Nashville Bits and Pieces

[nashvylle]

I have not been following this lawsuit closely. Can anyone confirm if we are going to lose out on having Google Fiber in Nashville?

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2018/01/08/metro-wont-appeal-loss-in-google-fiber-lawsuit.html

 

 

[Pdt2f]

3 hours ago, nashvylle said:

I have not been following this lawsuit closely. Can anyone confirm if we are going to lose out on having Google Fiber in Nashville?

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2018/01/08/metro-wont-appeal-loss-in-google-fiber-lawsuit.html

 

 

I can’t imagine they would. They’ve already spent a small fortune on laying the infrastructure for it, giving up now wouldn’t make sense. Perhaps one of our resident lawyers would be able to offer their opinion?

[Nashville Cliff]

I think Google decided not to wait for the lawsuit, gave up on pole attachments, and went the narrow trench route instead. I just got my notice that they are ready to come complete my installation and start my service, so they aren't giving up.

[smeagolsfree]

14 hours ago, nashvylle said:

I have not been following this lawsuit closely. Can anyone confirm if we are going to lose out on having Google Fiber in Nashville?

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2018/01/08/metro-wont-appeal-loss-in-google-fiber-lawsuit.html

 

 

The law suit only affects the 20 % of pole not owned by Metro or NES. It is only the pole owned by Comcast, AT & T. The way I understand it is that you have to have the folks from AT & T or Comcast do the work on those poles and not a 3rd party contractor able to do the work on any pole they need to access.

 

Its complicated, so if any one can correct me or add anything to this, please do.

16 hours ago, MLBrumby said:

With the median price going up that much, it appears to be a shortage of houses causing the decline. With all the apartments going up at the moment, I wouldn't be surprised if we see a bumper crop of townhouses going up in the near-in suburbs, and even at key intersections in areas farther out.

 

I am already seeing a lot of permits, and items on Development Tracker confirming your assumption of townhomes in the burbs. Lots happening in Antioch for sure. Starting to see some in Bordeaux as well, but not as widespread. More coming to E Nashville as well, as would be the case in Madison.

Right now, there is not really a neighborhood in Nashville that is being left untouched.

 

The area that will see a lot of change over the next five years will be the McKissack Park area. Already happening there.

 

[MidTenn1]

1 hour ago, smeagolsfree said:

The law suit only affects the 20 % of pole not owned by Metro or NES. It is only the pole owned by Comcast, AT & T. The way I understand it is that you have to have the folks from AT & T or Comcast do the work on those poles and not a 3rd party contractor able to do the work on any pole they need to access.

 

Its complicated, so if any one can correct me or add anything to this, please do.

 

I am already seeing a lot of permits, and items on Development Tracker confirming your assumption of townhomes in the burbs. Lots happening in Antioch for sure. Starting to see some in Bordeaux as well, but not as widespread. More coming to E Nashville as well, as would be the case in Madison.

Right now, there is not really a neighborhood in Nashville that is being left untouched.

 

The area that will see a lot of change over the next five years will be the McKissack Park area. Already happening there.

 

Typically, on projects to install fiber cable on existing poles to provide interconnection for traffic signals, TDOT (managing the installation on the local communities behalf) would contract with the local power company to 'make ready' their poles by moving lines up and down on the pole to provide a clear space for installation of the new cable.  Sometimes funds were available to do this through state or federal funding, but often the City would pay for the work at it's own expense. The power company would generally do that work through their own staff or contractors whom they could manage. 

TDOT never required a privately owned company to perform relocation of cable without some form of permission and remuneration as we had little legal influence over them. They had a right to use the public right-of-way as much as anyone, by law, although TDOT was the first among equals and could require pole and underground relocation, but only if roadway construction improvements require it.

However, the signal cable was for usage in operating the roads and fit that particular mission appropriately. I can't imagine the legal difficulties in doing all this make-ready on behalf of a private, for-profit corporation. Glad I retired. 

[Hey_Hey]

2 hours ago, smeagolsfree said:

The law suit only affects the 20 % of pole not owned by Metro or NES. It is only the pole owned by Comcast, AT & T. The way I understand it is that you have to have the folks from AT & T or Comcast do the work on those poles and not a 3rd party contractor able to do the work on any pole they need to access.

Its complicated, so if any one can correct me or add anything to this, please do.

I believe this latest lawsuit actually applied to the 80% that were owned by NES.  Roughly 20% of the poles in the city are owned by AT&T and 80% are owned by NES. There were two separate lawsuits filed by AT&T, one that targeted the AT&T owned poles and one that targeted the NES poles. A judge had previously ruled the city had no right to allow "One Touch Made Read" on the 20% of poles owned by AT&T, while this latest lawsuit also says that the city cannot mandate  One Touch Made Ready on NES poles. I believe the argument made by AT&T was that policies regarding utility poles falls under the jurisdiction of the federal goverment. As such, no city can trump what the federal goverment says is the law.

