Nashville Bits and Pieces

[bigeasy]

Great....now I am going to be glued onto this site more

[smeagolsfree]

Days of Midtown strip club numbered as Vastland buys property.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/morning_call/2013/10/vastland-snags-midtown-strip-club.html

[ariesjow]

I'm all for some development on Hayes Street. It's woefully under-utilized to be a block away from West End. 

[UTgrad09]

I'm all for some development on Hayes Street. It's woefully under-utilized to be a block away from West End. 

 

I think the big concern right now is that a lot of the West End projects that back up to Hayes don't address Hayes at all. To put it bluntly, they use Hayes as the ass-end of their developments.

 

We need a few things to pop up on Hayes (and that spot around 17th-19th is perfect for it) to change the way developments on the main drag affect that street. Otherwise, it becomes a glorified alley.

[nashvillwill]

That is one of the problems with Hayes that I'm afraid we will be stuck with, even with new developments. As a part of all the current buildings "turning their ass" towards Hayes, means that all of the mechanicals face the street. Hayes is very loud. When you walk down it, the roar of HVAC, water pumps and idling trucks in loading docks is very unpleasant. And when the hospital had it's back up generators running, fughetaboutit!

Unfortunately, that is going to take a generation or two to fix.

When I lived in the Lee, Loews would have all the tour buses park behind the garage on Hayes St. They would idle all night long. This is directly across from the Lee apartments which has 100 or more units. We petitioned for a noise ordinance once, but were shot down.

[dmillsphoto]

The Hickory Hollow/Global Mall @ The Crossings/Whatever it's called breaks ground today on new ice. Although not a fan of malls or suburbs, I am excited for new ice!

 

https://twitter.com/PredsNHL/status/387992584938745856/photo/1

[MLBrumby]

Ok... thanks for posting.  I wasn't sure where to put this.  Here is a pic from the Predators' website.... 

 

So question... What's going to happen to the ice rink at Centennial? 

[RandomHero]

 

 

So question... What's going to happen to the ice rink at Centennial? 

 

Why would anything happen to it? The reason this new ice is being built is because the current 4 rinks can't meet the demand from the public. 

[MLBrumby]

Just asking a logical question. As I don't live in Nashville, I don't know if the reason a new rink is being built at Hickory Hollow is because something is going to be done to the Centennial rink (there is a construction project ongoing there).  I'm simply asking what prompted the need for a new one in Antioch. 

[nashvillwill]

The rink at Centenial will remain as the main practice facility for the Preds. This new rink will be an alternate practice facility for them, but will mostly serve the public/schools. The rink schedule at Centenial has been booked solid for years. The ice in Franklin is very busy as well. This new ice will fill a need for the public as well as providing ice in an unserved market.

[MLBrumby]

Thanks!  Apparently, hockey is very popular in Nashville these days.  I enjoy watching the Preds on our local FSS (Fox Sports Tennessee 35) channel here and even get up there to a few games a year.  

[timmay143]

Oh, the former Starwood amphitheater sold (auction I think) for either 5 or 5.5 million. I'll post a link later unless someone beats me to it.

[nashvillwill]

Hankook tires to build a production facility "near" Nashville.

http://m.bizjournals.com/nashville/blog/2013/10/report-hankook-tire-to-build-middle.html

[bigeasy]

Posted lots of pics from a visit to UT's campus in the Knoxville section if anybody wants to check them out. Seems like that area gets no activity.

[Hey_Hey]

The SEC just announced that Nashville will host 12 SEC basketball championships in a row beginning in 2015 (9 men's and 3 women's). This will turn into a great annual event with full hotel rooms and restaurants.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20131014/SPORTS0602/310140047/Nashville-host-12-straight-SEC-basketball-tournaments?odyssey=mod%7Cbreaking%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE

Edited October 14, 2013 by Hey_Hey

[timmay143]

Asurion to add 800 jobs in Antioch.

Per news channel 5:

"Nashville-based cell phone insurer Asurion will add 800 jobs at a new facility in Antioch.

Asurion expects to open the facility at 5720 Crossing Boulevard by early next year.

This will make a total of five centers the company operates in Davidson County. The company relocated its global headquarters to Nashville in 2003."

[MLBrumby]

Apartments in West Trinity Lane area.  This is probably not going to be a great looking project, as it sounds like an ordinary garden style complex and the investment seems modest.  However, a couple of noteworthy points.  First, the fact that West Trinity (traditionally an industrial area on the north side of town) is seeing such a project is a reflection of the widespread effects of Nashville's boom.  Second... this statement sums up the magnitude of the boom....  "Overall, 1,948 apartment units have been completed in the Nashville area so far this year, with another 7,831 units under construction through the end of September".     http://www.tennessean.com/article/20131016/BUSINESS02/310160148/2095/BUSINESS02

Edited October 16, 2013 by MLBrumby

[MLBrumby]

Asurion to add 800 jobs in Antioch.

Per news channel 5:

"Nashville-based cell phone insurer Asurion will add 800 jobs at a new facility in Antioch.

Asurion expects to open the facility at 5720 Crossing Boulevard by early next year.

This will make a total of five centers the company operates in Davidson County. The company relocated its global headquarters to Nashville in 2003."

 

 

This line is interesting from the article... " Asurion relocated its headquarters to Grass­mere Park in Nashville in 2003 and expanded to the downtown Ragland Building last year for its technology products operations. Asurion, which employs 14,000 people globally and 2,500 in Davidson County, will have five offices in Davidson County when the new facility opens."

