Plasticman

Bring it on!! If it were here I have little doubt it would already be under construction and maybe even taller. It wouldn't shock me if they put a supertall in Buckhead.

I don't know what else can be said. On the surface this project seems to be at a dead stop. Every news report is negative toward any immediate progress. I hope behind the scenes Mr Giarratana is making headway on sales. He doesn't owe us any news but it sure would nice to know how many units are actually sold. If he still is stuck in the low 100s then I believe he either has to pony up some other way to fund it or offer a serious new marketing strategy. Since I believe we agree that it is the 50% dollar amount that matters, if he could sell the significantly more expensive upper floors he could potentially sell only 140 or so and still make the 50% dollar value.

Does anyone have any information on how many contracts Mr. Giarratana has on Signature so far? It would be nice to know if he's making even slow progress on securing units.

Well from other posts above I kind of agree that the $400,000 range units will sell slowly (for now) due to those buyers likely having less income and not being sure of the markets. The interest rate cuts might spark a few sales on those but we have to wait and see. What I believe needs to happen is a sales strategy aimed at the upper tier buyers who don't really worry about money other than what kind of shelters to sock theirs into. This will have to occur on a nationwide scale and, again, not be limited to gimmicky marketing which IMO doesn't impress successful businessmen. TG could even market the lower level units as second homes for the affluent. The trick is simply attracting enough affluent buyers to get the dirt moving and then sales will go up on their own.

On that I would agree. Those are the people who interest rates still affect and who are still trying to move upward in their jobs and in their lifestyles. Those who buy the upper level million plus floors are usually financially well off and who do watch the markets but who aren't concerned with the interest rate cuts other than said effect on the markets. I wonder what the dollar value of the million plus units are? My real question is if he sold the equivelent 50% dollar value worth of condos as opposed to 50% of the number of condos would that be enough to get started? This is still assuming the high end units sell first.

Maybe but what level income are you referring to? It has to be substantial to warrant an upper floor million plus dollar unit, especially if it is a second home. Really though it doesn't take a rich person to afford a $400,000 condo unit. It takes a person who is comfortably well off but not rich. FYI - the average selling price for a new home in Oconee County, Georgia where I live is over $300,000 and it is mainly doctors, lawyers, and business owners who are buying them who commute to Atlanta to work. LOL - our home is the 150,000 kind but they're not building those here anymore because the land is so expensive.

Fair enough. I did get off on a tangent. But I do believe the public may be holding off on purchasing such as the units in Signature Tower based on market perceptions and those perceptions are controled at least to some degree by the media. I can agree with your assertion that rate cuts won't sway rich buyers. They'll either like it or not, jump on board or not. But the majority of the units in the tower are not aimed at super wealthy people. Most are in the 400,000 - 750,000 range (still more than I could ever buy). I don't believe this holds true for the top floor units in the 1,000,000-5,000,000 range because most of those people are likely immune to most of the economic trends. It may be a wait and see game for all those contemplating buying the 400,000-750,000 units. If the fed continues to cut the rates, I would bet the sales on the lower priced units will see some activity.

It's not too tall if it is buildable. Again as stated many, many times....Charlotte had fewer towers than Nashville when it built BOA and it loomed nearly 300 feet taller than its closest rival. Mobile has a ridiculously tall tower for its population. But both are fine.

Yaknow..that's true. I never noticed it in all the years I've driven the Atlanta/Charlotte route via I-85. Even Memphis gets mentioned as far north as St. Louis. My view of Charlotte is... 1. A huge growth center. 2. Impressive banking industry. 3. An impressive, ever-growing skyline suggesting a larger city than it is. 4. Wants to be compared to Atlanta, Houston, Miami, etc. as opposed to Nashville, Louisville and other more comparable cities much like a 9 year old boy wanting to seen with teenagers as opposed to some other 8-9 year olds. Frankly I don't blame you for aiming high. That's what has caused your current growth to begin with.

Yes there was a short period between the original flat top design and the current design which was roughly 850'. The tower was still 55 floors at that time but had been redesigned with the spire. After that the hotel was added and the height increased.

