[Inside 440 - Berry Hill, Midtown, Vanderbilt, 12S, WeHo, Fairgrounds, etc.]

Minneapolis has taken a hard stance on projects like this: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/08/09/minneapolis-bans-new-drivethrus

[The Sinclair, 27 stories, 315', 334 residential units; 31,500 sq. ft. retail; 13,040 sq. ft. restaurant; underground garage]

That’s a bummer. I would think that residential on the edge of a big park like Centennial would be a slam dunk. I lived next to a big park in a prior city and the quality of life bump was huge. 

[Inner Loop - CBD, Downtown, East Bank, Germantown, Gulch, Rutledge]

7 minutes ago, markhollin said:

The Icon and Velocity in The Gulch both have the scaffolding down that was being utilized for some sort of facade update work for several months.
 

I live in Infinity Lofts (aka Velocity).  They’ve paused whatever the balcony repair project is, maybe until the spring? In the meantime, they have locked most residents off their balconies (nailed shut from the outside). 

[1010 Church Street (60 story/750', 500 unit residential tower, 7 story/60,000 sq. ft. YMCA addition), $350 million]

I thought there was a new Metro law so that you couldn’t block sidewalks indefinitely? There’s not a wheelchair-accessible route on either side of Church now accept to be (sometimes the wrong way) in the bike lane. That seems pretty poor. 

[Printer & Bank (16 & 6 stories, 193'; 265 residential units; 33,637 sq. ft. retail; 3 level underground garage)]

This is an incredibly exciting project. The combination of an improved Banker’s Alley, Printers Alley, pedestrianized 2nd Ave and revitalized Arcade are going to make for a massive improvement in pedestrian-first infrastructure in this part of town. A long way to go, but this will be a solid backbone to build off of. 

[1111 Church/Gibson Residences, 21 stories, 380 units, 30,700 sq. ft. retail/478 capacity garage, $200 million]

The monumental staircase in the project is really confusing.  You can just barely see it in the last photo. It’s a huge stair that basically dead-ends into the side of the building and a tiny sidewalk. Even presuming that the sidewalk gets expanded when the second building is built, the layout just seems really awkward. 

[The Transportation and Mass Transit Megathread]

I didn’t get a picture, but they have repaved the entrance to the Gulch Greenway that is under the viaduct. It was torn up during the rebuild. 

[The Transportation and Mass Transit Megathread]

1 hour ago, UTgrad09 said:

First off all, I'm unable to reliably post from my laptop this week, so I apologize for an abbreviated response. I'll try to post something later, but I want to put something out there now. 

I hate it when people use city limits, county limits, or any other relatively arbitrary boundry for population density purposes. It's not completely useless, but it requires a great deal of context. 

In this case, it further aggravates me that the author used density per acre, and then used an entire large city's boundaries to make their argument! The main problem with this is going to be thar this number is going to vary by the city's land usage.  Airports, railyards, parks, industrial zones, cemeteries, golf courses... all of these are going to significantly dilute your population density. Every city has them, but their quantities differ. On top of that, population density alone does not factor in job density or hotel density. 

But back to the article...

Subway density is listed at min 47 people per acre. That's roughly 30,000 per square mile. New York City has an overall population density of 29,300 per square mile. So using the author's example of Baltimore lacking the density for light rail, New York City is not dense enough for a subway system. Let me repeat that. NEW F@$&ING YORK CITY IS NOT DENSE ENOUGH FOR A SUBWAY BASED ON THE NUMBERS IN THE ARTICLE. Now, a lot of that is because of Staten Island, but the author made no exceptions for Baltimore, so why do it for the Big Apple?

Light rail density needs to be 28-60 per acre? That's ~18,000-38,000 per square mile. Excluding smaller urban suburbs, mostly around NYC, the list of major cities that qualify for this mode of transit consists of....New York and San Francisco. 

Transit is going to be based on areas or corridors. What is most important imo is what is the density within a walking distance of a transit line (or also, how many jobs or hotel rooms)?

I don't necessarily disagree with the baseline numbers here (per acre), but I question how many acres are relevant. Even in super un-dense Nashville, you are going to find pockets of density that meet these numbers... The Gulch,  Rolling Mill Hill,  parts of Midtown, Church St....

The problem is that the effective areas for that are relatively clustered and don't expand evenly with distance. 

