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The Dave Luna Urban Planet Forum Meet-Up (online, too), Sat. April 6th, 10 AM to noon; Copper Kettle patio at Downtown Library at 6th Ave. North and Church St.


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  • 2 weeks later...

Our next Urban Planet Nashville Meet-Up will be this coming Saturday, May 4th, from 10 AM to noon at Luna Llena Taqueria (300 James Robertson Parkway, at the NW corner of JRP and 3rd Avenue North). 

Some of the stories that we will be discussing include:   Swerdling's new attempt for a 25 story hotel at SW corner of KVB and Hermitage Ave;  Greystar to break ground on 19th & Broadway (26 and 16 stories);  The Purpose Hotel (17 stories) background that we can only discuss at the meet-up;  Capping the interstate with a park on western inner belt;  More massive airport expansion plans set forth for the next 15 years; Nashville Outpost (now Nashville Warehouse) $160 million mixed-use development in WeHo with new renderings; The massive positive impact of the NFL Draft On Nashville; and much more.  A full agenda will be posted on this thread in the next few days.

There will be a cheerleading contest at Municipal Auditorium this Saturday, so the free parking directly behind the restaurant might be fairly full.  There are plenty of other free options on the streets surrounding Luna Llena, especially to the north, as well as reasonable charge at Municipal Garage across JRP to the south.

Looking forward to another great meeting.  Hope to see you there!   : )

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Here's the Agenda for discussion at our next Urban Planet Nashville Meet-Up will be this coming Saturday, May 4th, from 10 AM to noon at Luna Llena Taqueria (300 James Robertson Parkway, at the NW corner of JRP and 3rd Avenue North):

  • Bob Swerdling is again looking at a hotel for the SW corner of KVB and Hermitage Ave/1st Ave. South, comprising 1.2 acres. Was available for $22 million from Frank May as of a year ago. Swerdling is looking at around 425 rooms, plus a ballroom, meetings space, and street level retail/food/beverage. It would appear that on that site, if it were to include and above ground garage, that it could be around 22-25 stories (disappointing, as this site deserves at least 35 stories). Metro zoning allows for up to 30 stories, with possible amendments. 
     
  • Greystar Real Estate Partners will break ground on their 26 story, 355 unit residential tower and 16 story, 220 room hotel at 19th Ave. South and Broadway any day now. It will also include a 489 capacity garage, retail along Broadway, and courtyard space between the towers. Metro Council gave unanimous approval to the plan on April 23rd. No new renderings yet.
     
  • Purpose Hotel (17 stories, 2-300 rooms) rendering floating around by Hastings Architecture.  This is a boutique hotel concept being funded via a Kickstarter Campaign by Jeremy Cowart where every time you book a room a poor child in the developing world gets sponsored, as well as helping combat human trafficking.  Now word yet on how funding is proceeding, location, etc. 
     
  • Nashville Civic Design Center and Vanderbilt University held a think tank on capping the I-40/65 inner belt between 12th Ave. South and Church St. on April 23.
     
  • Nashville's largest law firm, Bass, Berry & Sims, has retained Colliers International to help them find a new home somewhere downtown in the next 5 years (that's when their lease is up at Pinnacle Tower).  They currently take up 10 floors (200,000 sq. ft.) of that structure, and will be expanding even further, thus the need for more space.  This is a large enough client that it could warrant a new tower being built specifically for them.  It is possible that they could stay in Pinnacle, but others would have to move out to give them more room.
     
  • Heaven's Door Spirits and Center for the Arts will open in the fall of 2020 at the 159-year-old Elm Street Methodist Church at 614 5th Ave. South.  The Bob Dylan-affiliated venture will feature a craft whiskey distillery, a whiskey library, a restaurant, and a 360 seat performance venue.  It will also display pieces of Dylan's paintings and metalwork sculptures.  This is the structure that was most recently home to Tuck-Hinton Architecture. Yet another fantastic addition to lower SoBro with lots of historic significance.
     
  • It is now official that the Ardent Company out of Atlanta, now in a joint venture with country artist John Rich, have paid $18.5 million for the 5 story 1905-era 200 Broadway Building (currently home to Cotton Eyed Joe).  That works out to $973 per square foot. It would appear that it will become some sort of theme bar.
     
  • A large 2.05 acre parcel that combines 35 Hermitage Ave. and 34 Rutledge St. (just to the south of the soon-to-be-opened City Lights condo project) is for sale at an undisclosed asking price.  This has been home to Scott Sales since 1977, and features a nondescript 1 story warehouse.  It is zoned for up to 7 stories, and would most likely be attractive to a residential mixed-use developer, similar to City Lights. 
     
  • Metro Government plans to sell the Rolling Mill Hill-based District Energy System (90 Peabody St.--just on the other side of KVB from Ascend Amphitheater) to ENGIE North America for $60 million.  The facility produces steam and chilled water to heat and cool various downtown buildings. The Metro Council and DES customers — which include the State of Tennessee — will need to approve the sale. Andre Cangucu, chief development officer for ENGIE North America says, "Once we complete the contractual process and if we are approved by Council, we have a plan to invest nearly $250 million dollars to upgrade and grow the system, with two key objectives of creating cost-savings for customers and expanding capacity to meet the needs of downtown Nashville’s exponential growth.” ENGIE owns or manages more than 350 similar systems worldwide.
     
