NASHVILLE | Development Showcase

[MIRYDI]

The NP is reporting that some of the rehab work is about to begin on the UBS tower (formerly known as the Regions Center). Also, a poster on UP reported seeing a crane on sight, and that the area around the tower was fenced in.

http://nashvillepost.com/blogs/postb...pace_for_1415m





Also, Tin Roof plans on expanding including a new location downtown.

Nashville-based bar and restaurant chain Tin Roof gets $13M investment, plans growth
http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville...ent-plans.html

[MIRYDI]

Williamson Medical breaks ground on $65M children's hospital

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20...ren-s-hospital

Williamson Medical Center executives this morning broke ground on a $65 million expansion project that will include a dedicated children’s emergency department and hospital, expanded surgery and women’s services, and surgical suites.

Two, three-story buildings will house the children’s hospital behind the main Williamson Medical facility on Carothers Parkway in Franklin.

The new facility will reflect a significant partnership with Vanderbilt to provide pediatric inpatient care, bearing the name Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital Vanderbilt at Williamson Medical Center.

The new facility is projected to open in January 2015, said Melonee Hurt, a spokeswoman for the county-owned Williamson Medical.

[MIRYDI]

Well...Some good news and some bad news to report depending on how you look at it.

I'll start with the bad news first.

Some members on UP attended a Civic Design Center forum last night in which the developer of 505 CST (Tony Giarratana) and the architect for the project (Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill ) were in attendance. At this meeting two new designs were presented for the project. One is a residential tower, the other a mixed-use tower. The reason this is bad news (atleast to me anyways) is because the original design was absolutely stunning and unique compared to most other skyscrapers we typically see here in Nashville, and most other cities as well. Not to mention that it was aiming for a LEED platinum rating which would have made it the 2nd tallest office tower of it's kind in the country.

I only have pictures of one of the new renders at this time, but soon as I get ahold of the other one I'll share that as well. The one I'm posting below I believe is the residential tower, and not the mixed-use one.

This new design isn't bad or anything, but IMO it is a step backwards in terms of the design quality compared to the original office tower design. So basically that is the bad news.

The good news is that both of the new designs are taller than the original office tower proposal. The original 505 CST design was at 605ft. These two new designs are both 750ft+

This is what was said about the other new design (mixed-use tower) that I haven't been able to get a picture of yet, so you will have to just use your imagination for now. The way it was described it almost sounds kind of like the Trump tower in Chicago.

The third mixed use building has a step up that is in three parts topping at the new height of 750 ft with retail all along 5th ave and also on church st with a large plaza to mirror the 5th/3rd building plaza.

It was said that all three of the designs were on the table, so that is a positve thing for sure as it still leaves the door open for the possibility of the original design to be built.

So with all that said...Here is one of the new designs presented.





and here is the original...











Me personally, I would much rather have the original office tower design at 605' than the new residential tower design at 750', but that just me.

Hopefully the new mixed-use design is a stunner.


So on to some other good news that came from the meeting.

One of the people attending had asked a person from metro planning about the plans for the old convention center site, and this is how that conversatin went. I'll just quote that as well...

I asked her about plans for the old convention center site, she eluded to there being a very tall building for that site. She picked up the 505 building model and placed it on the corner near commerce st. and 5th ave and said wouldn't that be nice. Everybody around just looked at one another waiting for her to confirm but instead she said the proposal should be coming soon.

So it looks like we might be getting another very tall tower in the near future out of the old convention center site.

Previous renderings for the old convention center site showed multiple mixed-use towers with a new house of blues museum.

For anyone curious, here are those renderings.

[arkitekte]

I loved the 505CST design, but given it's specs that would have been hard to get going almost anywhere right now without the immediate relocation of a large corporation. The new design should be good as well given the firm who designed it, and the added height is a plus (although I usually don't want to sacrifice design for height). I'm looking forward to seeing more renderings, elevations, etc. All in all this is good news, especially since there's been a good amount of time since 505CST was proposed and there hasn't been any news about that site since.

I would rather see the original proposal for the old convention center site rather than seeing a tower there. I think the original proposal would do much more for downtown than a tower at that specific site.

[MIRYDI]

^I loved the 505 CST design as well. I mean LOVED!..Lol! They said that all three of the designs are on the table currently, so I guess that means there still is a chance anyway.

Like you said, either way it's still great news and I probably shouldn't be too negative about which direction Tony decides to go with. Afterall, there are a ton of cities that would kill for 750ft tower. I just can't wait to see some better renders for this new design, as well as the other one. I'm hoping it's really nice.