Edited January 9, 2018 by Hey_Hey

[markhollin]

These are amazing numbers on hotels in the central part of the city...

 

[titanhog]

1 hour ago, markhollin said:

These are amazing numbers on hotels in the central part of the city...

 

Shows how crazy the demand has gotten...and also how much the room rates have gone up (even with more hotels coming on line).  Will be interesting to see where the room rates go in a year or two.

[Pdt2f]

2 hours ago, titanhog said:

Shows how crazy the demand has gotten...and also how much the room rates have gone up (even with more hotels coming on line).  Will be interesting to see where the room rates go in a year or two.

I hope the rates go down quite a bit. Not only so that Nashville would see more conventions that bring in tax money and economic opportunity, but I would love to stay at a few of these new hotels, especially the boutique hotels like the Noelle and Holston House, without having to spend $450 per night. They’re almost prohibitively expensive right now. 

[markhollin]

Almost 600,000 people stayed at the homes of Airbnb hosts in Nashville in 2017, a nearly 70 percent jump from the prior year.

And that surging pool of guests, part of the city's ongoing tourism boom, opened their wallets while in town, according to an economic impact report compiled by the company and provided to the Nashville Business Journal.

According to the report, Airbnb guests spent $304 million at Nashville merchants in 2017, an increase of nearly 60 percent from 2016, when guests spent an estimated $191 million.

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2018/01/10/amid-continued-controversy-airbnb-touts.html

[thenorthchannel]

Chargers to host Titans in London in 2018!   Looks like a late October game, either the 21st or 28th.

http://www.titansonline.com/news/article-4/Titans-to-Play-Chargers-in-London-in-2018/2daae7fa-ceae-4f19-8fba-daf3e32da0c9

[PaulChinetti]

21 hours ago, markhollin said:

Almost 600,000 people stayed at the homes of Airbnb hosts in Nashville in 2017, a nearly 70 percent jump from the prior year.

And that surging pool of guests, part of the city's ongoing tourism boom, opened their wallets while in town, according to an economic impact report compiled by the company and provided to the Nashville Business Journal.

According to the report, Airbnb guests spent $304 million at Nashville merchants in 2017, an increase of nearly 60 percent from 2016, when guests spent an estimated $191 million.

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2018/01/10/amid-continued-controversy-airbnb-touts.html

600k people seems like a ton, what is that compared to those occupancy percentages from the hotel info that you posted above @markhollin

[titanhog]

2 hours ago, PaulChinetti said:

600k people seems like a ton, what is that compared to those occupancy percentages from the hotel info that you posted above @markhollin

I think this is part of the reason there is such a stink going on with AirBnB in Nashville...with some neighborhoods fighting it.  There have been a lot of investors buying up homes and basically turning them into hotels...sometimes several homes in one neighborhood.  Once I saw a tv piece on what's happening, it suddenly made sense why some homeowners do not want the status quo to remain.  Some of these AirBnB units really should be in areas zoned differently than residential.

[AronG]

Rent report says average Nashville 1-bedroom rent for 2017 was down 1.6% to $1,354, 6th largest decrease in the country. Which seems healthy considering that rate is higher than Denver ($1,299), Philly ($1,260), and Austin ($1,142), among others.

https://www.abodo.com/blog/2017-annual-rent-report/

[bigeasy]

Well maybe that means the prices of houses will go down as well (Except for mine, that can keep increasing)

[PaulChinetti]

I can definitely feel for the people that are around investor owned houses, they don't have neighbors and I'm sure it's can be annoying. 

I think Airbnb offers something that I'm not sure how a hotel company could offer. Large groups all in one place, I doubt they would ever share their numbers but that has to be were Airbnb makes most of their money. You aren't ever going to find a hotel room that can sleep 6 or more comfortably for an affordable rate. 

[Hey_Hey]

The other issue is that AirBNB doesn't hit all areas of the city equally.  If the 4000 short term rentals were spread throughout the city evenly then it wouldn't be as big of an issue.  However, the reality is that these STRs are concentrating where visitors would be in close proximity to the areas they want to visit (Germantown, Salemtown, 12South, East Nashville, Edgehill, etc).   That creates a situation in which people living in Bellevue are largely unaffected by STRs while someone living in Lockeland Springs is affected on a daily basis. 

I understand the legal conundrum that the city is in, however.  For as long as anyone can remember, a hotel or large apartment can't be placed in the middle of a residential neighborhood.  However, someone can rent out their house for 31 days or longer to someone wanting to live in it.  Where does that leave a house that can be rented out from 1-30 days? I think the cutoff needs to occur at non-owner occupied houses.  