  • Capitol View will have further expansion with Merrill Gardens, an intergenerational senior-living community that will be based on a 2.8 acre site in the NE corner of the 32 acre development.  To be built by Second Fifty Communities of Charleston, SC and Pillar Properties of Seattle, it will be on the NW corner of 10th Ave. North and LifeWay Plaza (Jo Johnston Ave.).  No price tag or renderings available yet.
     
  • New rendering released for Hampton Inn at Capitol View (10 stories, 169 rooms).  This entire development is really looking terrific with all of the brick being utilized in the 6 structures so far. 
     
  • Capitol View’s 2.5-acre Frankie Pierce Park preps to open in June. The park will offer sand volleyball courts, a playground, a dog park and a yoga lawn. Frankie Pierce Park is also a trail head for the Gulch Greenway.
     
  • M Cubed Developments has paid $1.75 million for the .5 acre site at 810 Jefferson St. (just NW of the intersection of Jefferson and Rosa L. Parks Blvd) that was formerly home to a Church's Chicken.  No details ready for what the concept they have in mind, but they tend to do mixed-use developments.
     
  • All the machinations on the sale ($13.5 million) of the property at 641 Division St. for The Haven (10 & 11 stories, 299 units) are now complete for Travis Kelty, Joe Porter of Highpoint Division Partners, Prescient Company, and Guefen Development to move forward very soon.  The cost of the project is supposed to exceed $100 million.
     
  • New renderings of Nashville Warehouse Company (formerly Outpost Nashville), with some adjustments to details: Now 305 apartments in an 8 story structure (as opposed to 364 slated earlier). There will be an elevated athletic field on top of attached 2-3 story structure (perhaps some of the retail/restaurant tenants in that building. 200,000 sq. ft. of office space, and undetermined amount of retail/restaurant space in 3 structures ranging from 4 to 5 stories and interconnected. The live music venue will be outdoors, and the stage (made up of shipping containers) will be beneath the relocated Greer Stadium Guitar Scoreboard (which AJ Partners won in open auction) along the CSX railroad tracks on the SW side of the 5.2 acre site.
     
  • Plans for The Kirby (5 stories, 104 units, ground floor retail) at  1234/1236 Martin St. in WeHo are being altered to now fit in with future phases of The Finery (to the west across Martin St.). It appears the new design will be similar in size, but will have a different usage than primarily residential.  Hines Development out of Houston will be taking a more prominent role alongside Core Development.  More details to be released soon. 
     
  • WeHo Crossing will be the name of the 4 acre redevelopment of a large warehouse at 1414 4th Ave. South.  It will include 60,000 sq. ft. of office space, 12,500 sq. ft. of restaurant/retail space, and will be open in early 2020. Somera Road Inc. out of NYC is the developer, and Manuel Zeitlin is the architect. Renderings available.
     
  • NASCAR2Nashville released a rendering of expanded Fairgrounds Racetrack by Populous.  Looks like 25-30,000 capacity w/ luxury suites around the NW turn and massive digital scoreboard on SE turn. Councilman Colby Sledge says the image is “bizarre.” Mayor Briley rejects a $54 million bond/$2million from cash from city proposal by Speedway Motorsports ti make improvements to the Fairgrounds Racetrack.  The mayor will reject a deal involving funding from taxpayers to bring NASCAR back to the fairgrounds. 
     
  • Airport expansion pedestrian plaza renderings released.
     
  • More massive plans for airport over the next 15 years announced:

    - Starting in 2024, another 11 gates, and extend one runway to handle jets that fly nonstop  to/from Asia. Cost of $1.2 billion.  

    - The runway best-suited for expansion is about 8,000 feet long today and needs to grow by another 50% to accommodate the largest planes. The airport owns most of the land necessary but would need to buy a couple of residential properties on the other side of Murfreesboro Pike to have enough space.

    - The runway extension would involve lowering Murfeesboro Road, so drivers would pass underneath the runway (which is already the case in another spot on that road).

    - Starting around 2033, $1.6 billion more for a second terminal with 20-30 gates, and a tram to ferry passengers between the two complexes. The question to be addressed is whether to build it immediately south of the existing terminal, or east of Donelson Pike (in both cases, the airport owns the land needed).

    - Airport CEO Kreulen is forecasting 15% growth in passengers this year over 2018, when just under 16 million flew in/out of the airport.

    - The terminal hotel will be 11 stories, on top of the existing 5 levels of new Parking Garage A & B.  The airport is doing a "request for qualifications" now, and it will take another year or so to issue a formal, more specific "request for proposals," Kreulen said. The airport will pick two or three teams to bid for that proposal, based on who responded to the request for qualifications.

    - Many in the business community desire nonstop service to Asia. Japan invests more in Tennessee than any other foreign country, with nearly 180 Japanese-owned companies operating in the state.

    - At the end of what Kreulen dubbed BNA Vision 1.0, the airport will have 49 domestic gates, a 15% increase. The next expansion, which Kreulen named BNA Vision 2.0, would bring that total to 60, a nearly 25% jump.

    - The runway best-suited for expansion is about 8,000 feet long today and needs to grow by another 50% to accommodate the largest planes. The airport owns most of the land necessary but would need to buy a couple of residential properties on the other side of Murfreesboro Pike to have enough space.

     
  • Element Hotel (5 stories, 120 rooms) Elm Hill Pike near airport has rendering.  Currently u.c. 
     