 

Five offices in Davidson County alone!!!  So question... Could this be the new HQ targeted for Sheet Music?  The revenues in 2009 were $3 billion... in 2010 were $4 billion... and assuming (conservatively) similar growth forward, it could be around $6.5 billion right now.  It is a private company, but if it were public it would be a Fortune 500 company. 

Edited October 16, 2013 by MLBrumby

[satalac]

This line is interesting from the article... " Asurion relocated its headquarters to Grass­mere Park in Nashville in 2003 and expanded to the downtown Ragland Building last year for its technology products operations. Asurion, which employs 14,000 people globally and 2,500 in Davidson County, will have five offices in Davidson County when the new facility opens."

 

Five offices in Davidson County alone!!!  So question... Could this be the new HQ targeted for Sheet Music?  The revenues in 2009 were $3 billion... in 2010 were $4 billion... and assuming (conservatively) similar growth forward, it could be around $6.5 billion right now.  It is a private company, but if it were public it would be a Fortune 500 company. 

I'm wondering if they're actually offices. I'd assume that the bulk of their employees here are hourly workers on the lines. Interesting thought though, I hope you're on to something. 

[TheRaglander]

I can tell you that Asurion is not headed to sheet music. Sorry.

[MLBrumby]

Frankly, I don't think Mr. Giarratana will find a company to relo to Sheet. But still, I wonder what companies the CofC could be referring to.

 

I realize that you are there at Asurion.  Why is the company so spread out in five locations?   The executives are at Grassmere... I even have a second cousin by marriage who just retired from the executive suite, but I haven't talked with him about their plans.  So I have wondered... how much space do they use there at Ragland (percentage of total)?  It looks relatively small, but I'm sure deceivingly larger than it looks.  Not being from the "tech" world, I wonder how well does being removed from the support folks at Ragland work? 

Edited October 16, 2013 by MLBrumby

[TheRaglander]

Frankly, I don't think Mr. Giarratana will find a company to relo to Sheet. But still, I wonder what companies the CofC could be referring to.

 

I realize that you are there at Asurion.  Why is the company so spread out in five locations?   The executives are at Grassmere... I even have a second cousin by marriage who just retired from the executive suite, but I haven't talked with him about their plans.  So I have wondered... how much space do they use there at Ragland (percentage of total)?  It looks relatively small, but I'm sure deceivingly larger than it looks.  Not being from the "tech" world, I wonder how well does being removed from the support folks at Ragland work? 

 

Trust me, I wish we would come together in one large building.    Especially a new high rise in downtown.

Quite honestly I am not sure why we are so spread out.  There are two buildings in Grassmere, one at the airport, and a few distros along I-24.  

We're about full at Ragland.  It's an incredible building and the desks are spaces out nicely.  I do recall that we needed 100k sq feet and only 3 buildings could handle that last year.  The batman building, the R2D2 building and the Ragland building.  Who knows, maybe one day we will all merge to the center.

 

Being a techie you can pretty much do your job from anywhere these days.  But we do travel to Grassmere often and they come here too.  

[smeagolsfree]

Just been downtown this afternoon and was absolutely amazed at the amount of foot traffic all over downtown. Blocks and blocks of pedestrians everywhere. Yes there was a Titans game, but I was there after the the game started and there were people from the Gulch to Church street and every outdoor cafe had a lot of people eating late lunches. I know some of you don't get downtown often, but you can truly see the vibrancy of the entire core. Sorry for the random chatter here, but it is exciting to see a city on the rise with hip neighborhoods.

I did go to Cafe Fundimental yesterday in E. Nash and give them high marks. The amount of people there was still amazing even if it was raining.

Get out and enjoy your city and talk it up guys.

[UTgrad09]

Downtown is active nearly every day (outside of office hours)...a lot of that due to the high number of events down there.

 

Just this month alone, there are 18 events at Bridgestone Arena. Add to that the number of events at the Ryman, War Memorial, Municipal Auditorium, Music City Center, LP Field, and any number of small venues. It really is Nashville's entertainment mecca, and we're lucky to have it downtown. There are a lot of cities where the entertainment areas are more spread out, or the big arenas/stadiums are away from downtown. For Nashville, downtown is *the* spot. 

 

And I think it's only going to get more active, as adjacent areas of downtown fill up with residential and hotels.

[UTgrad09]

I found this article from the Tennessean to be interesting (about the late Bud Adams's real estate holdings):

 

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20131022/BUSINESS02/310220072/Bud-Adams-also-dabbled-Nashville-real-estate

 

 

Adams’ holdings included The Lakefront Office Park in MetroCenter, which he and his minority partner discussed razing to create a 10.5-acre development site. That move was being considered for the year’s end, when the building would become less than 20 percent occupied after several state agencies complete relocating elsewhere.

 

“All of that will be put on hold until his estate figures out what they’re going to do,” said Mark Bloom, a principal with Corner Partnership, Lakefront’s minority owner, and a co-investor with Adams in other deals. “We, as a partnership, thought it best to have a clean redevelopment site zoned for a large project. There’s not many 10-acre contiguous development sites in that close proximity to downtown.”

 

I'm trying to figure out exactly where this site is. I'm guessing its the one just west of the practice facility...but the property data website doesn't really make the owner clear.