Quote:
Originally Posted by MidTenn1
Two more hotels proposed for the Music City (Convention) Center District....a 400 room, 16 story Embassy Suites and a 200 room, 12 story, as yet unbranded hotel on adjacent lots on the NE corner of Rosa Parks Ave. with Korean Veterans Blvd.
One recent survey listed Nashville as having the highest hotel average room rates in the US, so the demand is obviously there.
A diagram showing only hotels in immediate proximity to the MCC. There is also a 16 story Five Star Hotel planned for the NCI development at 1st and Demonbruen and a 500 room Hyatt Regency (30+ floors?) planned for 10th and Broadway about four blocks away.
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The demand does seem to be there. However, downtown Nashville has to be careful and ensure that it doesn't get over saturated with hotels. Additionally, they need to ensure that it remains affordable for tourist who are not in town for a convention. Downtown Nashville is where most tourist spend their time. Nashville is not NYC or LA. It's not even New Orleans. So, it really needs to watch the rising hotel costs.
I wish some of those hotels were being built south of the MCC. That is still the area of SoBro that needs a major face lift. I know it's coming, but the market is going to slow down eventually. I also wonder how many of the hotels are rethinking their decisions back when they were reluctant about building anything bigger than they have on the table. Omni, Westin and now the JW Marriott all should have been thinking 45 stories and taller. As the first hotel to support the MCC, the Omni should have been at least 35 stories. I bet they are kicking themselves in the butt for being so conservative. Eventually they will be blocked by other buildings going up around it.
I also think that Nashville should take a theme from Las Vegas and establish entertainment venues with long term shows. Yes the hotels in Vegas rely heavily on their Casinos. But, when I was there is seemed they also relied heavily on the shows along the strip. Nashville can't do casinos right now, but it would be great if they had hotels with theaters that could host an artist for 6-12 months at a time just as they do in Vegas. That would be a great way to increase tourism year round and not just convention attendees.