Baronakim

2024-05-09T12:24:24Z

2 hours ago, Auntie Yock said:

Harding Mall had already broken ground and was actively under construction in May 1964. Green Hills had been around since 1955 as a shopping strip, though had yet to become an indoor mall. I never heard of this stadium, either. A closer glance at the model of downtown, I recall this was part of an extensive urban renewal proposal at the time, which included demolishing enormous swaths of "outdated" 19th century buildings (look at 1st-2nd Avenue north of Broadway up to Union, for example) in favor of low-to-mid-rise office buildings. Had this gone through, there wouldn't be much left of the "old." Downtown and environs would've looked like a giant '60s Modernist Mies van der Rohe horror.

Absolutely it would have been dreadful. I didn't mention Green Hills for shopping as it was no more to me than an upscale Madison Square and an enclave for Nashville's well-to-do. I aways thought of Harding Mall as a huge joke as it was terribly designed. Most of y'all probably would not know the One Hundred Oaks situation was rather nuts as politically the mall had NO interstate access at all! Armory Drive exit onlycame YEARS later. However, we would not have the "historic Nashville" bellyaching so much now as there would have been no historic Nashville left IMO.

2024-05-09T07:10:35Z

17 hours ago, Luvemtall said:

Someone that was living here at that time, was that you? Do you recall any talk of such sports arena?

I recall NOTHING of that stadium proposal at all. The previous big sports news was for the City Auditorium built on 4th Avenue at the new James Robertson Parkway in 1962. According to the photo, the proposed stadium was shown about where Bicentennial mall is now. The model shows a massive clearing of literally EVERYTHING from the railroad north past Jefferson Street with some cheesy low density redevelopment. Never mind that the old Sulphur Dell Ball Park was still in use and not yet fallen to DemoDerby. The city was still reeling from the massive destruction of the JRP and Nashville had NO sports other than College, ice hockey and minor league baseball. WTF would possibly use this facility. As an architecture student at the time, I certainly would have heard of this proposal if it had any teeth at all. I think this was some isolated "urban renewal" idea someone cooked up of which there was a plethera of them at the time. This was before the inner interstate loop was built and was way before Metrocenter was conceived. I see in the photo that the model looks to be in some sort of storeroom rather than on public display and probably never saw the light of day or left the developer's ofiice. I think this is not a project that ever saw much possiblity and probably did not see much interest. Remember, at this time, the suburban malls did not exist (even Hundred Oaks) , there was no downtown interstate I 65 (it ended at Harding), Second Avenue was still actively warehouse businesses and Church Steet was still the city's main shopping district. I think this was pie-in-the-sky.

Wednesday at 02:33 PM

I was always under the impression that Oxford house was to have been demolished. If not the case, what is the function of the strpped building to be?

Wednesday at 02:28 PM

5 hours ago, markhollin said:

It's taken several years, but the two homes at Cahal Ave. & Branch St. are finally wrapping-up.

Looking NW from Porter Rd., 1/3 block SW of Cahal Ave:

Wierd but more appelling than so many plain vanilla boxes going up here. Certainly distinctive. They must be are a huge departure from the rest of the neighborhood though. What do the nearby residents think of them. i suspect they are appalled and pissed off.

Sunday at 02:26 PM

4 hours ago, markhollin said:

44 TENN (3 stories, 38 townhomes) Phase III update: nearly finished.

Couple angles from within development, 1/2 block west of 44th Ave. North, 1/2 block north of Albion St:

I don't usually comment on midscale apartment projects, but IMO this ons is one of the better looking ones in terms of looks in quite a while. Too many of them recently have been appalling ugly and boring , endless repeating the same unit plan. This one has some character. Kudos to the architect.

May 1

24 minutes ago, andywildman said:

I know this is a huge departure from what's currently there, but this doesn't feel nearly ambitious enough.

I'm not impressed much either. I have a personal connection to this particular site. When I was 15, I used to go rabbit hunting in the pasture and woodland right there. Still too damn much asphalt surface parking here IMO.

