Nashville Bits and Pieces

[Hey_Hey]

I love having rear alleys because garages/parking pads can be in the back. Couple that with small front setbacks and the back yard can still be large enough to be useful. In addition alleys allows trash service, landscape pickup, utilities, sewers and other "undesireable" realities of residential life to be out of sight.

[rookzie]

I dont see anything wrong with them. Whats the alternative? Just a driveway? Rear garages? I think garages in the rear kind of kill the backyard. Idk just being devils advocate

 

The alternative, albeit more costly and utilizing more land, is to do what they have done in Norfolk, Va., during the last 30-40 years even for townhouses ─ the inclusion of the good ol' alley or "mews" as it is referred to, for rear parking and waste collection.

 

Although the term "mews" is an old term, really referring to a row of stables and small apartments on a narrow court, it is nothing more than a fancy name for an alley, in the context of contemporary urban residential construction.  I know that for subdivision and "sprawl"-type new residential development, the norm is to build with garages in the front, for single-family detached homes, the same could be done with off-street parking in the rear, with or without garages.

 

Boissevain and Olney Mews, Norfolk, Va.

 

Van Wyck and Westover Mews, Norfolk, Va

 

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Edited January 19, 2015 by rookzie

[CenterHill]

That's just it. These developments, usually sited on what was previously farmland, are designed from scratch by teams of developers, engineers, designers and architects. It's not like the houses had to be designed to sit behind front facing garages because of space limitations or topography. The developer has made a conscious choice to lay out the street grid and lots in this manner. There were alternatives available in the planning process that were dismissed, overlooked or ignored. Automobile storage is a key selling feature, for sure. But it can just as easily be designed on the side, rear or, as Rookzie says, via alley access. I just find it surprising, in an unpleasant way, that here in the midst of a national trend toward re-urbanism (walkable = good, sprawl = bad), there are still developers spewing out this 1960s auto-centric, cul-de-sac product.

[Nathan_in_DC]

I never ever ever ever ever thought I'd have seen Norfolk or the Hampton Roads area used as an example for how Nashville should proceed since I lived there a couple years ago...

[rookzie]

I never ever ever ever ever thought I'd have seen Norfolk or the Hampton Roads area used as an example for how Nashville should proceed since I lived there a couple years ago...

 

Not "endorsing" the HR region in general, but I myself vividly recall one or two things there of the past that stood out in my mind, after a stint of 10 years or so in Va.Bch and Nfk. during the '80s-'90s.  I lived on a street in Nfk, with one of those "mews" alleys in the back.  I just used that particular case as an example of an alternative in "newish" construction.

 

Indeed, there were things and ways of doing things there, that I just utterly hated.

 

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Edited January 19, 2015 by rookzie

[TNinVB]

Oh trust me, there are PLENTY of front facing garages here in Virginia Beach

[volsfanwill]

so front facing the road with nice sidewalks and driveways in the rear?  Like this?

 

this. by willfry, on Flickr

 

thisis in Franklin believe it or not. 

[MLBrumby]

I lived in Dallas a short time when I started out in law... and the vast majority of neighborhoods all around it (from early 1900s... to present) have rear facing garage access to alleys.  It took a little getting used to at first... but then it all made sense.  And it tends to be quite private with the fencing.  Granted, in Texas most people are not trying to preserve a view out their back windows.  And front facing garages make all the sense in the world when the house is on a lake of mountain bluff, but I realize that's not what we're talking about here. 

[TheRaglander]

so front facing the road with nice sidewalks and driveways in the rear? Like this?

this. by willfry, on Flickr

thisis in Franklin believe it or not.

Yes that's McKays Mill. I live there. Problem is no one uses the damn alleys and park on the main streets. It's a pain. I love the idea but Jones Co really screwed up the design. ...as they do with everything.

[volsfanwill]

yes, it is, I remember my senior year of highschool when the very first houses were being built there that it was such a good idea. I also remember thinking that a subdivision that big with its only entrance on a narrow country road (clovercroft) was a horrible idea,

It wasnt till I moved back a little over a year ago that I discovered that it now connected to a rerouted and extended liberty pike. 

[MLBrumby]

Thought some of you might enjoy this article I found tonight.  I've never heard of the "Skyscraper Index".  FYI... it has to do with investment cycles coinciding with the construction of new "world's tallest" buildings. 

