Nashville Bits and Pieces

[markhollin]

Nashville hotels are in an amenities arms race:

https://www.tennessean.com/story/money/2018/07/02/nashville-hotels-amenity-arms-race-omni-westin-bobby-thompson/730942002/

[smeagolsfree]

1 hour ago, markhollin said:

^ ^ ^ A total of 1,600 employees in Nashville at this moment.

Just a clarification, the 1600 jobs are at Dell not 1600 at Nokian.

[dmillsphoto]

52 minutes ago, smeagolsfree said:

Just a clarification, the 1600 jobs are at Dell not 1600 at Nokian.

Nokian has been here a long time, and I think it's been roughly 30-50 people. For comparison, I think Hankook's move here brought a total of 80 people?

[nashvylle]

5 hours ago, Pdt2f said:

I don’t have a subscription, does it say anywhere how many employees they will have at their HQ? Any hint about where they might be looking for the office space?

They expect fewer than 100 employees in 3-5 years. A dozen for the immediate term. 

They are currently at 501 Union. 

They hope to be like Bridgestone, but that’s a ways away. 

[PaulChinetti]

5 hours ago, markhollin said:

Nashville hotels are in an amenities arms race:

https://www.tennessean.com/story/money/2018/07/02/nashville-hotels-amenity-arms-race-omni-westin-bobby-thompson/730942002/

"As a lodging market booms, it’s common to see “amenity creep,” where hotels add services to attract guests instead of lowering rates to fight off competition, said Greg Hanis, a hotel industry analyst with Hospitality Marketers.  "

That was my first thought, why not lower your rates, ha.

[fishsticks176]

"Amid Scandal and Explosive Growth, Nashville Ponders Its Future":

http://www.governing.com/topics/urban/gov-nashville.html

[titanhog]

43 minutes ago, fishsticks176 said:

"Amid Scandal and Explosive Growth, Nashville Ponders Its Future":

http://www.governing.com/topics/urban/gov-nashville.html

2 million vistors in 1998 to 14 million today!  Wow!

[Neigeville2]

On 7/2/2018 at 6:56 PM, volsfanwill said:

I just returned from London. it was my first visit.  I did a lot of walking and used the subway a lot.  I am great with directions. but if it had not been for google maps i would have gotten lost constantly...

Trust me, before google maps you literally had no idea where you were once you got 100 yards from your hotel.  That city is a maze, and that's absolutely my favorite thing about it.  Fortunately when you're tired of wandering, all you have to do is find a tube station and you're back on track.  Meanwhile, it kind of forces you to be about the journey and not the destination. 

[markhollin]

Here is the full 30 minute fireworks spectacular from WKRN, Channel 2 last night.  The views from the L27 at The Westin are the best. 

https://www.wkrn.com/news/watch-fireworks-light-up-the-sky-over-nashville/1284257868 

[bigeasy]

I don't think I will ever get too old to watch fireworks. 

[markhollin]

William Williams and the Nashville Post team summarize their Top Ten picks in Nashville development news for the first half of 2018:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/article/21012097/2018s-top-reads-development

[markhollin]

Today is the 100th Anniversary of the Great Train Wreck at Dutchman's Curve on the west side of town.

http://failuremag.com/article/dutchmans-curve-train-wreck

 

[rookzie]

19 hours ago, markhollin said:

Today is the 100th Anniversary of the Great Train Wreck at Dutchman's Curve on the west side of town.

http://failuremag.com/article/dutchmans-curve-train-wreck

The anniversary actually is Monday July 9.  In long anticipation of that moment, I was going to wait until then, but I guess that this is the time, now that you've brought it on out.

The incident was a primary reason that the former USRA (United States Railroad Association) pushed standards for railway passenger car bodies to be of constructed of all steel instead of wood, as many of these cars had been.  While steel design had already been implemented by 1918, many "sub-standard" pieces of rolling stock were still deployed at that time, and involved in this incident were cars of wood, transporting mostly poorer working-class minorities from without to the job centers of the city, reportedly to a gunpowder plant.    Many of these workers were from the Mississippi Delta Region, an agriculturally rich district primarily consisting of NW state of Mississippi and smaller portions on eastern Arkansas and NE Louisiana.  The head-on collision of the two steam-locomotive powered passenger trains resulted in many deaths by scalding (ruptured steam piping) but primarily by telescoping and disintegrating of the wooden car bodies into each other, a situation exacerbated by the forward moving masses of trailing cars of both wood and of steel, not to mention the breaking of railroad ties and rails.

One might say that at the time, indeed this was somewhat of a commuter service provided by the former NC&St.L Ry. (Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis), which eventually was merged into the L&N RR (Louisville and Nashville) in 1957.  The last regularly scheduled passenger train on that segment of railroad (Nashville-Memphis) was discontinued around spring 1967 when I was in high school.

For decades, whenever I have heard the blaring of a horn of a CSX freight along Hardin Road and while I occasionally would pass beneath a freight at the Murphy Rd underpass (near Bowling Ave), I have thought about that horrific incident, which occurred behind what is now the Belle Meade Plaza Shopping Center.

