producer2

He is not just realizing this and I am sure if you would pick up the phone and call him he will be glad to answer your question. Those of us who were at the meeting have tried to give as much info as we can but it seems skepticism abounds. The phone number is listed and you can report your findings back to us and if you think he is telling the truth or not.

You are totally missing the point of who the market is for this building. Yes it is a limited market but this is the ONLY building that caters to that market. The Hotel product does not want to be in a building of young "hipsters" they want mature people with MONEY. I have been fortunate enough to stay at the Palomar in San Fransisco and believe me you don't go to the restaraunt for a casual dinner. This is Mortons on steroids. People used to scoff at the Hermitage hotel and their pricing as well but they have a nice market and they stay pretty full. This will take a little time because it is not an easy decision to spend that kind of money, but then you don't get the ammentities with the Viridian or Adelicia that you get with the Siggy either. There is a market and they will come, one buyer at a time. It was never going to sell like the Icon but then when it does, there also won't be 40% of the units back on the market when it opens.

I would agree with the first part of your statement about a slowing economy, but I think the target market for this project is not as worried about the economy as say the target market for the other set of developments that are selling for far less money and attracting a crowd that is far more concerned about how far to stretch a dollar. If you had a chance to read the West End/Vandy insert in The Tennessean this week, the buyers for this building are doctors, lawyers, etc. who either want a change from their 6000 ft. mcmansions since the kids are gone or in some cases even want both. there are a few that have already bought that are keeping their houses in Williamson County. It will only take 400 people to make this work and most of those 400 are not looking at any other project downtown so I think Tony has a better shot at this than most give him credit for. As many have stated on these pages, they think Siggy is a vanity build, well guess what, so are many of the purchases. Most real estate people will tell you that even if we build all of the projects on the board by 2010 we will still be under served in the downtown corridor for available units. We are at the infancy of this build out and most people are just starting to see what is going on. The economy may slow for a while but it will return and sooner rather than later. Nashville keeps enticing more business to come (and more higher end buyers) and the city is still on a major uptick. Just my opinion.

Thanks Hankster, I agree with your assesment. monsoon, can I get your input on this as well?

So you are saying that all residential buildings should be inclusive and diverse?

In your opinion why does it have to be "inclusive, diverse, and an appealing place to live" in one corridor? There are many different price points downtown like the gulch which will be different from SoBoro whcih will be different from the Church Street area.

But wouldn't the major difference between a bank building and a residential/hotel building fix the dead space problem? Would that not encourage more retail/restaraunt development. Now consider that you will have 1200 to 1500 people living in a 2 or 3 block area with a grocery already in place would that not invite the very thing that the bank building eliminated?

Funny how things change, a 416 point loss a few years ago would have been devastating. Now it is just a "blip" a "correction" that will remedy itself probably by years end. Same goes for how our cities evolve and change, all of this building would not even have been a discussion just a few whort years ago. When I moved to Nashville 14 years ago, there were no professional sports teams and lower broad was somewhere you didn't want to venture out to. Now I live downtown and walk to pro football and hockey games on any given night , along with the symphony and on and on. Gotta love progress!

definitely Gaylord

According to theis morning's Tennessean the folks at Gaylord are going to play nice and will approve the $2 increase in partnership with the MCC and help finance a new downtown center.