April 21

23 hours ago, smeagolsfree said:

Randy,

I will bet there are a few chefs in Nashville that know exactly what you have and plan their menus on a daily basis according to what they have on hand. A number of the farm to table restaurants would jump at the chance to have some of those veggies I will bet. You cut some of these folks too short.

Last year, I had several varieties of rather hard to find Italian vegetables including some fantastic heirloom squashes. I took several crates to five high end Italian restaurants giving them crates of just picked ones for free to use. They showed interest but would not buy them from me without a number of state certificates even though I had researched and found I could sell up to $25K per year without them being required. Probaly the only place it would be worthwhile would be the Factory Farmer's Market in Franklin but even that is difficult getting a booth, and setting up for only a few hours as they take down at noon. The intense crowds also make keeping up with customers a problem if you do not have staff. Also getting tables and produce is difficult if you do not have a fairly big truck too.

April 20

Not a building post, but I want to let y'all know i want to share with the forum I've lost my mind. My vegetable garden is way too big for the two of us. However, my miserly nature chaffs at buying all these amazing seeds and just leting the surplus be wasted. Also the varmits will, I know only too well, will destroy or eat enough of what i plant, to keep me mad enough to keep planting. James and I tore down Z's old goat barn last week and burned most of the structure so there is a huge heap of rotted straw and goat poop to spread out on the garden. YAY! I just put in 200 feet of heirloom Burl corn, 3 rows (so far) of big cabbages (about 50 of them. 100 feet of snow peas. You won't believe how many onions and melons. I got a huge head start as I had a half acre beautifully disked and fluffed. i am 2 months ahead of my usual palnting. What am I going to do with all of this heirloom food? Don't even mention giving it to foodbanks or such; this is all exotic heirloom stuff and not what community cooks there have a clue of how to prepare, much less the extra work of me having to harvest and transport it . I will share with neighbors though and will set up a "free veggies couple of tables out front. I thought about "you pick it" but folks these days don't know how to pick crops without ruining three time as much as they pick. I hope several of my old friendswill will drop by, visit and partake of the bounty this year Y'all know i will have lots of goddies.

April 17

7 minutes ago, nashville born said:

Just had another sobering thought about this picture. Had it been taken 30 years ago, would the interchange appear the same?

Yes. pretty much the same as it was when it was built back in the late sixties, early seventies. I was on the team for the design of the original science center which was a relocation of the original Children's Museum behind the Howard City offices on Second Avenue. I had to build the model of it from highway construction drawings as it had not been built yet.

April 11

2 hours ago, Luvemtall said:

Do you really think that Metro will even try to bring up the possibility of redevelopment of the auditorium? Though it’s admittedly getting to be a old worn out goat, unless Nashville is magically chosen for a new NBA team with a deep pocketed owner, it’s highly unlikely that any attempt will be made to make a move to do much of anything with that venue. And my point stands, just as you mentioned there’s many offices and residential in that area. That just means there’s a bunch of people who have to go elsewhere to find good restaurants and decent shopping, not to mention the times that the auditorium does get used .

I think a highly concentrated retail development is better overall than a thin paste of it. As Bilbo put it "butter that has ben scraped over too much bread" Just because Metro owns the Auditorium land doesn't mean they need to keep patching the elderly building up. The city could certainly sell it and allow new development. What, for instance, do you expect Metro to do with the site of TPAC when it moves across the river? That one is a white elephant too., screwy structural system moves too much. Tear it down too!

i

April 10

5 hours ago, Luvemtall said:

Cool, but IMO there should be more retail space. With its proximity to the Municipal Auditorium, a few restaurants and retail would do good.

I disagree somewhat as the city auditorium is right at 60 years old and IMO of dubious value to the city for much longer. Time to redevelop the site. The location has been eclipsed in cultural value by the Bicentennial Mall and now the East Bank centering on TPAC relocation. The dominent activity of the JRP there is principally governmental, both state and city, plus office uses. I do not think injecting retail into this area is a good idea beyond perhaps hotel restautants and similar uses. Retail there would alway be small potatoes and weak. The residental proposal IMO is very sound and the brick proposal dignified and appropriate for the area. It works well wih the general vibes of the residential bustle around the Sounds stadium. No need for more intense retail IMO.