 

http://jessefelder.tumblr.com/post/108781893015/the-skyscraper-index-is-flashing-another-sell

Edited January 22, 2015 by MLBrumby

[NashvilleTaylor]

I have noticed that trend. He forgot to point out the Petronus Towers which were built during the asian market collapse of the late 90's, or that the current tallest, the Burj Khalifa, was topped out in 2008. So lets wait and see if the trend continues once the new worlds tallest building, the kilometer high kingdom tower, is finished

Edited January 22, 2015 by NashvilleTaylor

[Paramount747]

Thought I would share this link. NYC has about 10 buildings in the 1000 foot + range going up. Most are over 1300 feet. Check this site out:

 

www.newyorkyimby.com

 

Enjoy!

[volsfanwill]

wow, the top of that 30 park place is beautiful, I cant believe it is new.

[e-dub]

http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashvillecream/archives/2015/01/23/12th-and-porter-to-close-feb-28

[grilled_cheese]

http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashvillecream/archives/2015/01/23/12th-and-porter-to-close-feb-28

 

Terrible, terrible news.  While not my favorite venue or one that I often saw shows at it was a great stage for up and coming artists.  This is much more of a loss than anything on Music Row.

 

I was at that KoL show in '04.  It was free too.

[titanhog]

Terrible, terrible news.  While not my favorite venue or one that I often saw shows at it was a great stage for up and coming artists.  This is much more of a loss than anything on Music Row.

 

I was at that KoL show in '04.  It was free too.

We lost the Rutledge, too.  Those were two great stages for up-and-coming bands...and the ownership of both places were willing to allow unknowns to break in at those clubs. Sad news.

[MLBrumby]

I spent many a Saturday night at 12th&P. And people may not recall that the food there was quite good too. I think Jody Faison (what happened to him?) was definitely on the early leading edge of Nashville's culinary surge. Back then (88-92) he was considered an up-and-comer. I'd read things years after that he was a mentor to a lot of chefs in town. 

[Paramount747]

You guys may dig this website. I just liked them on facebook:

 

http://www.multihousingnews.com/

[smeagolsfree]

That's a good site. Have been looking on there for years.

[farm_boy]

Right place at the right time ....

 

.... but not a clue !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[NashRugger]

Probably HVAC repair or the like.

[East Side Urbanite]

As most of you know, I am pro-Nashville, in large part, because my family and friends live here and I have a vested interest (through my job and just because I'm a resident) in seeing the city do well. I am biased, and understandably so.  

 

But if I take a step back and look at Nashville objectively, I realize there are many warts.

 

On this theme, it is no secret that my favorite type cities tend to, compared to Nashville, 1. be much larger, more cosmopolitan and more vibrant; 2. offer mass transit; 3. be located on a major body of water; 4. display more vintage building stock; 5. offer more building density (i.e., nice connectivity and minimal "dead space"); 6. offer more mixed-use buildings; and 7. offer better streetscaping and infrastructure in the residential areas located outside downtown.

 

With this said, I would not choose to move to Nashville if I lived in, hypothetically, Seattle and my employer offered to transfer me to relocate to either Boston or Nashville (assuming I knew nobody in either city). I would move to Boston and likely would not even consider Nashville. 

 

So that begs the question: Hypothetically, if I lived in a peer city (Austin, Charlotte, Indy, etc.) and visited Nashville for the first time, what WOULD I like with Nashville's built form and function?. 

 

Note: The following list has very little to do with Nashville's demographics/people, retail, housing, climate, geography, crime, etc. of the city — all of which would have minimal, if any, impact, if I were to visit Nashville in this hypothetical. 

 

So here we go: The good about Nashville's built form and function were I a nonresident and to visit for the first time:

 

* Strong examples of civic projects (public art, main library, police precincts, community centers, Music City Center, amphitheater, ballpark, Music City Central, the arena, Shelby ped bridge, etc.)

 

* A respectable collection (within older residential areas) of three types of historic homes I strongly value: the American foursquare, the Victorian and the bungalow

 

* Some quirky street elements such as roundabouts, narrow streets and "V's/splits" (e.g., Lafayette, Broad and Division, Division and Demonbreun, West End and Broad, West End and Elliston Place, 11th and 12th in The Gulch, etc.)

 

* Four "non-downtown/Midtown" mixed-used districts of respectable size and vibrancy (12South, Five Points, Germantown and Hillsboro Village)

 

* Lots of new buildings

 

* The almost-dramatic contrast along 21st with the wall of VUMC buildings on the west side of the street and the stately and historic Peabody campus on the east side.