  • More renderings released for the new 3 story, $20 million Davidson County Sherriff's Office, which is currently getting started at 710 South 5th St. It will eventually house about 250 employees.
     
  • Church conversion to office space at 1700 Fatherland now has designs.
     
  • Bill Martin's Grocery on 1 acre at 1105 Fatherland St. has sold for $3.54 million to Glengarry Partners. No word yet on their plans.
     
  • Hunter’s Station restaurant campus nearing completion.  New renderings.
     
  • The Plan for Music Row, an 87 page study about how to manage growth and change, has been released. Highlights, maps, renderings  available.
     
  • Curb Victory Hall (5 stories, 39 units) is about to get underway at the northern edge of the Operation Stand Down complex at the NW corner of 12th Ave. South and Edgehill Ave.  Tony Giarratana now has additional partner s in this development for homeless veterans: Mike Curb and the Home Depot Foundation. MDHA will manage the property once it is opened. R.G. Anderson will be in charge of construction, and it will be complete in 14 to 17 months. Demo underway.
     
  • Bate Avenue Residences will replace Southside Community Church (at one time Cane Memorial Church of God) at 2080 12th Ave. South. There will be ten multi-family homes built in two rows within the development.  No AirBnB units will be allowed. Rendering available.
     
  • Belmont University Parking Garage (4 stories, 830 spaces, 6 tennis courts on roof), just south of new Performing Arts Center at Compton and Delmar, has a rendering.
     
  • Ruby Sunshine, a New Orleans style all-day breakfast restaurant, will be the primary tenant of the new 2 story structure at 1800 21st Ave. South, on the site where Jackson's Bar & Grille used to be.  The owners say they will be open by the by year's end---but that seems a bit ambitious considering they haven't broken ground yet. Capacity 1ill be 174 guests.  Interestingly, it will sit directly across Belcourt Ave. from Nashville's most popular breakfast eatery, The Pancake Pantry. Rendering available.
     
  • Province Builders is planning a 3 story, 8 unit townhome project for 3206 West End Circle in West End Park.  This will replace the smaller nondescript residential building that was called Park Plaza Apartments. rootARCH is doing the design.
     
  • Sylvan Supply has announced its first two merchants: Iris Brewery and Barista Parlor.  The former Madison Mill factory at 4101 Charlotte Ave. encompasses 7 acres, and will feature 130,000 sq. ft. of creative office space, and 33,000 sq. ft. of retail.restaurant space.  Set to open sometime in 2020.
     
  • New renderings for Publix Grocery at 8th Ave. South and Bradford Ave.
     
  • GBT Realty has won the bid from the city for the former fire station at 2025 Richard Jones Rd (.87 acre) that sits immediately to the north of the 18 story Vertis Green Hills development.  The price is $4 million.
     
  • The Carroll Companies have paid $7.6 million for another 76 acre wooded plot along I-24 that will feature 550 residential units at a cost of $72 million.  This is just south of the $1.7 billion Century Farms development. Just 2 years ago, The Carrolls paid $3 million for 30 acres off of Murfreesboro Pike for a 339 unit project involving apartments and townhomes which has not started yet.
     
  • The Burkitt Commons development by Regent Homes in Nolensville is underway. It will have a feel very much like Lenox Village in south Nashville. There will be mixture of 800 residences made up of townhomes, condos, and single family homes.  There will also be coffeeshops, restaurants, boutiques, and services businesses.  There will also be community's outdoor pavilions, picnic areas, and a fenced dog park, and will be very walkable, with wide sidewalks and decorative street lights. About half of the site will be undeveloped green space. 
     
  • Southbrooke will be another massive residential development consisting of 781 homes (single family, duplex, and quadraplex units) on 313 acres next to Stream Valley on Lewisburg Pike. There will also be 122 acres of proposed open space which will offer hiking and bike trails. Renderings available.
     
  • 3.6 acres at 201 Cool Springs Blvd. now for sale by Innovations Group for unlisted price.  Zoned for hotel/office.  Overlooks Legends Golf Course. Rendering of what hotel might look like there is available.
     
  • South Corridor Transportation Study is kicking off for Maury, Williamson, and Davidson Counties. Put together by Greater Nashville Regional Council, WeGo Public Transportation, and TDOT.  A series of community meetings planned in each county in late April/early May.
     
  • The Sonya Drive mixed-use development on 30 acres at 7315 Sonya Drive, just south of the I-40 Old Hickory Blvd. exit in Bellevue has seen some adjustments. It will now have 94 residential units (down from 250), a 170 room hotel, and 18,000 sq. ft. of commercial space. 
     
  • Archer Datacenters is set to buy 30 acres on Gateway Drive in Gallatin (directly across the street from Beretta USA's factory) to build a 70,000 sq. ft. data center in 2020.  It will serve as a "colocation" center where space will er rented out to servers and other hardware businesses looking to securely store data. 
     
  • Montgomery County officials unveiled plans for a $105 million multi-purpose event center for downtown Clarksville at 2nd and College Streets.  The article doesn't list the capacity, but from the renderings, I estimate that it would be about 5,500 for hockey, 6,500 for basketball, and 7,000 for concerts.  The center would also include a second ice sheet, and restaurant/bar. Renderings available.

NASHVILLE REMAINS HOT:

  • Davidson County issued $1.43 billion in building permits in the first. Quarter of 2019, $326 million better (+30%) than previous best quarter (2nd quarter of 2018).
     
