Jamie Hall

The retail access on 11th Street will a welcome addition to that lonely stretch between the South Gulch and North Gulch. Just a matter of time before those empty slabs of concrete start filling in and make that whole area a more pedestrian-friendly stretch.

But this additional paragraph below also was posted to their FB page, so it sounds like they might be planning something else ... maybe even at that site? With the arrival of late-night places like The Pub and Bar Louie, I wonder if MCF is going to try something similiar to that nightlife/bar concept. But don't be too upset... plans and construction are underway for a new concept opening in the near future. The ultimate goal is to take the Gulch experience to the next level. Please stay tuned as additional information will be available through local press and social media. Once again, we thank you for being a part of our time here and we look forward to the future.

Maybe I'm reading this a little differently, or maybe it's just the optimist in me, but today's coverage almost sounds a bit reassuring that the project will happen. Palmer's actively looking for ways to cut costs with the new exterior changes (disappointing, but so be it), says the lien has been addressed, and seems to have reassurance from others in the business regarding the slow progress. It sounds like Palmer is being realistic about what needs to be done to make the project happen. That's encouraging.

Since Walgreens has shown it can pull off an "upscale" version of its store, it would be interesting to see Dollar General -- considering its Nashville roots -- try a similiar concept with a DG hybrid store in the Gulch. It seems like a reasonable way for DG to expand into more affluent and/or younger "chic" neighborhoods that normally might not embrace its usual concept. As for the new pub in the Gulch, the facade is somewhat jarring at first glance, but as that area continues to fill in with more construction and street-level retail, the pub's exterior will barely stand out 10 years from now.

Without knowing Mr. Beaman myself, I'd guess that he's looking out for his own business interests: Better public transit means fewer car sales. With any luck, Mr. Beaman's disdain for the AMP project might prompt his dealership's eventual move into the Davidson County suburbs (Bellevue, perhaps?) and open up a prime area of real estate along Broadway.

Signage is down and building appears to be empty at the Porter Paints store, which was/is the last remaining building still standing on the big North Gulch site. Looks like that entire lot will be cleared soon, making way for ... something.

A place like IKEA should be an additional attraction to lure visitors. People drive long distances to shop at those stores, and they often spend big bucks while they're there, not to mention spending at other nearby stores and restaurants. As for an IKEA locating near a downtown core, I'm not sure how common that is, but they had broken ground on one in Tampa just as I was moving from there 6 years ago. The location was very near residential, adjacent to a busy cross-town highway, and within a mile of downtown, the Channelside port district and the Ybor City district, all tourist spots. A North Gulch area would seem very similar in the type of location with its proximity to tourist destinations. The Tampa IKEA site before construction:

Take this for what it's worth, but I was told over the weekend by somebody involved in downtown real estate that the rumored IKEA store for the Northwestern Mutual site in the North Gulch (Charlotte & 11th Ave) is a 100% done deal. I would've thought plans for that site would be announced by now considering the property will be totally cleared in a couple of months. Any rumblings elsewhere about this project?

Very happy to see this coming together (again, hopefully). That site is way too valuable to be sitting empty and unused, and a modern ballpark would be a nice perk for Germantown and still have decent walkable access from downtown.

It's a food truck gathering spot once a week (I think it's either Friday or Saturday evenings) for now, but the owner plans to turn that building into a Jet's Pizza franchise at some point.

Excellent news. But wasn't a new rendering expected by now?

You'll want to check out the front-page story in Wednesday's Tennessean: Looks like the big Tony Giarrantana project called SoBro is moving forward.

Yes, I think that's right. And it seems like I've read that ET Burk is moving into a storefront at the corner of 8th Avenue and Broadway, across from the Frist.

As best I can tell based on the rendering for the proposed Hyatt Regency on Lower Broadway, it looks like only one of those existing buildings would come down (the small building housing Decades would come down, but the others next to it would stay). It looks like the Hyatt would mostly fill an existing open-air parking lot. As for Metro's delay on permits, that does seem odd, because Karl Dean has been very vocal about the need to get more hotel rooms downtown ASAP. Seems like he'd be pushing Metro to get permits rubber-stamped quickly.

Great job rounding up all those project updates. It's definitely impressive to see the full list and images. Wasn't there some talk of trying to re-work that massive Bells Bend / Maytown project into a smaller proposal, or was that plan scrapped entirely?