April 9

39 minutes ago, Luvemtall said:

I’m really sad for all these people, that continue to paint Florida as the holy grail. I lived there for 19 years and couldn’t wait to get the hell out, it’s all an illusion and really not a good place to live. The Villages! Really the most dynamic metro .. LMAO!!

I was a designer of this one (Freedom Point in the Villages) years ago. The most dynamic activity there is probably by the iguanas.

April 9

Demonbrewin'.

April 6

10 hours ago, CandyAisles said:

@Baronakim this has your fingerprints all over it. Explain yourself!

what’s this castle doing in Clarksville and what did you have to do with it?

Nope. Not mine. Terrible design. Walls are ridiculously low and indefensible. Concrete block construction would be breached almost immediately. One narrow hall in keep. Some one spent a lot of time and money for a stage set for a rental party venue. A folly.

April 2

1 hour ago, smeagolsfree said:

It is still not on ForRec's website even if you do a search.

Again, it has been almost three years since the announcement of this project with the construction start of mid 2022. We have yet to get even a location of the project. It is in trouble. I think at this point it will be a miracle if they pull it off. They have missed deadline after deadline, not to mention radio silence from the developers releasing little tidbits to keep the hope alive.

Fishing with a stick, a string and a safety pin IMO. They will be lucky to catch bait.

April 2

1 hour ago, smeagolsfree said:

Coming home from a night of drinking makes it hard to get in but easy to get out if you are leaving. It would just be a painful drop. This will be bad if there is an ice storm too. How about groceries or just freaking moving into the place. These developers and architects are just not putting any thought into these homes anymore. Just throwing pieces of crap up. You will get more of this if the NEST bill passes. Cheap ass homes with no character using Hardie board and concrete. The developers will do just as the developers have done in the past, the same old crap. This is worthless garbage!

Architects???? You dignify these folks who are mostly third rateCAD-jockeys! Crap like this comes from inhouse staff. Few respectable architctural firms would touch such work.

April 2

53 minutes ago, markhollin said:

1201 Brick Church Pike (3 stories, 14 units) Phase II. update: nearly complete.

Looking NE from Brick Church Pike, 1/4 block south of Fern Ave:

Having no landing at the front door of such a convoluted stair would make me drop considering living in this turkey a definite NO!

March 29

3 hours ago, markhollin said:

Talbot's Corner will be a massive mixed-use project featuring numerous structures between 6 and 15 stories on 61.4 acres at 130 and 145 West Trinity Lane, near the I-24/65 freeway. Jenkins Property will be the developer, with Barge Design serving land-planning and engineering duties. It will be built in 3 phases over a 15 year period.

Jenkins Property is seeking a specific plan rezoning for the site. Fred Jenkins, the company’s founder owns the property, the much of which is raw land used for truck storage. The main addresses of the site are 2040 Lucas Lane, 2050 Lucas Lane, 130 W. Trinity Lane and 145 W. Trinity Lane. The properties are located on either side of W. Trinity Lane, with some of the site fronting I-65.

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/mixed-use-project-eyed-for-site-near-trinity-i-65/article_0b073796-ed3d-11ee-81c8-13ee6c54a1d6.html

And at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2024/03/28/massive-development-slated-for-hot-corridor.html

I'm not going to hold my breath on this one. Dicey IMO.

March 27

1 hour ago, markhollin said:

Interesting story from 11 years ago on the "colorful" history of Printers' Alley:

https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/a-nostalgic-stroll-through-the-good-old-bad-old-days-of-printers-alley/article_55ed8ece-7ca7-5b10-8b67-6e86d43e6a15.html

I have a family story about "colorful" Printer's Alley. Back in the early 1950s. My stepfather's dad came to Nashville with a group of his buddies to party in the dead of winter. He had a room in the Noel Hotel and passed out drunk on his bed. His buddies , not quite so drunk yet, found the body a homeless man in the Alley who died of the cold and hauled it up to put in the bed with him. He awoke in the early hours of the morning and just stood the stiff corpse in the hallway outside his room and went back to bed.