  • Nashville's industrial market has 3.9 million sq. ft. of construction underway, following a 2018 where there was 2.6 million sq. ft. of space delivered.  This 50% jump means that Nashville is leading the nation in construction of industrial space by percentage according to Avison Young.
     
  • Urban Land Institute Convention had over 4,300 attendees from all over the world at MCC.  Best spring meeting attendance in their history.
     
  • Urban Land Institute did major features on 5th & Broadway, WeHo, Why is Nashville continuing to grow, and Boutique Hotels around Printers Alley on their website.
     
  • Joseph Pitchard, Managing Director the Dallas-based developer Crescent Real Estate, says his company is bullish on Nashville.  They have other plans beyond the Embassy Suites/1 Hotel (30 and 18 stories) project underway at 8th Ave. South and Demonbreun.  "You'll see a lot more of us. We view this as our beachhead project."Crescent has over 3 million sq. ft. of office space, 1,500 hotel rooms, and more than 6,500 apartments in its portfolio nationwide, including Dallas, Denver, Atlanta, Tucson, and Annapolis, MD.
     
  • John Tuttle, the C.O.O. of the NYSE says Nashville is the strongest southern city, and one of the top 3 in the country for business growth and development in the next 20-30 years. He notes the technology and healthcare sectors here are tremendously strong and continuing to grow. Says new business IPOs and VC are extremely positive there and growing at a rapid rate.
     
  • Nashville ranked Best Place to Live in Tennessee, and #15 in the nation, according to U.S. News and World Report.
     
  • Airport sets another new record for Feb: at 1,171,690, up 15.5% form Feb. 2019. 2018 on pace for 18 million passengers.
     
  • British Airways is VERY pleased with their Nashville service, which began 11 months ago, and last month upped to flights 7 days a week (had been 5).  An airline normally makes profit if at least 70% of a flight is occupied, Kreulen said. So far, occupancy is in the high 80's on the British Airways flights, Kreulen said. "I think they're pretty happy with the returns," Kreulen said, citing a 31% profit in their first quarter and a 24% margin in their second quarter.
     
  • On average, a plane lands or takes off from BNA every two minutes now.
     
  • Nashville's Peg Leg Porker is chosen as the #1 BBQ joint in Tennessee by Southern Living Magazine.
     
  • The Guardian of of the U.K. had a large feature in the April 16th edition entitled, “Bachelorettes, Bibles, and Amazon: Is Nashville the perfect model for a second-tier city?”
     
  • The Wall Street Journal had a feature entitled “The Secret of Nashville’s Success” in their April 16th issue.
     
  • Western Express trucking company announces that they will be hiring 225 new HQ jobs here in Nashville over the next 5 years, which is an $88 million investment. Their offices will remain at 7135 Centennial Place in West Davidson County.
     
  • Ryman Hospitality is partnering with Gray Television to launch a new TV channel and on-demand streaming service. The still-unnamed venture will be based in Nashville.  Its distribution network closely aligns with our fan base and will allow us to quickly scale our delivery of existing and original artist-centered content to help reach the 110 million country music fans in the United States.
     
  • A Gold Cup soccer game will take place at Nissan Stadium on Wed. July 3rd. With it being around Independence Day, there should be a huge crowd even though it is on a weeknight. Another showcase opportunity for hosting World Cup in 2026.
     
  • Bridgestone Arena had one of its busiest months in history with 385,000 attendance in 14 different events covering 21 days.  This included the SEC Basketball Tournament (13 games), World's Toughest Rodeo (2 nights), UFC Fight Night, 5 sold-out Preds games, (now up to 152 straight sellouts), concerts by PINK, Travis Scott, Mumford & Sons, Impractical Jokers, Zac Brown Band, and Kelly Clarkson. 
     
  • Buzz around the NFL Draft was huge.  Adam Schifter of ESPN said “Drafts in NYC, Chicago, Philly, and Dallas were tremendous and all were great hosts. But there has never been a scene like this for any draft in any sport, ever. Nashville’s insane.”  Many more quotes like this from other sports broadcasters, etc. NFL states that the crowd size averaged 200,000 per day over the 3 days.  
     
  • NFL Draft in Nashville had it’s all-time high TV viewership of 47.5 million over the 3 days on ABC, EXPN, NFL Network, and ESPN Deportes.

    Hope you can join us for lively, fun discussion about all of the wonderful activity happening around our fair city.    : )
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Our next Dave Luna Urban Planet Nashville Meet-Up will be this coming Saturday, June 1st, from 10 AM to noon at Luna Llena Taqueria (300 James Robertson Parkway, at the NW corner of JRP and 3rd Avenue North). 

Some of the stories that we will be discussing include:  Hensler's Trolley Barn tower increasing from 26 to 32 stories; new diagrams/renderings for 1 Hotel, Four Seasons,  Gulch Union office tower,  Broadwest, and Centric Hotel;  possible 15 story addition for Hotel Indigo on top of historic NashvilleTrust Company building;   Conrad Hilton announced for Broadwest;  Pizzuti Companies' talk of another tower at 4th Ave. South and Lea;  Bridgestone Arena expansion and upgrades as part of new 30 year lease with city;   plans formulating for Vanderbilt's $200+ million Graduate Village; LifeStyle Communities large development for The Nations; and much more.  A full agenda will be posted on this thread in the next few days.