 

* Midtown (for a mid-size city, it is like a mini downtown)

 

*  Four "urban" universities of note: (Fisk, Meharry, Belmont and Vanderbilt; I don't consider the other colleges and universities either urban or large enough to merit inclusion on this list)

 

*  The Gulch

 

* The Music City Circuit bus system that connects the CBD to The Gulch

 

* Three viaducts (Church, Broad and Demonbreun) connecting Midtown to downtown

 

* Capitol Hill (the five buildings and how they frame the hill)

 

WW

[smeagolsfree]

I do know a lot of people move here because there is a vibe about Nashville, that is not in other cities. I think sometimes reasons are subjective.

 

As far as the Portland and Seattle areas, I am sure they are nice places to live. However for me I have no desire to live in the NW. I hate cold weather and I think that plays a huge role in where people determine to live. Not always the hip factor. If this were the case we would not be gaining residents. Charlotte and Indy are OK, but again no desire to move there even if i were looking. So with that being said I think personal taste account for a lot including the economy. People want to be where there is a lot happening and right now, there is a lot happening in Nashville.

 

 

Every city has its warts. I think it has a lot to do with where someone is from originally. I would never move to Boston for three reasons, The weather, the coast, and I would have a hard time understanding the people there.

 

I know you are a fan of water and I am not, so all of these things play a larger part than one might think.

 

I have lived in or visited many places as we have discussed. There are few places I would consider moving to.

[rookzie]

To me a lot of it depends on the point in calendar time (years) and the point of my life during which I have lived in a place.  I lived in the Boston, and DC areas (of a few in the past), and I had been quite young, even younger when I first had lived in DC, where I had moved back and forth.  Trends and events and states of the environment, and a whole lot of other factors of which we not often consciously aware during these periods, can and generally differ drastically from those of current.

 

Back in 1973 I had not wanted to move back to Nashville from Boston at the time that I did, because back then I had believed that things were the way that I had wanted them to be (as I had perceived) but now I doubt that I ever would even visit Boston by choice, even though I had adapted well to the dialect and quirks there way back then.  The activities, mix of people (a rather cosmopolitan interaction), and the purpose of being there at the time are not necessarily what I prefer or even value today. Yet the things that hadn't really mattered to me back then do so now, and some matters even have become foremost, which had never entered my mind back then.  Like, when I had moved to Boston (1969), I had only had my driver's license for 2 years and so being young and full of pi$$, I valued driving and being the one who did the driving.  Having lived in Boston, which is well recognized as having one of the most comprehensive coverage of any domestic transit system (even though much of it is "heritage", rather new), I came to rely on that means of conveyance quite early (since driving in the Northeast rapidly became a wake-up call for me to turn it in).  At all-way stops there, drivers don't stop at the white line and instead they all enter the intersection and simply roll to a creep and then drive around each other, like walking in a crowded concourse.  It didn't scare me, but I had to get used to it fast.  Drivers as a rule had to be rude, and I adapted rather well in that respect (summa sprite laude).  The native pronunciations of the announced stops like "Ahhh-ling-t'n" (Arlington), and regional 'burbs like "Woo-buhn" (Woburn), "Limm-n-stuh" (Leominster), and "Hay-vr'l" (Haverhill) took some getting used, but I was really young back then, like late teens, very early 20s.  (signed up at at the military draft board at the Cambridge City Hall).  If I were still that young, I likely might have found a calling in the Boston area, only because it had become the new norm for me and because I had been there for a definite reason.  Now I am over 3 times the age I had been when I left the area, and there is nothing that likely would attract me to return there, save maybe a 200K-dollar salary.

 

Fast forward ─ now I almost hate driving, and my age and early onset of "senior" intolerance has led me to even hate having to drive to our forum meetings (although I'm not singular in not loving to drive anywhere close to downtown).  Also being a home-owner at any location makes a difference (for me first in Roanoke, Va, and 20 years later in Nashv'l), especially when one puts a lot of customization into it to her/his flavor.  As we get older (and hopefully can make fewer unwise decisions), bias almost grows exponentially toward not wanting to pick up and relocate.  As recently as 2005 I could have been "enticed" by the market to relocate but likely to some place where I had already been at least once.  That would have been as a stop-gap professional purpose, and I may or may not have have adjusted to the move beyond wanting to return to Nashv'l.  One of my foremost values of an urban area is mobility, especially as I grow older and "less- capacitated", but I doubt seriously that I would use that as a basis for where I might relocate.

 

I think that most people who would "pollinate" to a site yet unseen, probably comprise the young white-collar workforce, who, in a state of active professional mobility, likely would be compelled to relocate to such places.  I believe that this is what's happening to Nashv'l.

 

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Edited January 26, 2015 by rookzie