As far as the old convention center, I can't see the whole site being taken up by one tower, it's just too massive. Who know's... I'm hoping that there would be multiple towers (like shown in the rendering) and one really tall one.

I also liked that proposal for the old cc shown in the renderings. I think it's fantastic actually. The only thing I wish were different are the height of the towers. They all seem the same height. It would be cool to see them all different heights starting with one really tall one. I also thought the house of blues museum was a pretty cool idea as well. Would definitely draw in more tourism which couldn't hurt.

[MIRYDI]

The Gulch Crossings tower (currently under construction) has secured an anchor tenant. The Bank of Nashville will be moving it's regional headquarters there in the spring of 2015, and will have it's name on top of the building.

New Gulch office building lands another tenant
http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville...leased-as.html

The Bank of Nashville has announced it will be the latest high-profile tenant to move to Gulch Crossing, MarketStreet Enterprises' eight-story Class A office project in the Gulch.

The bank is expected to move its downtown branch into 2,900 square feet of space in the 250,000-square-foot building at 1033 Demonbreun St. by the second quarter of 2015, according to a news release.

Gulch Crossing will feature 3,000 square feet of retail space on Demonbreun Street and 16,000 square feet of retail space along 11th. Work on the site started last month.

According to a new rendering of the project, the building will also feature prominent signage for The Bank of Nashville.

Jay Turner, managing director of MarketStreet, said 45 percent of the office space is now leased for the building. "We are proud to have The Bank of Nashville as our newest neighbor in the Gulch," he said in the release.

[MIRYDI]

UBS Tower lands second major rehab permit this week
http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville...jor-rehab.html

A $12.3 million permit was issued Thursday to prepare space in UBS Tower, the second in a week that also saw a $14.2 million permit granted to rehab office space for UBS.

Brasfield & Gorrie LLC will conduct the renovation, according to the permit.

The cost of the building's renovations now far outweigh the sales price of the 40-year-old building, formerly known as Regions Center. Rubicon Equities spent $14.5 million in August to buy the 28-story tower at 315 Deaderick St.

UBS is bringing 1,000 new jobs downtown, part of a $36.5 million investment in a new shared-services center.

[MIRYDI]

A picture taken by Nashvols this morning of the progress of the 23 story 12th & Laurel tower under construction in the Gulch. Tower looks to be about the 16th or 17th floor.

[PillowTalk4]

I like the 505 design as well, but can't wait to see the other two options with more renderings and elevations. What was the height of Signature Tower? I'm still hoping someone will take Nashville to the 65 story level. Having a 50 story plus building in Charlotte really enhanced that cities skyline and elevated the cities status to some degree. Although I still think Nashville is more vibrant than Charlotte overall.

For me the bigger question with Tony G is... is there enough commitment to build any of the options he's putting forth for 5th/Church? Will any of these options impact he's plans for SoBro?

[MIRYDI]

Originally Posted by PillowTalk4

I like the 505 design as well, but can't wait to see the other two options with more renderings and elevations. What was the height of Signature Tower? I'm still hoping someone will take Nashville to the 65 story level. Having a 50 story plus building in Charlotte really enhanced that cities skyline and elevated the cities status to some degree. Although I still think Nashville is more vibrant than Charlotte overall.

For me the bigger question with Tony G is... is there enough commitment to build any of the options he's putting forth for 5th/Church? Will any of these options impact he's plans for SoBro?

The height of the Signature Tower was roughly 1030ft at 70 stories. I'm not sure if we'll see anything proposed in Nashville at the 65 story level for quite some time unfortunately...If ever. Maybe we might get lucky with something, but I doubt it.

As far as his commitment to build on 5th & Church...A few other people said it best by mentioning the fact that by him still having these discussions, and presenting two new design's for the site, (in public no less) speaks volumes about his confidence for this project and really goes to show you just how hard he is working on this to get it done.

I have almost zero doubt in my mind that sometime in the near future will we see TG break ground on 5th & Church with a pretty significant project, and it will more than likely end up being the cities new tallest. He has been on record several times stating that he wants something special for the 5th & Church site, because in his words "It's is the best site in the city.”

Regarding the SoBro, I don't think the 5th & Church project or any others of his will have any impact on that tower. From what I understand and what's been reported, he already has the financing lined up for SoBro tower. Back in mid July it was announced that he partnered up with some big time co developers with deep pockets, pretty much sealing the deal for that project. Here is that article in case you haven't seen it.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20...nclick_check=1

[MIRYDI]

State OKs land deal with Metro for Sulphur Dell ballpark project
http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville...deal-with.html

The proposal for a new Nashville Sounds ballpark and surrounding development in Sulphur Dell continued to move along today, as state officials gave the green light for an integral part of the $150 million project.