Edited July 8, 2018 by rookzie

[dragonfly]

I did not know of this accident until a couple of decades ago. At the spot where Belle Meade Plaza was erected in 1960 was a meadow on a slight knoll with trees along the back and the tracks just beyond, that we used to pass by on Harding Rd from 1956 (when we moved from Love Circle to West Meade Farms) until the site was developed. I think I found out about it because of the historically monumental disaster that it was. I was blown away to find this out in my 40's , 20 years after leaving Nashville for the last time; and when reading about it thought back to that slight knoll not knowing if that had been the scene. And now I find out that it was the spot and more details that I didn't know. Am feeling very humbled and reverent right now. A lot of things about growing up at the time I did in Nashville  have had a deep effect on yours truly. 

Edited July 8, 2018 by dragonfly

[markhollin]

This is not completely accurate, but is is a summation as best as I can figure on the current state of residential, hotel, and office developments in Davidson County only:

RESIDENTIAL (this would be any multi-unit developments of more than 10 units, and at least 2 stories)
Under construction inside inner belt: 16
Under construction beyond inner belt: 59
Planned inside inner belt: 13
Planned beyond inner belt: 42
Opened in last 12 months inside inner belt: 17
Opened in last 12 months outside inner belt: 49

HOTELS
Under construction inside inner belt: 10
Under construction beyond inner belt: 19
Planned inside inner belt: 24
Planned beyond inner belt: 13
Opened in last 12 months inside inner belt: 8
Opened in last 12 months outside inner belt: 7

OFFICE  (this would be any building of 3 stories or taller)
Under construction inside inner belt: 5
Under construction beyond inner belt: 16
Planned inside inner belt: 8
Planned beyond inner belt: 15
Opened in last 12 months inside inner belt: 3
Opened in last 12 months outside inner belt: 9

 

[East Side Urbanite]

4 hours ago, markhollin said:

This is not completely accurate, but is is a summation as best as I can figure on the current state of residential, hotel, and office developments in Davidson County only:

RESIDENTIAL (this would be any multi-unit developments of more than 10 units, and at least 2 stories)
Under construction inside inner belt: 16
Under construction beyond inner belt: 59
Planned inside inner belt: 13
Planned beyond inner belt: 42
Opened in last 12 months inside inner belt: 17
Opened in last 12 months outside inner belt: 49

HOTELS
Under construction inside inner belt: 10
Under construction beyond inner belt: 19
Planned inside inner belt: 24
Planned beyond inner belt: 13
Opened in last 12 months inside inner belt: 8
Opened in last 12 months outside inner belt: 7

OFFICE  (this would be any building of 3 stories or taller)
Under construction inside inner belt: 5
Under construction beyond inner belt: 16
Planned inside inner belt: 8
Planned beyond inner belt: 15
Opened in last 12 months inside inner belt: 3
Opened in last 12 months outside inner belt: 9

 

I like this organization, MH. Also ... very, very solid numbers, if not strong. Looks good.

WW

 

[smeagolsfree]

Other cities that have halted Bird type scooters are, Charlotte, Denver, San Fran, Honolulu, Indy, Miami, and Austin.

 

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2018/07/06/fly-away-like-nashville-these-cities-said-no-to.html

[Guest]

Our experience with scooters in DC is how much of a non-issue they have become despite their ubiquitousness. For the most part they ride in the roads and I have not seen the sidewalks become a storage facility. THere was this quip...

https://www.washingtonian.com/2018/04/20/are-those-electric-scooters-actually-allowed-on-the-sidewalk-here-are-the-rules/

"

DDOT says it hasn’t heard of any scooter-related accidents, and MPD was unable to confirm whether there’d been any recorded incidents, either. Still, some lessons from cycling apply to anyone who wants to stay safe on an electric scooter: Wear a helmet, follow traffic rules, signal your turns, and always strive to be predictable. 

However, sadly there is no lesson that will keep you from looking like a dork on a scooter."

Now, if you want to talk about the major issue here it would be the lockable and deckles bicycles! Think pedal-taverns, rolling barn-wagons, bridal-parties, and scooters all-in-one. They are everywhere - sidewalks and streets - and treat pedestrians like flags on a downhill slalom course.
 

[satalac]

I've noticed that Nashville has been the site of some auto manufacturers press releases of their vehicles. And not just Nissan.

https://www.motortrend.ca/en/news/2019-lexus-es-first-drive-review/

https://www.motortrend.com/cars/mercedes-benz/e-class/2018/2018-mercedes-amg-e-63-s-review/

It's interesting that these luxury car companies are choosing Nashville for this. Now granted the AMG E63 was probably more due to the proximity of the track by the Corvette plant in Bowling Green, but they sure love to take pictures of the cars around SoBro. 

[smeagolsfree]

Normally I do not post an entire article but this one is of note.  Tennessee is not in the top ten as a business freindly state.

All is not roses here regurdless of all the positive news.