Welcome to the site (forgot to say that). Mr. G. has several things going for him: 1. He did bring the Veridian in as mentioned so he has a recent record of success on highrise projects. 2. The downtown condo market in Nashville is just now being tapped and is in no way saturated. This means that the city still has potential even now. 3. The customers for such high-end units would be those who are somewhat immune to the current situations. In other the words anyone who would spend several mill on a condo isn't someone who is sitting around waiting for his other home to sell. While that might be true for the 400,000 dollar units, I would think it isn't true for the million plus ones. 4. A determination that is admirable. 5. Groundbreaking will likely breed many more sales. So I am still trying to be optomistic with the knowledge that IMO he should do the following: A. Stop the gimmicks and focus on selling units to those who are looking for units. Running ads on the screens at Hockey games won't cut it and are a waste of money. B. A more national and international publicity campaign. C. Offer more incentives nationwide to the upper class real estate brokers. D. Find more investors who realize once the project is under construction, the sales will ramp up. I believe many people don't believe it will be built or can't comprehend Nashville getting such a structure so they aren't willing to sign on the dotted line until concrete pours.

My bad...I thought your picture was a response to the other post.

It has hotel on the bottom 14 floors (Hotel Palomar which is under the Kimpton Hotel umbrella - a very upscale hotel) and from floors 15 to the 70th floor penthouse are all condo units ranging in price from $400,000 to the 6 million dollar penthouse which takes up a whole floor. The developer is a Mr. Tony Giarratana who also brought the 30 story Veridian to fruition in Nashville. The financing and the marketing methods are the problems. The developer has said he must sell roughly half the units to acquire financing. He has sold a little over 1/4 of the units so far which isn't bad but isn't good for having nearly two years to acquire them. And with the real estate bubble bursting it has had negative impact not just on this project but nationally. The lenders aren't taking any risks so the developers have to prove the project now more than ever. In addition to the lending woes, in the pasts nearly two years since the basic final design was unveiled (May 2006) we've seen very gimmicky marketing instead of the type of marketing that a ultra-high end and completely groundbreaking project of this magnitude deserves. Everything from balloon rides to show the view from the tower to free cars with purchase, almost IMO the type of things you'd see with a mobile home lot trying to sell mobile homes. I mean...what's next...dancing clowns and face painting? The cars are Lexus which are super nice and these type of things may draw a few buyers who were on the fence and needed just a nudge. But I'm just not sure this will translate to the sales he needs. But I'm not the expert that we all hope the Mr. Giarratana is and has historically proven himself to be. So as of right now, the developer realizes the clock is ticking on the existing contracts and is now considering reducing the number of condo units and adding more hotel floors. From what some have said, the current groundbreaking is set for May? Someone correct me in all this if I'm wrong.

The original design.... http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n31/Dea...ntis/Tower2.jpg

That's not the original design. The actual original design had no spire (flat top) and was 700' to the roof. THe next design had the spire but was 55 floors and roughly 850' tall. The picture you posted is the first desing of the 1,047' / 65 floor version. The changes since then have been with the walls and with the fins on the crown plus an extra 10 feet and extra 5 floors.

THat was correct. The original design had no crown and was exactly 55 / 700 feet with a mix of everything. Then the design was changed (thankfully) and the crown was added brining the height to about 850' with as many as 750 condos (per some reports). Then the decision was made to add a ten floor hotel to the bottom bringing it to 65 floors and 1,047'. Then the latest and most lasting is somehow it got to 70 floors and 1,057'. The last word I heard was 70 / 1,030'.

He really can't do that now because it would drastically shorten the building, diminish any uniqueness it had outside of Nashville, and ultimately the penthouses and other high-end, upper floor units would not be worth nearly as much. This would void the contracts because essentially it is a totally different building with totally different units. Either he has to sell them as-is or the hotel idea may work. With the hotel idea, the top floors don't change at all thus the contracts are likely still valid. And he would obviously bump up any lower floor buyers who have signed on.