There has long been a tension in Nashville over recording studios in homes. Technically they are illegal, even if the person is living in the house.  However, why can someone turn their house into a business that functions like a small hotel while a neighbor can't record music for profit out of their house?  It seems that a zoning law change allowing owner occupied homes to be used for STRs or home recording (or other businesses that don't have a lot of traffic or require signage) would be a good policy.  

[titanhog]

In one interview I saw, a person was saying both houses on either side of her own had become full-time AirBNB homes...and that there would be new residents on both sides of her ever 2-3 days...and these people rarely followed the "rules of the neighborhood"...and would often have more cars than would fit in the driveway...and take up needed parking on the street...and make noise at all times of the night.  As Hey_Hey intimated...there are some neighborhoods that are rumored to have more AirBNB homes than homeowner-occupied homes.

[Binbin98]

http://www.eonline.com/news/905961/andy-cohen-s-choice-for-the-next-real-housewives-city-is

 

Looks like we are getting another reality TV show here in Nashville (although I don't know if it will be filmed here or not). TLDR: Andy Cohen of the Real Housewives wants to bring the next spinoff of the show to Nashville, so in the near future there probably will be a Real Housewives of Nashville on TV.

 

I don't like this show but hey if it makes the city more money than I say bring it on. Nashville these days is really starting to feel like a mini LA!

[PaulChinetti]

22 hours ago, titanhog said:

In one interview I saw, a person was saying both houses on either side of her own had become full-time AirBNB homes...and that there would be new residents on both sides of her ever 2-3 days...and these people rarely followed the "rules of the neighborhood"...and would often have more cars than would fit in the driveway...and take up needed parking on the street...and make noise at all times of the night.  As Hey_Hey intimated...there are some neighborhoods that are rumored to have more AirBNB homes than homeowner-occupied homes.

I wonder how all the hotels coming online in the near future will effect this. Will it just work itself out when hotels aren't 400 dollars a night?

[tragenvol]

On 1/12/2018 at 4:19 PM, Binbin98 said:

http://www.eonline.com/news/905961/andy-cohen-s-choice-for-the-next-real-housewives-city-is

 

Looks like we are getting another reality TV show here in Nashville (although I don't know if it will be filmed here or not). TLDR: Andy Cohen of the Real Housewives wants to bring the next spinoff of the show to Nashville, so in the near future there probably will be a Real Housewives of Nashville on TV.

 

I don't like this show but hey if it makes the city more money than I say bring it on. Nashville these days is really starting to feel like a mini LA!

Private Lives of Nashville Wives only made one season, but then it wasn't the "Real Housewives" brand.

Edited January 16, 2018 by tragenvol

[NashvilleObserver]

4 hours ago, tragenvol said:

Private Lives of Nashville Wives only made one season, but then it was the "Real Housewives" brand.

And they used people from Lebanon... definitely not on-par with Real Housewives. (I'm Lebanon born and raised so I can say this)

[GreenHillsBoy]

On 1/12/2018 at 12:40 PM, Hey_Hey said:

The other issue is that AirBNB doesn't hit all areas of the city equally.  If the 4000 short term rentals were spread throughout the city evenly then it wouldn't be as big of an issue.  However, the reality is that these STRs are concentrating where visitors would be in close proximity to the areas they want to visit (Germantown, Salemtown, 12South, East Nashville, Edgehill, etc).   That creates a situation in which people living in Bellevue are largely unaffected by STRs while someone living in Lockeland Springs is affected on a daily basis. 

I understand the legal conundrum that the city is in, however.  For as long as anyone can remember, a hotel or large apartment can't be placed in the middle of a residential neighborhood.  However, someone can rent out their house for 31 days or longer to someone wanting to live in it.  Where does that leave a house that can be rented out from 1-30 days? I think the cutoff needs to occur at non-owner occupied houses.  

There has long been a tension in Nashville over recording studios in homes. Technically they are illegal, even if the person is living in the house.  However, why can someone turn their house into a business that functions like a small hotel while a neighbor can't record music for profit out of their house?  It seems that a zoning law change allowing owner occupied homes to be used for STRs or home recording (or other businesses that don't have a lot of traffic or require signage) would be a good policy.  

I know several people in 12South where the AIRBNB's cause real problems with parking, loud partying, trash, etc.  On the other hand , I have one across from me in Green Hills and it causes no problems at all.  

[markhollin]

Nashville comes in at #13 nationally in most expensive average hotel room rate at $143.16 per night:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2018/01/17/ranked-see-how-nashville-compares-to-the-countrys.html

[markhollin]

Last quarter of 2017 report on office leasing space in Nashville.   Class A space continues to be at a premium, but more is coming on line. Very healthy overall.

https://cdn.baseplatform.io/files/base/scomm/nvp/document/2018/01/Nashville_Americas_MarketBeat_Office_Q42017.5a60e73412d2f.pdf