Should be plenty of free parking directly behind the restaurant.  Looking forward to another great meeting.  Hope to see you there!   : )

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4 minutes ago, markhollin said:

Here's the Agenda for discussion at our next Urban Planet Nashville Meet-Up will be this coming Saturday, June 1st, from 10 AM to noon at Luna Llena Taqueria (300 James Robertson Parkway, at the NW corner of JRP and 3rd Avenue North):

  • New diagram render available for Four Seasons. Technically, the main tower is 41 stories when counting the top mechanical floor. The extension along 2nd Ave. South is 14 stories, and the extension/pedestal facing 1st Ave. is 5-6 stories.
     
  • Ray Hensler is now wanting to increase the size of his tower at the Trolley Barns site from 26 to 32 stories.  The new for this portion of the project will be Peabody Union at Rolling Mill Hill. The plan includes reconnecting Crockett Street in a location that works for DES but required some significant site plan change The additional height is essentially capturing the same volume of space that existed in wider towers within the original plan. The project will now be called Peabody Union at Rolling Mill Hill. Detailed renderings will be released in a few months.
     
  • New images for 1 Hotel (replacing Curio Suites in Embassy Suites complex at 8th Ave South and Demonbruen) have been released. Still 18 satires (possibly 19). Still has several rooftop terraces.  More greenery. 
     
  • New diagrams for Broadwest released. 
     
  • New renderings of Centric Hotel (20 stories, 250 rooms). 
     
  • Gulch Union office building has new diagrams available. Still 20 stories above grade from corner of McGavock and 13th Ave. South.  325,000 sq. ft. Of office space, 5,800 sq. ft. Of retail space, 6 elevators, fitness center, 900 car garage.
     
  • Winston Hotels is seeking Metro's permission to add a 15 story, 120-130 room addition to Hotel Indigo on top of the former 117-year-old bank building bordering the property to the south at 231 3rd Ave. North. They purchased the classically-designed structure that still bears the name "Nashville Trust Company" last December for $4.6 million. Current zoning allows for 6 stories.  Their architect firm, Gresham Smith, makes a range of arguments to bolster its case for 15 stories. The proposal calls for historic facade to be preserved and incorporated along with a street level event center, a rooftop bar, and a new restaurant space along Printers Alley. Metro's Historic Zoning Commission has suggested 10 stories, but Winston claims that reduction in room count would make the project economically unfeasible.
     
  • The hotel at Broadwest will be a Conrad Hilton.  There are currently only 6 others in the U.S.  The 14-floor, 237-room hotel will occupy the bottom half of a 34-story tower. Some of the hotel's elements will meet 5-star standards. The rooms are being designed by Champalimaud, which has also produced designs for Waldorf Astoria, Ritz Carlton, St. Regis and other high-end properties.There will be a restaurant and bar in the lobby, and a more upscale restaurant and bar on the third-floor terrace next to the swimming pool. 
     
  • Pizzuti Companies (the developers of The Joseph Hotel) have purchased 2 lots at 531-533 4th Ave. South  (NW corner of 4th and Lea, just north of Rocketown) covering a combined .34 acre for $3.2 million. Currently there is a nondescript 1 story store-front and empty lot on the site. A few weeks ago in NBJ, Joel Pizzuti, said they were aiming to create another development that could include office space, retail and residential units on a small site in SoBro....so this must be it.  Pizzuti also said he sees a chance to combine a few neighboring properties as well for this project.  We'll have to see what unfolds here...but it might be a fairly substantial offering.
     
  • The Nashville Predators and Metro agree to a new 30 year lease agreement. The team will not receive as much underwriting from the city, and will also be more responsible for improvements to Bridgestone Arena.   Under the plan, the first major upgrade will come in 2021 when the franchise intends to add about 1,200 seats to the upper level in addition to a new press box. Predators President Sean Henry said a new tower at the northwest corner of the arena, where city offices were located, remains a possibility. A 2017 venue study identified that part of the building as a possible hotel in the future. And Henry identified the southeast side of the building, which currently houses a large rehearsal hall that country artists use before launching their tours, as an opportunity for renovations as well.
     
  • Bill Miller’s latest them restaurant bar will be Sinatra’s Bar and Lounge, taking up the first two floors of his Southern Turf Building (built in 1884).  It will be a high-end establishment, and has the backing of the Sinatra family. It should be open by early 2020, indwell be further revitalization of 4th Ave. North Boutique Hotel District along with Printers Alley.
     
  • The plans for Metro to purchase the Morris Memorial Building are starting to come into focus.  A committee is vetting a variety of options for the interior of the building, which is currently owned by the National Baptist Convention. appears the city wants to convert the 100-year-old building into an African American history museum covering areas not already covered in the Civil Rights Room at the Downtown Library nor the African American Music Museum. This would be primarily on the 2nd floor.  The first floor would feature a 3,500 sq. ft. restaurant and some office space.  The top three floors are still open for debate.  A current draft shows office space on the 3rd floor, and then affordable housing units on the 4th & 5th levels. The building was once the epicenter of black commerce in Nashville. That makes preserving it important to the mayor, regardless of costs, which will be $12.8 million for the building and lot, and approximately 12.2 million for the redevelopment of the spaces. 
     