The hotel plan is actually something I hadn't thought of (I guess that's why Mr. G. is who he is and I'm not a developer). To me it sounds viable if he is able to make up the difference in revenue via a hotel investor. I don't know how that will play out because if he adds floors to the hotel what happens to any contracts for the condos that were sold on those floors? Does he bump them up to the new lower floors or are the contracts void and he loses those particular ones? I would venture he they will have to be given an upgrade or something in order to renegotiate.

That's interesting news. Not sure what it would mean. I've been optimistic to a fault through most of this but I just dunno anymore. I just don't have excessive confidence in gimmicky sales pitches. My optimism will improve when they start digging a hole.

From my best count there are about 43 units at or over a million dollars. With several top dollar ones being sold already including the top floor unit at 5 million, I would say he is on his way but I do agree he needs a national push. Don't count him out yet.

March isnt' far away but you can look for the fed to cut interest by at least half a point very soon. The economist I saw on TV last week stated that the housing slump will begin to improve after the interest cuts but will not dramatically rebound until late next year. Still he was very optomistic that house sales will begin to rise very soon. IMO by March there will be some improvement, that a hole will be in the ground, and that since construction is "officially" underway with a hole that on the fence buyers will jump aboard. Plus TG will no doubt make some sales between now and then. One thing to note is that the market for the upper floors isn't aimed at your average home buyer. The million plus units are aimed at upper end people. I have a local developer friend who builds homes of many sizes. His lower end homes aren't beging sold but his high end custom built mansions haven't been affected by the slump. I would venture this phenomena will also transfer to Signature Tower.

I went to school for three years at "Old Public School" in Lawrenceburg, TN from 1972-1974 which had those floors the janitors would oil periodically. What a filthy mess they were. I am almost positive Signature Tower will not have oiled floors. Another safety concern of older buildings is asbestos exposure and lead paint.

You could say the same about air travel. How we can strand tens of thousands of people per day 36,000 feet in the air with no chance of escaping should a fire break or even worse disaster occur? Even a small airline failure is usually catastrophic. Should we just ban air travel because of the risk? Thousands and thousands of skyscrapers are built annually with no doubt hundreds of thousands on the planet with little in the way of mishap.

I'm not sure "dangerous" is a realistic argument. You still fly don't you? The odds of another plane crashing with or without terrorist help are much higher than the odds of a plane or some other device bringing down the Signature Tower. You still drive don't you? Car crashes happen everyday even to the safest drivers. It is no more dangerous to live in a skyscraper in Nashville than in any other city and millions of people world-wide live in them. And even more people work in buildings this tall and taller 8, 10, and 12 hours per day. Unattractive is just an opinion and may be valid for some. But the market for these condos isn't aimed at people who are afraid to live in highrise buildings. Whether you live in the Veridian or Signature, if the building is destroyed you'll be just a dead.

I take it you don't agree with several of our assertions above that he cannot scale it back without having a clause in the contracts. You could be right as we all are only speculating. It isn't likely that an "escape" clause exists that would allow a scaled down tower, especially several hundred feet shorter. Once it is shortened, the value of each penthous drops drastically with each subsequent floor dropping in value as well. The bottom floors probably 40 and below would not lose as significant a value but would lose some because of the fact that the tower is no longer anything significant outside of Nashville but would only be a nice but still run-of-the-mill condo tower. So it would be likely that any major changes in height would void the contracts. He hasn't actually been marketing for years but rather for months. His marketing effort was mollasses until May and even then it wasn't all that. Only in the last couple of months has his effort even began to resemble something complimentary to a project that size. and I don't think hot air balloon rides, while fun, are going to do it. The Lexus offer might spark some sales but who knows. I would think he can't drag his feet much longer or the buyers he does have will leave of their own accord using whatever timeline that would allow them out of their contracts. That alone would put him back at square one and he would have to rethink the whole project. He either has to find a private financier (not likely), sell half the units, or convince the banks that getting the project moving would escalate sales (HIGHLY unlikely in this market). Oh well, hopefully some news, good or bad, will surface soon. I hope it flies and still have some level of confidence he has knowledge we don't have but if not Nashville maybe TG could make it happen down here in Buckhead.