Nashville Bits and Pieces

[TheRaglander]

Is it me or are they painting parts if the Sheraton downtown? I noticed it coming up from I-65 this morning. Much whiter in some strips.

[FrankNash]

Yes, the hotel is all white on the north side of the building. Not sure if this white color is the base or the actual finished product.

[Paramount747]

Is it me or are they painting parts if the Sheraton downtown? I noticed it coming up from I-65 this morning. Much whiter in some strips.

The hotel has been closed for about a month, and will be closed I think until summer. They are doing a $25,000,000.00 renovation which has included a new 12 inch water supply line instead of an 8 inch supply line. They had Union Street shut down and dug up about 3 weeks  ago and parts of it just opened back up.

 

The renovations are costing more than it cost to build it in 1975! They have basically gut the building down to the concrete form. The Pinnacle will stay the same, as banquet space. It will not re-open as a bar like once planned. They are trying to get this hotel on par with the Omni. Good Luck!

[fieldmarshaldj]

^It'd be nice if they got the old Polaris Room up and rotating again. I remember going up to it as a kid shortly after it opened in 1978.

[Paramount747]

It opened in 1975. I was there at the Grand Opening. They had a great Sunday Brunch in the main lobby. I remember a friend of mine and I stopped up the urinals in the mens room. We ran out with no one seeing us. The guy next  came out with his shoes soaked!

[fieldmarshaldj]

^Switching subjects for a moment... You and I share a similar concern for the old James Robertson Apartment building. Has there been any news lately on its future ? I think it would make a great boutique hotel, and that block certainly needs a shot in the arm.

[Paramount747]

^Switching subjects for a moment... You and I share a similar concern for the old James Robertson Apartment building. Has there been any news lately on its future ? I think it would make a great boutique hotel, and that block certainly needs a shot in the arm.

Unfortunately no changes I am afraid. Maybe when Hume Fogg starts their gymnasium and the courthouse gets developed, things will happen.

[donNdonelson2]

I believe the James Robertson Hotel is MHDA section 8 housing.  Is it likely they would ever give it up for private development?

[volsfanwill]

I stayed at the Sheraton for new years. at that time they were renovating the rooms from the top down. the floor i was on was the lowest one that work had been done on, not all the rooms were open, and people had been waiting a while for them to be opened. there was dangling wiring on the walls in the hall where light fixtures were being installed and even the fixtures themselves laying in the floor. my room was much nicer than the last time i stayed there, about 3 years ago.  but several things were missing, I had to call down and ask for an ice bucket, glasses, a trash can, and even coffee for the coffee maker that was in there.  I liked wht was being done, but the elevators were still slow and a lot more needed to be done. one problem is you cant do much with a 40 year old bathroom.

[bwithers1]

Unfortunately no changes I am afraid. Maybe when Hume Fogg starts their gymnasium and the courthouse gets developed, things will happen.

Metro currently has the alley abandonment in council readings that will allow Hume Fogg to start on their gym.  I can't remember the status of that particular bill.  I wish I like the Hume-Fogg gym design better than I do.  I'm not really looking forward to that one.  But sometimes the reality is better than the renderings.

[Guest]

Why do you not like the HF gym design? I thought they did a good job of melding the old with the new, which is always difficult. I like the openness for the 8th Ave side... what was the alternative solid stone walls like the school? I think that would have created a very imposing massing along 8th. Anyway I do hope they get on with it... they have already (are continuing) screwed-up traffic on 8th installing infrastructure.
 

Metro currently has the alley abandonment in council readings that will allow Hume Fogg to start on their gym.  I can't remember the status of that particular bill.  I wish I like the Hume-Fogg gym design better than I do.  I'm not really looking forward to that one.  But sometimes the reality is better than the renderings.

[Paramount747]

According to Ron, core drilling has started on the Westin site.