  • HealthStream and KCI Technologies have opened their offices in the new 10 story structure at 500 11th Ave. North that is part of Phase III of the Capitol View development.  WeWork will be added to 2 floors next week.  That means that 60% of the building has been leased, with another 130,000 sq. ft. available. The adjoining Trolley park, which sits in a small plaza just to the SE of the building, has also opened.  It will be joined by the 2.5 acre Frankie Pearce Park on the other side of the CSX tracks in the next few months. 
     
  • The Capitol Hotel at 701 Union St. is looking at a 5 story addition for 24 rooms and more parking.  Studio A Architecture has been hired by Continental Inns of America.  The addition would face Polk Ave., across form the Ben West Library Building. Renderings available.
     
  • Some more images of the Heaven's Door Spirits and Center for the Arts at 614 5th Ave. South have been released.
     
  • Metro Council has voted down buying the land on Rutledge Hill  from the State (formerly the Tennessee School for the Blind) for $11.3 million to build a new Nashville School for theArts.  Opponents said the new $111 million plans didn’t include enough of the 1940s-era structure.  The site is not historically protected. 
     
  • ServiceSource International is scouting for new office space, reportedly downtown.  They currently take up about half of the 20 story tower with their name at the top at 201 4th Ave. North since 2010.  They employ 720 people, and appear to be expanding.  It is not clear if they are wanting to stay in that building, or move to another larger home.
     
  • Mayor Briley has proposed spending $1.3 million on a planning, open space and infrastructure study for the Cumberland River's East Bank, according to Metro's recently released capital improvements budget. Briley said the study will help determine how to increase the city's supply of housing and office space on the land surrounding Nissan Stadium to see if mixed-use developments around the stadium to create more tax-revenue streams to pay off the debt incurred by the stadium. This could unlock new revenue for financing improvements at the 20-year-old coliseum.
     
  • Honkeytonk Boardwalk being proposed by a newbie for the East Bank.  Would feature an 11 story hotel/condo tower, dozens of bars/restaurants, guitar-shaped ferris wheel, and events center.  Projected cost fo $120 million.  A tacky pipe dream.  Renderings available.
     
  • Colts Chocolates is moving from their home at 609 Overton St. in the Gulch to a larger facility in the Inglewood neighborhood.  This will free up 10,000 sq. ft. of space for MarketStreet Enterprises immediately to the north of The James mixed-use development in the Gulch.  Colts new location will be 3611 Gallatin Pike in a former Piggly Wiggly store. 
     
  • With their move next door, the Whiskey Kitchen building and surface lot at 188 12th Ave. South, could be set up for something substantial.  At one time the owners, M Street Entertainment Group, had mentioned they were looking at a 15 story boutique hotel for the site. They have since announced the Eleventh House Hotel (10 stories, 112 rooms) a block to the east. This is a prime spot of about 1/3 acre in the heart of The Gulch which should see some interesting action eventually. 
     
  • The 1.28 acre site at 645 Division St. (former Myers Carpet site) is being sold by Tim Reynolds for $13 million to an unidentified NYC-based development company. The deal is supposed to be finalized by year's end. Reynolds had paid $8.9 million for it just 10 months ago. No word on what the developers have in mind.  Up to 16 stories is allowed by Metro's bonus height program.
     
  • A five building set of 3 story townhomes featuring 13 units surrounding a central courtyard will be built at 1314 5th Ave. North in Germantown.  Forty Rutledge Street is the owner of the .7 acre site. Renderings available.
     
  • Fountains of Musica supposed to have big announcement on May 30th.
     
  • Real estate developers Moni Advani and Kevin Woods are about to close on a 5th property on Music Row, paying more than $6 million total for 1029, 1031, 1101, 1103, and 1105 17th Ave. South. Advani stressed that no development is imminent; he said he had no expectations for when a project might crystallize. The property's existing zoning allows for office and hotel development."We didn't have particular development in mind when we put the parcels together. We'd like to sit with our investors and our team, talk with our architect, talk with the city, talk with Councilman Freddie O'Connell," Advani said. He added: "I don't know that multifamily makes a lot of sense on Music Row anymore.”
     
  • Vanderbilt University’s Graduate Village along Broadway will apparently feature 510 rooms (600 beds), 30,000 sq. ft. grocery, and 15,000 sq. ft. bookstore on 1.89 acres according to permit applications. Primarily between Lyle Ave. on east and 20th Ave. South on west, and Hampton Inn on north and Broadway on south.   The grocery will be about the size of the new Publix on 8th Ave. South. Probably looking at several 10 story structures. Still no renderings.
     
  • The 1.1 acre lot at 804 14th Ave. North (just on the north side of the tracks from Marathon Village) has been rezoned for mixed-use (previously just industrial).  The adjoining lot at 806 w/ 2.71 acres may end up being re-zoned as well, making a very attractive spot for a large development. 
     
  • The former SunTrust Bank building and lot (.4 acre) at 3811 Hillsboro Pike, immediately in front of Green Hills Mall, has been purchased by GBT Realty for $4.65 million.  No announced plans yet. 
     
  • Boscobil III (part of Envision Cayce) designs approved by MDHA Design Review Committee. Large L-shaped 4 story building.  No word on units, but looks like at least 120.  Renderings available.
     
  • The Russell boutique hotel inside the former Russell Street Church of Christ, is nearing completion.  23 units and lobby restaurant/bar in former sanctuary of the 115 year old structure.  The massive circular stained glass windows have been preserved. Rendering available. 
     