Acting on behalf of the entire State Building Commission, the body's executive subcommittee approved the $23 million land sale agreement with Metro for property on the future ballpark site.

The state currently owns land on the proposed ballpark project site, designed to redevelop the Jefferson Street location in North Nashville.

Metro would contribute $65 million toward the private-public investment at Sulfur Dell. Mayor Karl Dean's project needs to pass two more rounds of voting by the Metro Council, which gave its initial approval last week and meets again Dec. 3.

Also, here is a pretty cool video from the OneC1ty website about the project and the groundbreaking. The video also has some pretty good shots of downtown as well.

http://www.onec1tynashville.com/videos/onec1ty.mp4

[Dr Nevergold]

505 CST is now in the status of "I'll believe it when I see it" instead of actually anticipating anything.

IMO Signature Tower would have been so much more impressive than any of the designs that came after it. The curvy LEED certified building was certainly impressive looking, but it would have been very hard to beat a 1000ft+ tower with such a crown as Signature had designed.

[arkitekte]

Originally Posted by Brandon716

505 CST is now in the status of "I'll believe it when I see it" instead of actually anticipating anything.

IMO Signature Tower would have been so much more impressive than any of the designs that came after it. The curvy LEED certified building was certainly impressive looking, but it would have been very hard to beat a 1000ft+ tower with such a crown as Signature had designed.

The main problem with 505 CST is that is was too overly dependent on securing a major tenant to materialize. The new concepts that Tony G has laid down in theory should work much better, mainly because they're cheaper, but they're also more mixed use that 505.

In any case, SoBro needs to hurry up and break ground. "By the end of the year" is coming pretty damn quick.

[MIRYDI]

Speaking of 505 CST...

Here are the renders for the two new designs for 5th & Church I was talking about earlier. The first one is the mixed-use tower that I didn't have a picture of yet, and the second is the residential tower that I posted a picture of in the model.

Both look fantastic but the mixed-use tower is incredible! Getting a little excited now for sure... Both of these two new designs are 750 feet tall.

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architect http://smithgill.com/




^ALTERNATIVE ONE: A mixed-use tower with corporate office space in the middle and residential at the top, with parking and street-level retail at the base. / Rendering by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architect


^ALTERNATIVE TWO: This is a proposed all-residential tower, with parking and street-level retail at the base. / Rendering by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architect

Here is the article about the two new designs.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20.../2047/business

[MIRYDI]

Nashville's tourism industry sets new high-water mark
http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville...-sets-new.html

Nashville's hotels hit a new record in October, The Tennessean reports.

Citing data from the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp., The Tennessean reports that hotels booked 603,087 room nights in October, the first time Nashville has exceeded 600,000 in a month.

Notably, the record was set without the aid of any major conventions, and was instead driven by leisure travel.

Citing data from Smith Travel Research, The Tennessean reports that the occupancy rate for Davidson County hotels was 74.5 percent in October, up from 70.2 percent a year ago, representing the largest gain among the nation's top 25 tourism markets.

[MIRYDI]

Two other renders.

Wish I had one of the mixed-use tower in the skyline like the residential one.

[Archee328]

These are amazing! The front of the mixed use tower reminds me of the World Trade Center Towers in Abu Dhabi a little! The curves are beautiful.

[Archee328]

This is what I was referring to.

[MIRYDI]

^Interesting.

There is another proposal here in Nashville that has a resemblence to the render above. Hopefully both of these proposals are built as I think they would compliment each other quite well.

Having these two bad boys in our skyline would be awesome!









In other news, cranes were erected for both of these projects below.

Cranes erected at Midtown, SoBro construction sites
http://nashvillepost.com/blogs/postb...truction_sites

The Hilton Garden Inn hotel in SoBro (downtown)


and this apartment project in Midtown



The Hilton Garden Inn hotel isn't the tallest building or anything, but it will make quite an impact on the skyline given it's location and elevation.

[Cashville]

I was never a huge fan of 505 and like the design on the new mixed-use tower better for the most part (not a big fan of the residential tower, but I see no way a residential tower that big gets built). That being said I am ready for the days when 95% of tower proposals arent greyish buildings covered in glass. This era has produced some nice buildings but I want more variety.

I always wonder how many true 'mixed-use' towers really get built. Granted I dont follow it that much, and Im sure in the larger cities they are more common but it seems that most of the towers that actually get built are predominantly office, or predominantly residential. Seems like too much has to actually come together to get a lot of mixed towers off the ground, and a lot of times a mixed-use tower makes it seem like you dont really have a big demand for anything.