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Nashville Courthouse


linclink

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Hi guys....

I was just wondering if anyone has seen sketches for the new federal courthouse in Nashville.... I know Michael Graves has been chosen as architect and would love to see what his design in like! I read that the new courthouse in Buffalo will sit on 2 acres, have 245,000sq feet... and be 10 stories... I read that the Nashville Courthouse will sit on 2.5 acres and be 400,000sf... I guess that would put the Nashville building at 15-18 stories... would it not?

Any info would be great!

Thansk,

Paula

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Nashville is one of about 8 cities who have been given the "go ahead" to continue with design phases and such. Who knows when the funding will be there, but at least it appears it will.

I was talking to the owner of the Berger Building which sits on the site. He tells me it is going to happen, it was going to be HUGE, and it was going to take FOREVER. He went on about how long a hole would be in the ground, how long this and that will take and how federal foot dragging will make the project take longer than it should.

So, I guess we shouldn't set up the lawn chairs to watch this thing happen. But someday, sometime in the future, it will begin. Hopefully, you won't all be as old as me when this thing happens. I'm actually a bit more optimistic than that.

Back to the Berger Building for a second. The building (on 8th Avenue) is on the Historic Register (only so much protection there) and contains the Nashville Toy Museum. The guy who runs the place NEEDS visitors. (I visited last weekend with SSP forumer Rural King.) He's put a lot of work in to it and it's more than fascinating. He also needs to make the business a success in order for the Feds to keep their assurances the building can stay a part of the overall block design. Minds can change. So give this little museum a shot if you're in town. Only $4 to get in.

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Thanks for the heads up on the toy museum!!! My 3 kids will LOVE it!!!! I will definetly stop by!

As for the new courthouse... I would love to see the design... to bad its not out there yet.... With M Graves... it's always interesting to see what your going to get....

Paula

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It will be 440,000 square feet and no more than 5 or 6 stories. The footprint is around 88,000 square feet. I was talking with some business owners today and the earliest groundbreaking it October 2005 with a possibly delay until October 2006.

The footprint will cover all of 7th to 8th and Commerce to Church! According to my sources, it will be the largest Federal Courthouse in the country.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

I have purchased a condo on 8th ave. facing the new couthouse site. From reading this thread I understand that a rendering of the proposed couthouse is not currently available.

I was hoping that someone knows if the building at the southeast corner of church and 8th (approx. 4-5 stories I think Tenncare or medicaid admin ofices) will remain or if the plans call for it to be razed? Thanks

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I ran acoss a very small rendering a while back. However, this is an old rendering and the final design will most likely look different.

Graves_courthouse.jpg

(The courthouse is the building in the upper right corner of the picture)

As for the Tenncare building I have no idea.

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We know that the courthouse will most likely not look anything at all like that.

Yes... and I for one think it's a shame. That building has alot of character, and it would have added quite a bit to Nashville. Too bad. :(

Paula

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I don't really know about the TennCare building, but I think everyone in it is supposed to move to the new building in MetroCenter which should be finished soon. It's about 300,000 sq. ft (I think) so it'll hold plenty of people.

I've always assumed the building will be razed. It started life as a Sears and Roebuck from what I understand. It's not an uninteresting building, imo. It's just uninteresting at the moment. We'll see.

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All the buildings on that site are going to be razed, except the toy museum. The building in question still has the name of the department store on the side facing ninth avenue. It was something before Sears. They have to be out by July. I have been told it is a very sick building and even when rennovated in 1985, it was still a very polluted and sick building.

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Wow...thanks for ll the answers, this forum is a great resource.

The developer of our building says that he was able to view the Michael Graves renderings and that it was impressive. The building was oriented on an angle and for security reasons the setback was pronounced with a plaza area betweeen the couthouse and the Toy building.

Of course I am not sure how much of this will make it in the final plans.

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Mr. Doorman, any idea what the earlier store was? I guess I'lll ask the Nashville Historical Resource (my mom). She knows everything pre-1970. I mean it. lol

Oh, yeah, by the way, it's nice to see you so appreciated ... as in the CP article this morning. That was very nice. I'll, of course, expect an autograph.

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dp, I found a picture in the book "Nashville: The Faces of Two Centuries" published in 1979. It shows the building on the corner of 8th and Church as "Sears, Roebuck & Company." I think that's what the sign said. The pic is amazing with awnings, lots of people, streetcars, and the old Paramount theater next door. I might lug this book to work and scan the photo. If you've never seen this book, check the library, its has amazing photos. Many of them will make you hurt. Church St. in 1880s was unbelievable.

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'The Plan of Nashville' has similar photo's of what has been torn down. It makes me ill. Next time you are in downtown, walk into the L&C and look at the giant photo on the wall of Nashville in 1958. You won't believe how dense it was with the L&C being the only skyscraper.

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  • 1 month later...

I did some research on GSA.gov. You ought to check this site out. It shows incredible detail of where and how the federal government spends your money. Anyway, there is only a slight mention on the ENTIRE site for the new Federal Courthouse. It says there was a Charrette which is a design team assembled to design a new courthouse. They recruit architects from all around the country to get preliminary designs. This DOES NOT MEAN ONE WILL BE BUILT according to the site, and the Bush Administrtaion has cut back funds for the GSA to purchase or lease buildings. They have also cut back any funds to build new properties. There is a page that shows every property that the federal government leases or owns. You would be amazed at how many buildings just in Davidson County the government leases. The only building they actually own is the current Estes Kefaufer Courthouse on 9th and Broadway.

According to the site, they started a design team for the new Nashville Federal Courthouse back in 2001 after 9/11 and nothing else has come from it. Both Lamar Alexander and Bill Frist helped get the 106 million dollar funding, but as of late it has been denied.

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