March 25

7 minutes ago, Archibum said:

The formality and activation of this street (or lack there of) seems to be at odds with the implicated grandeur of its alignment. Kinda wish we had something more like Madison's State St and surrounding neighborhood. Our beautiful capitol building seems rather cut off from the rest of the city

Considering how much anti-Nashville stuff goes onein that building, I am not at all surprised at that.

March 24

1 hour ago, smeagolsfree said:

That area is dangerous, an eyesore and now it is high time to clean it up. It is an embarrassment for the city and needs to be utilized in a way that will serve the citizens better. I think this case has cast an eye on how much needs to be done on the West Bank and how little Metro does to clean it up and maintain it. It was in the national spotlight.

Montana Guy is correct in where he says the card was found. I would not want to stumbling around drunk at the bottom of all that crap in the dark and the likelihood of anyone falling into the river is great.

I have always thought Metro needs to clean that side of the river up and if they use this an excuse then great. Another issue is the mess that the homeless have made of the greenway all the up to Metro Center. Trash and encampments line the greenway or at least it was the last time I was up there. Yes I know this is a homelessness problem but Metro does not need to fix one greenway and have the problem show back up on another one.

I know this is another issue but this is the river we are talking about and Metro has ignored it. This sits in Our Mayors backyard and was ignored the entire time it was in his district. When they get the East Bank nice and pretty they will be looking at an ugly West Bank full of garbage as has been the case for decades.

Smeag, in this I TOTALLY agree! My contention centered around walling it off to protect drunks. IMO it was an inadequate suggestion of a solution. Indeed it is a huge embarrasment in need of a massive cleanup on both sides of the river. However, just a thorough cleanup will not solve the problem; it will only get trashed again all too soon. I fully support a comprehensive redevelopment of the riverfront on BOTH banks. It is shameful it has been ignored for decades. I say this should be from the Siliman Evens interstate bridges all the way to Neuhoff (or even further) and on the East Bank from Shelby Bottoms all the way to the interstate bridges at Oracle's end. It cannot happen soon enough IMO. The East Bank development opening up for controlled river access and public use would be wonderful. It will take quite a bit of good planning and design though to create a worthy Greenway on the Eastside banks from under the Woodland Bridge to connect with the developments on the north side of Jefferson Street near Orace. i hope I live to see it. I think the remaining abutments of the original Nashville bridge across the Cumberland should be incorporated into it though. It is an important part of Nashville's early history. Perhaps some newer folks would like to see the post I made on the riverfront back in 2020. The riverbanks thread is on page 9, "The Nashville I Remember" on the first page of posts dated August 7th.. Newer folks would probably not be aware that Gay Street did not originally exist under the bridges as it now does. There this part of the banks was occupied by magnificant Victorians from Church Street over to the old power plant side and railroad bridge. The building backsides facing the river were completely wooded steep slopes all the way down to the river. Anyone interested can see what was there in the predceeding article I posted about the SQuare on August 5th.

March 24

1 hour ago, MontanaGuy said:

That's not true, the credit card was found between Gay Street and the river on that steep embankment where those women had to use ropes in order to climb down there according to police reports and I also watched that video which shows just how steep it is.

I SAID I did not see the video and that I did SUSPECT the locaton was where they took out the body, so your accusation of "not true" is spurious dude. Yes the place ehere the credit card was found is quite steep. i never said otherwise. Ropes would certainly be in order as a cautionary measure, but I have climbed it my self without them. It rather deprnds on precisely where this was. not seeing the vid, i can't say for sure. Until you have personally experienced the area, you really can't tell from a video. I was on the banks in my 60s looking ro the original bridge across the Cumberland.

March 24

31 minutes ago, smeagolsfree said:

Consider this scenario, If, you were drunk at night, and you decided to go to a leak into those woods not realizing that it was a shear drop off and you misstep, you will fall all the way down into the river. He did not know the area. The drunker you are the worse it is. I do not know if you saw the news pictures that most folks had to be lowered with ropes down into that area. If you do not fall into the river the first time you probably will the second time trying to get out or walking along the river in any other direction if you are intoxicated enough.

If the river is high, it is even more likely you will fall into the river. Do not ever assume anything is impossible until you try to walk in someone else's shoes when they are impaired.