 

I do like your plan of gradual change closer to the core. I think we need to rethink the idea that every block downtown needs to be accessible by car. Some streets would be better off if they were for transit only. Church St comes to mind. People will flip their sh!#, but it would be better served as bus, bike, streetcar, whatever from 8th Ave to 1st. The density of that street is just begging for a high frequency transit line. 

A while back, I had envisioned a streetcar loop from downtown to midtown using Church and Demonbreun/Division and connecting on 21st and 2nd or 1st. Or even extend the loop through the Vandy campus and connect on Elliston Place. That loop would hit the densest residential, commercial, and hotel areas as well as 3 major hospitals and a university and the convention center.  I would still do BRT or LRT down Broadway/West End, but I think this would be a winner for loop traffic in the most developed part of the city. 

 

 

 

P.S. - no current census tract in Nashville approaches 18k per square mile, but I am very confident that will change in 2030. I think both downtown and midtown will have tracts or divisions in the 20-30k range. And after the East Bank plan is realized, they will, too.

Totally agree about Church as a transit corridor. It’s already the narrowest street downtown in some places, which leads to a great feel. And it doesn’t lead anywhere that you can’t also go on Commerce or Broadway. By the time you get to Nashville Yards, it’s wide enough to have dedicated transit lanes in the center and car lanes to serve those developments.  Run the transit all the way down to Centennial Park and you’ll be connecting downtown, midtown, and West End—that one line could see substantial ridership on its own. 

[NEUHOFF PLANT DEVELOPMENT, 14 stories, 6-7 stories, 650,000 sq. ft. office, 175,000 sq. ft. retail, 550 apts, 50 hotel rooms, 2,000 car internal garage, $500+ million]

Wow, some of those areas are absolutely stunning. 

[The Transportation and Mass Transit Megathread]

1 hour ago, rookzie said:

Well, if this is any "harbinger" of what to expect for the next 4-8 year (hopefully no less than half or even a third of my supposedly remaining time before the bell tolls), then I wouldn't hold my breath.   A referendum with a properly structured agenda which also focuses on significantly more than a single issue ─ one best bundled with  similarly weighted concerns ─ perhaps would stand a better chance of being passed, than the one in May 2018, particularly if proponents can build a broader coalition of supporters than in the past.

It very well could be another "from-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire" scenario, based on what WSMV reported:

"O'Connell said his plan will cost a fraction of the one that failed in 2018 and one major difference is they will focus on buses, not lightrail."
()

I'm not trying to be conclusive, though ─ just watching how the canary flies.

It’s an approach that worked pretty well for Seattle… flood the city with busses to build ridership and then convert the peak routes to rail. 

[Inner Loop - CBD, Downtown, East Bank, Germantown, Gulch, Rutledge]

7 hours ago, Bos2Nash said:

Lovely idea as an interim solution until Printers and Bank gets underway. Unfortunately, with the garage being condemned for structural issues (I think?), there is a severe cut in parking revenue so I don't foresee it being a plausible solution for the property owner. On the contrary though, if the property owner rented parallel spots along the building to food truck vendors, maybe the consistent revenue could be made up? Not sure though. The alley itself would have to be kept clear though as it is a very active service alley. 

I had totally forgotten about this! This is even better than what I had been thinking about. Looks like some permits filed in February is the most recent action. I hope it keeps moving forward soon!

[Inner Loop - CBD, Downtown, East Bank, Germantown, Gulch, Rutledge]

Took a walk downtown this morning and walked over to check out the road work on 2nd Ave. Afterwards, I walked along Bankers Alley. I think there’s a huge opportunity to pedestrianize this spot. It’s already pedestrian-only between 2nd and 3rd, but that could be extended from 3rd to 4th. That would then intersect with Printers Alley, making a great little area of pedestrian-first. Like Printers Alley, it could still allow local traffic if needed. But it’s already not really a through-way, so it’d be way easier than most places to make this kind of change. 

Here’s a photo looking back from the intersection with Printers Alley—you can see the walking-only stretch in the background. 

[Inside 440 - Berry Hill, Midtown, Vanderbilt, 12S, WeHo, Fairgrounds, etc.]

5 hours ago, markhollin said:

Ashwood 12 South (1-3 stories, 116,000 sq. ft. retail/office space, underground garage) as announced its first two tenants:

-Two Hands cafe'/bar
-SunLife Organics health foods

The project will be complete in late 2024. 

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/retail/food-notes-malibu-smoothie-concept-set-for-12south/article_ef1d6de6-41ef-11ee-a6dd-bba7a004f541.html
 

Is this a relocation of the Two Hands currently on 8th Ave S or a second location I wonder?