  • Up-Down, a popular arcade bar in some midwest cities, has been approved by MDHA Design Review Committee to adaptively reuse the structure at 927 Woodland St. It has been named one of The 10 Best Arcade Bars in America by Game Informer. Up-Down is a 21-and-older arcade bar featuring games from the '80s and '90s, pinball machines, skeeball alleys, Nintendo 64 console gaming and more. Games are just 25 cents. Food and beer also for sale.
     
  • Phase I of the massive 130+ acre mixed-use development by Ryman/Lincoln Enterprises across Briley Parkway from Opryland Hotel should start in the next few months.
     
  • Oxford Commons will be a 35 unit apartment complex in several three story buildings at 950 Brittany Drive in Antioch to be developed by Oxford Properties out of Atlanta. A permit of $4.7 million has been granted.  No renderings available yet.
     
  • New 51 acre Cate Frist Park donated to city in Bellevue area. Will connect with Harpeth River Greenway. 
     
  • The Element Hotel at ONEC1TY has broken ground.  Besides the 175 rooms, the 6 story structure will also feature first floor restaurant and retail space of 12,000 sq. ft.  Niles Bolton Associates of Atlanta is handling the architecture, and Crain Construction in the contractor. Financing the Noble Investment Group project at $31.2 million is Regions Bank. They had purchased the 1.3 acre site from Cambridge Holdings, the developer of ONEC1TY, last fall for $3 million.
     
  • LifeStyle Communities new mixed-use project at 1300 51st Ave. in The Nations is coming into focus.  It will be made up of 400 residential units, 26,000 sq. ft. of ground floor retail, and an interior garage for 600 cars.It would be made up of four structures covering between 7 and 5 stories, covering a total of 3.82 acres. It is directly south across Centennial Blvd. from the Stocking 51 development.
     
  • The mixed-use development at 405 40th Ave. North at the intersections with Charlotte Ave. on 1.92 acre site will feature a building of 6 stories/105 feet with 167 parking spaces involved. At one point it was supposed to feature 152 residential units and 11,000 sq. ft. of office space.
     
  • A 5 story, 100 room Comfort Inn will be built at at 615 Old Hickory Blvd. in Bellevue on a 1.34 acre site that used to be part of the Sam's Club property, just south of I-40 at Exit 199. No rendering yet. 
     
  • “Fairview 2040” plan if officially OK’d by the town’s commissioners. A guiding document and diagrams that will be revisited every 5 years to help organize growth.  Includes town green, parks, greenways, arts center, commercial areas, etc.  Diagram provided. 
     
  • Spring Hill has a new housing development called Crooked Creek that will feature 96 free standing single family homes for rent.
     
  • A residential complex made up of 237 multifamily units in 8 structures reaching between 2 and 4 stories on 20.9 acres is being proposed for Franklin.  To be called Wood Duck Court, it would back up against the Cross Creek and Cannonwood subdivisions. Rendering available.
     
  • A mixed-use development called Vintage Station North that includes 192 apartments, 28 townhomes and office and commercial space in the center of Mt. Juliet will break ground on Tuesday. It is located between Industrial Drive and the city's train station, and is billed as a transit-oriented development.
     
  • A housing development featuring 145 homes on 140 acres called Carver Lane is being planned for Lebanon.  The location will be near Carver Lane and north of Hwy 70.  The plan is for 80 acres of the site to be green space featuring waling trails.
     
  • Another West Trinity Lane site that borders on the Cumberland River covering 41 acres is being touted as a massive mixed-use project called River Park on the Cumberland.  Asking price for the parcel at 1421 Baptist World Center Drive is $98.4 million. The owners are the Baptist World Center Church. An additional 40 acres may be available, but no asking price is mentioned on those yet. Pages Branch Creek also runs through the property and empties into the Cumberland.  Current zoning allows for structures of up to 15 stories, and the renderings provided are for conceptual purposes only. 
     
  • Speedway Motorsports, one of the biggest players in NASCAR, is making a $60 million pitch to take over the Fairgrounds Racetrack, including expansion to 30,000 seats, luxury boxes, massive scoreboard, and promise to bring some national races back to the track.  
     
  • Music City Baseball LLC met with Major League Baseball Commissioner, Rob Manfred, about to discuss possible team (either expansion or relocation) for Nashville on May 14th.  MLB says there is no timetable on expansion, and that they must solve the issues for new stadiums in Tampa and Oakland before anything else is discussed. Of course, those two franchises might be candidates for relocation. The Nashville group is made up of local businessman John Loar, former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, former MLB manager Tony LaRussa, former MLB pitcher Dave Stewart, and Vanderbilt Univ. baseball coach Tim Corbin, among others.


    NASHVILLE REMAINS HOT:

     
  • First Tennessee Ballpark rated one of “The Best Minor League Ballparks” by StadiumTalk.com.
     
  • Academy of Country Music announces today that Bridgestone Arena has been named Large Capacity Venue of the Year for 2018 (3rd time), Ascend Amphitheater Medium Capacity Venue of the Year for 2018 (2nd time), and The Ryman Auditorium Small Capacity Venue of the Year for 2018 (6th time).  First time ever that one city has swept the Venue of the Year categories. 
     
  • Nashville named one of the ten best cities for grads by realtor.com.
     
  • House of Cards has been named one of OpenTable’s “100 Best Restaurants in America for a Big Night Out.”
     
