NikOnder

It's a shame you didn't see the whole thing, you really have to see the whole thing in person to get the full impact. I definitely noticed the bottom lights when I drove by the other night, so I hope it was just a technical issue with tonight.

Saw the new lights on KVB bridge tonight for the first time and, man, do they make a difference! It is actually far more imposing than I thought it would be, I could see it from a mile or more away coming in on Lebanon Pike/1st ave. Pretty cool...just a couple months ago many of us thought lighting on the bridge was likely a pipe dream and now look where we are. The new amphitheater is sharp as hell, too. Is it just me or does the pedestrian bridge look awfully dark now? I thought it might have been an optical illusion from the new KVB lights, but i'm pretty sure it was darker than usual tonight.

Not to mention the bottlenecking of everyone having to use a singular skybridge to get back and forth between the building and your car. We had our second child at Vandy this year, which has a similar relationship with it's parking garage. Having to get on an elevator in the garage to just get to the skywalk level, then cross over to get on another elevator to get to your final destination (all while trying not to forget which floor you parked at in the garage for your voyage back) was exhausting just after a couple of days. I can't even imagine that being an everyday thing just to get in and out of home each day.

What that building lacks in height, it certainly makes up for in quality and class. It looks downright fantastic at night.

For whatever reason, it seems to be the modus operandi for this developer. The one in Raleigh would have been their new 4th tallest building had it been built on top of the garage. It seems nit-picky to complain, but it is annoying and confusing. I mean, why would anyone want to pay luxury rents for a high rise apartment to be anything less than at least 5 floors above ground?

The Maxwell House is near the metro center. I've had work conferences there and while it is not a crap hole by any means, it is still kind of stuck in the 70's in terms of decor, etc. The area is not particularly bad, although it becomes a bit shadier after dark when all the office workers have left the area. The good news is it is a straight shot down Rosa Parks blvd to Jefferson street/Farmers Market/Capitol park area. It is walkable and a straight shot, like I said, but it would be a fairly long walk with 2 kids in tow.

Agreed. One of the things I miss from living in East Nashville was being able to just walk up Davidson St and catch the shows in the park area or behind the PSC metals area, avoiding traffic altogether. It offers a satisfactory view, but it still gets quite crowded, so since you're driving I would recommend finding somewhere to park early and camp out.

Took the family downtown over the weekend for the Pride festivities and used the opportunity to take my semi-regular scenic drive. As we all know the number of cranes among the skyline is staggering. The nickname "Crane City" occured to me and I couldn't shake it from my mind, as virtually turn after turn was met with another one in my field of sight.

Drove through the Gulch this weekend and I have to say the impact at street level the Thompson hotel is going to have will be impressive, to say the very least. I mean, it is going to be right on the street in the thick of things.This should create an impressive canyon or valley affect going up 11th.

I don't know if there's any connection, but the one in Madison closed, too. I wonder if they went out of business or are experiencing corporate downsizing?

Alright, we're above ground!

Nice, I was hoping they would have something to do with the North tower

dtraleigh.com has a new pic. http://dtraleigh.com/2015/06/pic-of-the-week-121/ In that picture, does anyone know what the caissons in the fenced off section immediately NE of the building are for?

Has there been any news on the status of the diner?

Great photos, thanks for sharing

I'm assuming he means that he would rather the project was being built on an empty parking lot, rather than having to demo pre-existing buildings. I could be wrong, though.

^^^ and incidently more expensive than Kroger (or even in some cases Target) while offering inferior selection. It defies logic how family dollar stays in business. My best guess is by opening up shop in small podunk communties where the nearest true grocery or retail store is over ten or fifteen minutes away and just relying on people's laziness or inability to drive to better alternatives. It's actually downright predatory when you think about it.

Maybe we'll get some Abu Dhabi type architecture as a result? A guy can dream, anyway

Apparently you're not yet that familiar with Paramount747

^^^ agreed, and with the growth rate Raleigh is experiencing, developers should have incentive to build larger with the future in mind. One or Two large, well designed and fully realized projects would be far superior to gobbling up every available block for bland, 4-5 story cookie cutter boxes.

As a Nashvillian who has been considering an opportunity to relocate to Raleigh, I have to say the LAST thing I would want is to move to Raleigh and it to immediately start emulating the urban boom trends that are happening here. While it is certainly fun to watch the skyline change so rapidly, most of these changes come at a cost to the average working class family. Virtually all of these cookie-cutter, urban apartment developments are there to serve no one but young, single, professionals/millenials with alot of expendable cash and no permanence. Within 3 years of living in East Nashville, my wife and I were priced out due to gentrification. The area is quickly losing it's identity; with afforadable bungalows being bought out, destroyed and/or picked apart for trendy, stick built houses/condos that will look dated in 5 years and have going rates nearing half a million dollars. This is a trend that is repeating itself in neighborhoods throughout the county. Meanwhile, schools in Davidson county as a whole are god awful and neighborhoods continue to exist with crumbling sidewalks, persistent crime and other problems. I could go on and on, but I guess my point is that Raleigh has a very accessible, quaint, family friendly downtown. The many times my family has visited it has felt like a naturally welcoming place to us. Here in Nashville, we virtually never go downtown. Why would we? PLEASE heed the warning in this article. As someone who is seeing it happen more and more in my city, its not worth losing identity, community, accessability and charm for the sake of predatory developers just trying to get something built quickly to cash in on a social trend, or the supposed glitz and glam that they promise.

Agreed. Would've loved to have seen more of this kind of attitude in East Nashville a few years ago.

Was at Vanderbilt today, the number of construction zones and projects underway is truly staggering. A couple things stood out to me, though. I noticed construction underway on a plot behind (south) the Metropolitan building on west end, near the sub shop. I can't remember off the top of my head what this is, could it have to do with Skyhouse? Also, on the south loop of 40 between the Demonbreun exit and the 65 split, tractors were out today turning earth in the median area between the east and west lanes. Are they planning on expanding the lanes here?

Read the tweet in the article... It was a poor attempt at a joke.

^^^ I know I made a joke about it, but that tweet picture in the article does make it painfully clear how fragile the brick walls/facades of these old buildings are. Like I said, I hope only the roof is compromised when all is said and done.