[chelovek]

UP folks might be interested in this event on wednesday night at Neuhoff:

 

http://www.pechakucha.org/cities/nashville/events/52f2ab114f5c298b54000001

[UTgrad09]

Why do you not like the HF gym design? I thought they did a good job of melding the old with the new, which is always difficult. I like the openness for the 8th Ave side... what was the alternative solid stone walls like the school? I think that would have created a very imposing massing along 8th. Anyway I do hope they get on with it... they have already (are continuing) screwed-up traffic on 8th installing infrastructure.

 

 

I will have to see the final product to make my final judgment, but I tend to agree with not being totally warm to the design. Yes, it is a modern juxtaposition to a very classic design, which in itself makes it difficult to find a match, because making a stone exterior gym would be seen as a waste of money considering how many other capital projects are badly needed at other schools. 

 

I think the design could be a lot worse. It could be a brick or block box with no windows. I appreciate that they went modern rather than plain functional (which would do the building a disservice). But there's something just a little funky about it. It's hard to describe.

 

Also, the boys got shafted. The girl's locker room has to be at least twice as big. What happened to equality??

[fieldmarshaldj]

Also, the boys got shafted. The girl's locker room has to be at least twice as big. What happened to equality??

Don't worry, there will be other perks for the boys.

 

[Guest]

Not sure where shout-outs to Nashville go....

I great article, and for once it is not just food or music.

 

 

"Office vacancies in the city plunged to 10.4 percent in the fourth quarter from 12.3 percent a year earlier, among the 10 biggest declines for U.S. markets, according to CBRE Group Inc. Rents rose 1.7 percent to $20.84 a square foot and are poised for annual gains of 3.3 percent through next year amid a supply shortage, said Arthur Jones, a Boston-based economist with the brokerage."

"Nashville’s in-migration of young people and pro-business climate “bode well for above-average office-demand growth,” Green Street said in a Dec. 4 note on Highwoods Properties Inc. (HIW:US), whose buying spree boosted its Nashville buildings to a value of $229 a square foot, pricier than any other market among the landlord’s holdings, including Atlanta at $180 a square foot."

 

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-02-18/nashville-leading-as-office-deals-beat-u-dot-s-dot-average-real-estate

 

[Guest]

This is great news!!!

http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/blog/2014/02/Google-Fiber-Nashville-need-to-know.html?ana=e_du_pub&s=article_du&ed=2014-02-19

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20140219/BUSINESS04/302190161/Nashville-list-Google-Fiber-expansion


https://fiber.google.com/about/#nexus

 

Edited February 19, 2014 by Guest

[12Mouth]

If this actually happens, it will be HUGE!

[Paramount747]

Then Google builds a 50 story office tower on the Signature Tower site!

[12Mouth]

Exactly! 

[bhibbs]

Workers were out tonight installing the UBS sign on the outside of the building they are currently working on.
Seeing a new corporate logo lit up along the skyline will take some getting used to.

[smeagolsfree]

Broadway building sold.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/morning_call/2014/02/broadway-office-building-sold.html

 

Spoke to WW and he has heard maybe a boutique hotel for building.

[timmay143]

Workers were out tonight installing the UBS sign on the outside of the building they are currently working on.

Seeing a new corporate logo lit up along the skyline will take some getting used to.

Anything special about it?  Does it provide a nice variety at least?  Or just barely a blip on the radar?  Pictures, cough, pictures, anyone? 

[Paramount747]

Any word on the Hotel Oliver going into the travertine building on 4th and Union which used to be Fidelity Federal/First Union/Union Planters/Amsouth/Regions Bank(s)? That 12 story building has had at least a half a dozen bank tenants over the decades.

 

Any word on the 12 story Noel Hotel?

 

Any word on the Hotel/Condos going in the 8 story Metropolitan Federal/Wells Fargo Building?

 

Any news on the rehab of the 8 story Capitol Boulevard Building?

 

Lots of rehabs going on at the moment.

[nashmoney]

A little National spotlight for Nashville and the Gulch

 

http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/country/5908472/crs-week-the-gulch-offers-knock-your-socks-off-alternative-to-standard