[PRIME/801 Church St. (38 stories, 456', 358 units, 2,654 sq. ft. retail, 511 capacity garage)]

Prime filling in a hole in the skyline as seen from the pedestrian bridge. 1010 will be very visible!

[Rebuilding Second Avenue]

This is going to be a great upgrade, but it’s really a bummer that we’re not taking the chance to create a pedestrian mall. A 2nd Ave walking zone adjacent to Broadway would be outrageously successful. 
 

I’m in Stockholm this week and they have a bunch of roads that are pedestrian-only, with an allowance for delivery vehicles early in the morning. It’s fabulous. 

[Inside 440 - Berry Hill, Midtown, Vanderbilt, 12S, WeHo, Fairgrounds, etc.]

2 hours ago, PaulChinetti said:

• A resolution that accepts more than $1 million in private contributions for Chestnut St. bike lanes in the same style of the 12th Ave S lanes.

Well that is pretty sweet! From Colby Sledge’s latest email. 

That’s great! Hopefully 12th Ave S can serve as the backbone for a network of fully protected bike lines in that part of town. 

[Gulch Union (Endeavor Demonbreun): 3 towers (20 story/329,000 s.f. office, twin 28 story residential buildings)]

First glass going in!

[Alcove/900 Church St., 34 stories/418 ft., 356 apts, $160 million]

Alcove was all lit up for the 4th! 

[Paseo South Gulch (Phases 2 & 3: 30 & 16 stories w/ 390 residential units, 183 room hotel, 18,000 sq. ft. office, 14,000 sq. ft. retail; Phases 4 & 5: Another 30 story tower w/ 396 units, a 22 story office tower, 1,500 capacity internal garage)]

Are they going to screen the parking garage? For such a beautiful, pedestrian-oriented development, it would be a bummer to past the big, open garage. 

[1111 Church/Gibson Residences, 21 stories, 380 units, 30,700 sq. ft. retail/478 capacity garage, $200 million]

I’m disappointed that there isn’t more screening for the parking structure. It seems out of step with most of the other buildings of its kind going up today. 

[Inner Loop - CBD, Downtown, East Bank, Germantown, Gulch, Rutledge]

I was at the Sounds game on Saturday. This building is going to really dominate the view from the infield.

[Paseo South Gulch (Phases 2 & 3: 30 & 16 stories w/ 390 residential units, 183 room hotel, 18,000 sq. ft. office, 14,000 sq. ft. retail; Phases 4 & 5: Another 30 story tower w/ 396 units, a 22 story office tower, 1,500 capacity internal garage)]

The additional floor is being added to the Voorhees building.

[Inside 440 - Berry Hill, Midtown, Vanderbilt, 12S, WeHo, Fairgrounds, etc.]

8th Ave S needs to get the 12th Ave S treatment. Where is someone even supposed to cross the street on this stretch of road?  I am trying to visualize it in my mind, there is a crossing at the W.O. Music School intersection, then one by Party Fowl intersection. Is there really not another crossing on that entire stretch of road? 

With all the new construction that’s going to happen with the Paseo development on the other side of Division, this stretch of 8th is in heavy need of pedestrianization. There is going to be a lot of foot traffic fronting the street between all the residential and the retail that’s going to go in. Already, it’s annoyingly far to cross from Gleaves St. to get to, say, the new Two Hands restaurant.

[Nashville Bits and Pieces]

Several of the properties listed are hotels, not apartment/condo buildings. Those wouldn’t add to the residential base for the area.

That’s fair. Taking those out changes it to 33,893 per square mile today and 52,683 in the near future.

[Nashville Bits and Pieces]

The discussion about population growth got me thinking about the population density around me in the Gulch. Using the development map, I counted up all the buildings in the area bounded by 8th Ave S., I-65 Demonbreun, and the train tracks—basically the most complete part of the Gulch. That about 0.108 square miles. I estimated a "full" population of 1.5 people per unit (since there isn't an easy breakdown of 1-, 2-, and 3-bedroom units, as well as couples, etc.).

 

Using just buildings that are open, that adds up to a "max" population of 4,665 and a population density of 43,668 per square mile. Including the buildings under construction (or soon to be), it's 7,178 people and 67,187 per square mile. That's about the same as the average density of Manhattan (which obviously has a lot more office buildings, etc.). If you could fill the inner loop at that density, it would be a total of 173,343 just in downtown.