Sorry Smeag, but I have been all over those embankments and the steepest embankment with a "sheer" drop is already fenced off. Even in the areas unfenced, falling all the way down in into the river is unlikely as the dense scrub trees gives a reasonable opportunity to stop the fall on the way down. The worst areas would involve climbing over existing stone walls or scrambling down denuded slopes. Yes indeed, the danger is greater when the river is high, but the dangers relate more to homeless who attempt camping out on areas at the edges of the floodzones. where there is sufficient flatter ground for a small tent, like under the Jefferson bridge. From just under Victory Memorial bridge to Jefferson, access to the river is quite difficult . It is also quite further away from the sources of presumed drunkeness, i.e. Lower Broadway. Far more dangerous IMO is the East Bank side, but again, the very nature of the tangle of overgrowth is a huge deterrant to the casually inebriated. IMO, the more you clean these areas up with parks next to the bank, the more opportunity forhomeless to attempt camping on the banks would exist. While I did not see news pictures that you cite, I suspect that the area involved was MILES downriver and nowhere near Gay Street. I don't think that is a problem worthy of extensive concern, being if you are drunk and trespassing, there are more ways to kill yourself than just falling into the river. IMO there is a reasonable limit of expectaion of the city's responsibility.

March 23

22 hours ago, Luvemtall said:

In response to the recent unfortunate news yesterday, and Mayor O’Connell’s statement that some sort of barrier might be needed to prevent future incidents along the Riverbank. What are the opinions of those of you here, that would be a good fit for such a project? Of course the first thoughts might be to just put up some chain link fence, but that might not be the best option, it’s easily compromised and not so attractive. IMO if this is to be considered, then Metro should closely look at all options. A decorative wall of some kind, possibly with murals depicting Nashville history in a timeline kind of way, with landscaping and most importantly proper lighting. Just thoughts, but with the rebuilding of Second Avenue and the prospects for the East Bank ( right across River) I would think that in finding a solution for the safety of citizens , that it would be wise to consider a possible solution that also provides beautification of a important part of the city.

I think that is silly to consider and ill advised. If anyone falls off the wooded embankment areas along Gay Street, they would not fall into the river directly. One could only fall into the river through sheer determination to do so. However, the embankment is crisscrossed with paths littered with discarded clothes, shoes and is regularly used as a toilet by the homeless. This is true along the entire length of embankment all the way past the Jefferson Street Bridge too. Several folks have died there too, suicide or murders.. Across the river is equally dangerous and there the bank there is undermined with areas collapsing into the river. Several empty campsites did so a few years ago. Spending money for fencing, walls and such is IMO a joke. A few years ago there was a proposal for a floating landing along the bank from the existing terraces. I thought the steep rocky banks would make a great climbing park myself. How do you keep folks from falling in (or jumping in) there at the Landings as well? For the small number of preventable deaths involved, I think money could be much better spent elsewhere to improve pedestrian safety. There is only so much that can be done to overcome foolishness and folks who want to put themselves in danger. ANYTIME you have a body of water, ther will always be deaths from carelessness. It is not the city's job to create extensive barriers. Perhaps y'all would approve the Texas razorwire solutions then? Ridiculous. This is evolution in action for the most part IMO.

March 9

1 hour ago, subkyle said:

Just because someone doesn’t like the corporate feel of these artist branded bars doesn’t mean they don’t realize how good of a thing Nashville has. I don’t necessarily mind this branding these artists are trying for, but it is a tad silly. It’s possible to enjoy not having peep shows on broad and not like the fact that these bars are doing what they’re doing at the same time

Huh? I was referring to my opinion that diluting the venue density there would do little good and great harm there to what visitors want. I see no problem with "corporate" venues there except ones like the silly proposal for a boring pharmacy there years ago. I think a circus is EXACTLY what makes the area from 5th to the river attractive to so many. Not me particularly, as I lean toward classical and opera, but I just think "character" or "diversity" is not exctly the goal there. However, the new 5th and Broadway complex I think has added a great deal of diversity and vitality to the area. I seldom care to criticise such obvious success.

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