looks GREAT! I really liked visualizing all the different aspect of the project, and to me it just looks awesome. We've talked about what the most important development is to Nashville, and while some think it's the convention center others the Siggie, I think that this is the most important development that may come to Nashville. It really puts a great face on the city, and it would (hopefully) engage the public in the waterfront. I especially like the 'urban forrest' idea, because it removes the veritable seas of parking lots and would probably look really nice. The price tag doesn't seem to be too shocking, and it seems very doable.

[Jonny11788]

Thanks for posting. The plan is way more developed than I thought, and is quite exciting. A must is to view this link below which outlines the first phase of the project. Be sure to look at all the slides. I like it a lot!

Waterfront project first phase

That's simply amazing. I think this first part of the project will do a lot for downtown and the waterfront. And having a bunch of trees in LP's parking lots will be a great improvement over the bare asphalt-and-grass surface that's currently present...

[ATLBrain]

Nice plan. It's great to see it finally getting started. I've heard that for every public dollar, there could be up to five private dollars invested.

[Hankster]

OMG, that looks GREAT! I really liked visualizing all the different aspect of the project, and to me it just looks awesome. We've talked about what the most important development is to Nashville, and while some think it's the convention center others the Siggie, I think that this is the most important development that may come to Nashville. It really puts a great face on the city, and it would (hopefully) engage the public in the waterfront. I especially like the 'urban forrest' idea, because it removes the veritable seas of parking lots and would probably look really nice. The price tag doesn't seem to be too shocking, and it seems very doable.

It's very possible that this could well be the most important development in Nashville's future. As a resident of Chattanooga, I have personally seen how important a revived waterfront can be to a city. If you ask people in Chattanooga what has been the singlemost important development in Chattanooga downtown, I'm sure that most would cite the 21st Century waterfront redevelopment project. It has added so much to the quality of life, been a huge catayst to private investment, brought people to the downtown area, added many entertainment options, and has been a great source of civic pride for the people of Chattanooga.

The Nashville project, may evolve to be one of even grander scale, and thus of even more impact than Chattanooga's. If that is the case, your thoughts on the importance of this project will be correct.

[franktown]

I don't know if you all saw the articles in the paper yesterday:

Riverport, bridges highlight one reader's plan

Ideas parallel a lot of what the pros suggested

Visions for the Riverfont

I'm not quite sure about what's basicly taking up some of the best land in the city between the two bridges. I think it's interesting to see what people think should be done with the Riverfront. I think the ideas range from pretty good to the simply ludicris and silly. I really hope that some progress is made soon on the official plan, because it could be an important development for Nashvegas.

[ATLBrain]

I have said if before, and I'll say it again... Nashville appears to be heading toward missing a golden opportunity by not building the new CC across the river from DT. It would also be no time before related developments fill-in around it.

[grouthaus]

So...many of us in the professional real estate world are moving forward as if this canal idea will never happen. It is a silly idea, quite frankly. Not that "dreams" and "visions" aren't good, but reality is very important when making multimillion-dollar investment decisions and the canal plan does not quite fit into that particular file drawer.

It is funny, though, that an argument for the plan mentions additional waterfront property, when the proposed path of the canal is immediately adjacent to I-24. So if you can't build on the east side of the canal b/c of the interstate, then your only option is to build on the west side where your new riverfront view is a brown canal with an interstate hovering over it? Hmmm....

Also, the redevelopment plan calls for WAY too much park and greenspace. Private development is key here....don't forget about that pesky economic necessity called property tax revenue.

Kheldane's arguments were hilarious to read, but are right on. The free market will take care of the East Bank, provided Metro makes good decisions when it comes to projects that require government support via tax districts and changes to land use policy. This goes back to my whole PSC Metals = new convention center site rant from earlier today.

[ATLBrain]

Kheldane's arguments were hilarious to read, but are right on. The free market will take care of the East Bank, provided Metro makes good decisions when it comes to projects that require government support via tax districts and changes to land use policy. This goes back to my whole PSC Metals = new convention center site rant from earlier today.

The CC is a natural for the east bank... It's a shame that doesn't appear likely.

Did you say if Metro can make good decisions?

[FromParkAveToTN]

I agree 100%. The PSC metal site is the idea location for the new convention center. I don

[producer2]

Walkability and close proximity to hotels and attractions are the key to a succesful convention center. Moving it to an area that requires any type of transportation other than foot just ups the cost to the organization that utilizes the facility and makes it a much harder sell for the city.

[smeagolsfree]

At least Nashville is moving forward with the Riverfront development plan. Maybe they will understand the Ballpark can be a big part of the development.

Here are two articles int he Tennessean adn the City Paper this morning.

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar...ESS02/702090393

http://nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?se...p;news_id=54543

[Midtown]

The myth that the Cumberland is polluted:

[smeagolsfree]

Remember, this project is suppose to start this year and as far as I know it is moving ahead and the initial 40 million has been approved.

http://www.nashville.gov/parks/pdfs/riverf...resentation.pdf

This is the second major municipal project Nashville will start on this year DT. I think this is just as important as the CC.

I think the thing that makes me the happiest is the renovation of the Nabrico building at the East bank next to Shelby St bridge.

[Hankster]

Remember, this project is suppose to start this year and as far as I know it is moving ahead and the initial 40 million has been approved.

http://www.nashville.gov/parks/pdfs/riverf...resentation.pdf

This is the second major municipal project Nashville will start on this year DT. I think this is just as important as the CC.

I think the thing that makes me the happiest is the renovation of the Nabrico building at the East bank next to Shelby St bridge.

This is a project I'm really looking forward to. The riverfront project in Chattanooga has proven to be a treasure for Chattanooga and has drawn people to the river in large number. It has served as the catalyst for more than 1300 condos and apartments along the riverfront. This can be an important first step to a result that can be just as profoundly important to the quality of life in Nashville as has Chattanooga's waterfront project. I hope Nashville thinks big and that that is is only the first step. I really like the potential future island concept, and hope it one day becomes a reality.

[timmay143]

Next to the Signature and CC, this is my next favorite project. I agree, this will drastically change the way people view DT IMO.

[Nashville_maestro]

This is simply amazing. Really. This whole plan needs to be getting all sorts of attention from the media. I'm definately going to be following this very closely. What kind of time frame are we looking at here? The tennessean link doesn't work anymore.

[smeagolsfree]

The links usually stops working after a week or so. Thats just they way they do things. I cant copy and paste because of copyright law.

I agree with you that this is going to be a very exciting project and looking forward to the start.

[GID]

This is the first I have looked at the proposal. Is this really going to happen?

The link stated 2012 or will this be done sooner?

I live on the river and boat downtown quite often - this project was needed 10 yrs ago.

[GID]

I found a contact at Metro if anyone wants to inquire about the first phase, I think some will be done some will not.

IF anyone calls please post what you find out.

Chris Koster, the Riverfront Redevelopment Coordinator, for more information on what improvements will be included in the first phase. Mr. Koster can be reached at 862-8400 (Metro Parks Department).

[smeagolsfree]

Just remember the first 40 million dollar grant is in pocket as this was federal money that was approved in November or December under the Water Act or something to that effect. Of coarse this is a great example of pork barrel spending.