 

Tennessee is no longer among the top 10 states for business, according to a recent analysis by CNBC.

The Volunteer State ranked No. 13 on CNBC's 2018 list of "America's Top States for Business," down from No. 9 in 2017.

Texas ranked No. 1 on this year's list and Alaska came in last.  You can check out of the full rankings here.

Health could have been the pitfall for Tennessee this year. Among the categories, Tennessee performed the worst in quality of life, where the state ranked No. 47, down from last year’s ranking at No. 42.

CNBC judges quality of life based largely on overall health of the state’s population. Tennessee ranks dead last in the nation for childhood obesity, No. 45 in adult obesity and No. 46 in adults with heart disease, according to think tank Think Tennessee.

Tennessee also dropped from No. 5 to No. 7 among states with the best economies, and went from No. 4 to No. 8 in business friendliness, although Tennessee’s low costs are still driving companies like AllianceBernstein to move their headquarters to the state.

Tennessee ranked No. 15 in cost of doing business, a big dip from last year’s ranking at No. 6, which is in line with the Nashville Business Journal’s recent report indicating that Nashville’s construction cost are continuing to mount.

The only categories Tennessee performed better in this year were education and cost of living — the latter of which is in contrast to concerns about housing prices in Nashville. A recent report examining the city's growth noted that housing affordability will present a major challenge for the city in the coming years.  

See how this year’s rankings for Tennessee compare to 2017 in the graph below. Remember that a lower ranking indicates a positive score for the state, while a higher ranking reflects poorly on the state.

 

 

Also another article from walletthub ranked TN at the bottom of the best and worst run cities. Nashville came in at 111 due to Nashville being tied for the highest debt ratio per capita in the nation.

[satalac]

1 hour ago, smeagolsfree said:

Normally I do not post an entire article but this one is of note.  Tennessee is not in the top ten as a business freindly state.

All is not roses here regurdless of all the positive news.

 

Tennessee is no longer among the top 10 states for business, according to a recent analysis by CNBC.

The Volunteer State ranked No. 13 on CNBC's 2018 list of "America's Top States for Business," down from No. 9 in 2017.

Texas ranked No. 1 on this year's list and Alaska came in last.  You can check out of the full rankings here.

Health could have been the pitfall for Tennessee this year. Among the categories, Tennessee performed the worst in quality of life, where the state ranked No. 47, down from last year’s ranking at No. 42.

CNBC judges quality of life based largely on overall health of the state’s population. Tennessee ranks dead last in the nation for childhood obesity, No. 45 in adult obesity and No. 46 in adults with heart disease, according to think tank Think Tennessee.

Tennessee also dropped from No. 5 to No. 7 among states with the best economies, and went from No. 4 to No. 8 in business friendliness, although Tennessee’s low costs are still driving companies like AllianceBernstein to move their headquarters to the state.

Tennessee ranked No. 15 in cost of doing business, a big dip from last year’s ranking at No. 6, which is in line with the Nashville Business Journal’s recent report indicating that Nashville’s construction cost are continuing to mount.

The only categories Tennessee performed better in this year were education and cost of living — the latter of which is in contrast to concerns about housing prices in Nashville. A recent report examining the city's growth noted that housing affordability will present a major challenge for the city in the coming years.  

See how this year’s rankings for Tennessee compare to 2017 in the graph below. Remember that a lower ranking indicates a positive score for the state, while a higher ranking reflects poorly on the state.

 

 

Also another article from walletthub ranked TN at the bottom of the best and worst run cities. Nashville came in at 111 due to Nashville being tied for the highest debt ratio per capita in the nation.

FAKE NEWS!

(am I doing this right?)

[Guest]

Wow! Thank the transit Gods the good citizens of Nashville wisely choose NOT to add $9,000,000,000 to that mountain of debt.

One would think our Metro politicians would have mentioned this tidbit in the run-up to the referendum....you know for $hits and giggles...

4 hours ago, satalac said:

Also another article from walletthub ranked TN at the bottom of the best and worst run cities. Nashville came in at 111 due to Nashville being tied for the highest debt ratio per capita in the nation

 

Edited July 11, 2018 by Guest

[fishsticks176]

Nashville Population Boom Creates Condo Shortage But Investor Opportunities: 

http://www.crossroadstoday.com/story/38608608/nashville-population-boom-creates-condo-shortage-but-investor-opportunities

Edited July 11, 2018 by fishsticks176

[AronG]

10 hours ago, nashville_bound said:

Wow! Thank the transit Gods the good citizens of Nashville wisely choose NOT to add $9,000,000,000 to that mountain of debt.

One would think our Metro politicians would have mentioned this tidbit in the run-up to the referendum....you know for $hits and giggles...

 

I know it's nice to confirm your priors, but I believe the debt ratio in question was personal debt, not metro.

[Vrtigo]

15 hours ago, satalac said:

FAKE NEWS!

(am I doing this right?)

Yes, except for quoting the entire post. My scrolling finger is getting its own single-digit version of carpal tunnel from this forum in recent days. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Trimming_and_reformatting