  • WalletHub ranks Nashville 9th in their list of "100 Best Cities to Visit This Summer in the U.S." 
     
  • Nashville comes in #2 on SmartAsset's "Top 10 Cities for College Graduates" list.
     
  • Another huge hiring announcement: Postmates will hire between 500 and 1,000 new employees at a 100,000 sq. ft. space in MetroCenter at 431 Great Circle Rd. The company is a pioneer in providing on-demand delivery of food and other items.  They first opened a 10,000 sq. ft. office in Nashville in 2016 at Cummins Station. By spring of last year they had 280 employees here, and have nearly doubled that in the last 12 months. 
     
  • Economic officials in Nashville are forecasting the business momentum caused by Amazon, AllianceBernstein, Smile Direct Club, etc. continues:  The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce points to 90 projects in the pipeline for the 10-county region, which has been consistent with the past seven years. "We have a very strong pipeline," Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce Chief Economic Development Officer Courtney Ross said. "We do not anticipate lack of interest or a slowdown of any kind for the region.... There are a lot of companies in the pipeline that we are really excited about.”
     
  • Investments from China in cities such as Salt Lake, Austin, Nashville, Dallas, and Seattle increased annually from between nearly a third and as much as tenfold in 2018. These investments included income-producing assets, defined as office, retail, industrial, hotel apartment and senior housing. Nashville had zero investments from China in 2017, but received US$101.3 million last year.   -South China Morning Post
     
  • New April record for passengers at airport at 1,501,291. Looks like the third busiest month ever. 
     
  • 29,731 screened passengers on Sunday, May 5, a new single-day record for BNA. The previous record was set Monday, Nov. 12, 2018, with 28,550 screened passengers.
     
  • Nashville (within Davidson County limits) is now the 24th most populated city in the United States at 669,053, passing Portland and Memphis into the Top 25.
     
  • In metro area, these 3 counties ranked high nationally in percent growth of new housing units according to U.S. Census Bureau: Wilson (7th), Williamson (10th),  and Sumner (18th).
     
  • 12 of the 15 fastest growing cities in Tennessee are in the Nashville MSA. 
     
  • The documentary “Nashville: Where to Dream Big” will make it’s premiere on French TV later this year. It focuses almost exclusively on Nashville’s rise to the world’s stage and the plethora of economic opportunity here by following several artists and entrepreneurs from all over the world who have found success in Nashville. 
     
  • These 5 counties in Nashville Metro area ranked high in percent growth of new housing units: Wilson (7th), Williamson (10th),  Sumner (18th), Rutherford (42nd), and Maury (78th) according to latest U.S. Census. 
     
  • Nashville's record-breaking NFL Draft included $223.9 million in economic impact (largest by far in city's history).


    Hope you can join us for another morning of stimulating and fun discussion about all the wonderful goings-on around Music city.    : )

This list has become a tradition.

Well done, Mark.

WW

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A dozen in attendance for our June Meet-Up (one had to leave early, and yours truly behind the camera) this morning.  Looks like we'll have to gather at a new location on for our first-Saturday-of-the-month gatherings since Luna Llena is no longer open at that time.  We'll keep you posted concerning our Sat., July 6th locale. 
 

Urban Planet Meet Up, June 1, 2019.jpg

 

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Going to be taking suggestions for a new location for the meet ups. Right now just ideas as we still want to be somewhat centrally located, free and easy parking options are a big plus, good food and coffee.  

The problem we are having with dowtown locations are the fact that we never seem to know whats going on , on any given Saturday any longer. The growth of downtown has caused parking prices to spike and availability of parking to be limited.

Its a lot harder to find a location that is able to acomadate a group of our size and be reasonably quite so we can hear the person next to talk.

Any thoughts and ideas would be welcome.

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Our next Urban Planet Nashville Meet-Up will be this coming Saturday, July 6th, from 10 AM to noon at Luna Llena Taqueria (300 James Robertson Parkway, at the NW corner of JRP and 3rd Avenue North).  The parking lot next door is now under new management and no longer gives free parking to La Luna customers, so either be prepared to pay there, or seek out free parking on some of the neighboring side streets, or free spaces in the State Employee lots a few blocks to the north.

Some of the stories that we will be discussing include:   12 story tower on top of existing garage at 217 3rd Ave. North;  River North Landings to get underway with 13 acre development featuring 1,100 residential units, etc;  Flank Hotel being redesigned from 20 to 16 stories and renamed 1100 Porter Hotel;  Apple Store announced as corner tenant at 5th & Broadway;  Two new boutique hotels announced for East Nashville, and another for downtown;  Metro Planning Commission adopts the Vision for Music Row plan; new airport diagrams for gate expansion;  a handful of corporate relocations that could mean over 2,000 new jobs in the area; and much more.  A full agenda will be posted on this thread in the next few days.

Looking forward to another great meeting.  Hope to see you there!   : )

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I was hoping to get a map made with parking options but my computer is being repaired. Free parking available at State lot 14 at the corner of Harrison and 4th. Its maybe a 3 block walk. Someone please let me know if this is not the case, but as far as I know all state lots are free on the weekends.

All of the parking lots are a minimum of $10 for 2 hours or so and on street parking at a meter is $2 dollars an hour with a two hour min.

I am unsure what the cost is in the courthouse garage but I think it starts at $5.

Is it me or is parking a rip off in downtown Nashville.

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