BROADWEST (former West End Summit), 36 story Conrad Hilton Hotel/condo tower, 22 story/510,000 sq. ft. office tower, 4 story/125,000 sq. ft. retail/office, 1 acre plaza, 2,500 car garage, $490 million

[dmillsphoto]

Yeah...but it's understandable when you see that there's a 2,800 car garage involved. That's 1,000 more spaces than the MCC garage.

 

And it's 2300 more than the NCC2 Garage

[Guest 5th & Main Urbanite]

No mention of the Intercontinental on the Intercontinental website. Under new and future hotels, Nashville is not even listed. I wonder if this is a done deal.

[dmillsphoto]

I am not worried about it, John. The expansion of the parking deck tells me it will be happening. The additional blasting underway now, IIRC, was not part of the original two-tower design.

[Guest 5th & Main Urbanite]

I am not worried about it, John. The expansion of the parking deck tells me it will be happening. The additional blasting underway now, IIRC, was not part of the original two-tower design.

It was supposed to be in one of the two towers. I guess since now there will be three, they had to redesign the whole thing. Needless to say to see a 17, 18, and 20 story tower project going up at once will be nothing short of amazing. It will take 3 years, so by 2016 the whole corridor will look different.

[Guest 5th & Main Urbanite]

It would be nice if we saw some sort of rendering.

[Nathan_in_DC]

It would be nice if we saw some sort of rendering.

 

My thoughts as well.  I'm really curious how they're working that third tower into the design.

[Griz83]

Don't know if anyone posted this elsewhere, so I'll post it here:

 

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20130606/BUSINESS/306060076/Music-City-Center-construction-head-moves-West-End-Summit-project

[bwithers1]

Don't know if anyone posted this elsewhere, so I'll post it here:

 

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20130606/BUSINESS/306060076/Music-City-Center-construction-head-moves-West-End-Summit-project

Nice.  The article mentions two 20-story towers for WES.  Is that still correct?  Also, no mention at all of a 3rd tower for the hotel.  But being the Tennessean, they are probably only recycling old news.  I wouldn't expect them to break the story on the new redesign.

[Guest 5th & Main Urbanite]

The Tennessean has not scooped a story since Jerry Thompson infiltrated the Klan in the 1970's. This is old news, and the towers are 17, 18, and 20. I doubt the Tennessean knows what year this is.

Edited June 6, 2013 by 5th & Main Urbanite

[UTgrad09]

The Tennessean has not scooped a story since Jerry Thompson infiltrated the Klan in the 1970's. This is old news, and the towers are 17, 18, and 20. I doubt the Tennessean knows what year this is.

lol, I wouldn't go that far...but yes, The Tennessean is generally a lazy newspaper. In most markets, TV news steals stories from the newspaper. It seems it's often the other way around, here.

[dReAmWiELdEr]

The Tennessean has not scooped a story since Jerry Thompson infiltrated the Klan in the 1970's. This is old news, and the towers are 17, 18, and 20. I doubt the Tennessean knows what year this is.

 

 

Nice.  The article mentions two 20-story towers for WES.  Is that still correct?  Also, no mention at all of a 3rd tower for the hotel.  But being the Tennessean, they are probably only recycling old news.  I wouldn't expect them to break the story on the new redesign.

 

 

My thoughts as well.  I'm really curious how they're working that third tower into the design.

 

 

OK, so this is mere speculation, but as an HCA Corporate Headquarters employee (at Park Plaza,) I'm also involved with Parallon and H2U (yet another HCA subsidiary/initiative,) and have had some input as to the needs regarding what impacts my job role (Corporate IT Asset Management, which also includes logistics of corporate IT inventory,) so indication was given regarding dock space, storage needs, etc. All together, it is more massive than was realized and this input was going to be culminated into a full review of overall revised Corporate needs to Alex Palmer. It is also very possible that H2U will relocate from the Highwoods Tower at West End and Murphy, to be consolidated with SCRI in one of the towers, which (if true) would max out the current redesign's footprint of 450,000+ square feet (their current accumulative footprint.) I also believe we have the contingency for the option of up to 55% growth space available for future development, as the revised lease is now for 15 years (I believe.) This means more space will have to come from somewhere... so I will not be surprised if we see yet another  redesign.

 

We also know that the parking garage will supposedly have a much more massive amount of space than previously thought. This (along with the hotel tower) could explain this. All of this being said, I have to add the disclaimer that this is merely speculative on my part, and I have no evidence to support this information, nor do I speak on behalf of HCA. (Sorry, I had to get that out of the way.)   

Edited June 7, 2013 by dReAmWiELdEr

[smeagolsfree]

Great information and thanks for posting. This could also explain the plans that ASP had for an additional office building he mentioned several months ago. With all of this being said, the first part of the project can still go ahead even with the buildings not fully designed. It could still be a while before we see a new rendering. They can still dig and start the foundation without the full design finished I would think.

[arkitekte]

They can still dig and start the foundation without the full design finished I would think.

 

For sure.  I'm also sure that the architecture firms working on this have made it known to the engineers that height changes in their designs could occur.  If anything, we'll see a significant base change due to the carrying of loads to the foundation. Without the original plans it would be hard to tell, but if a drastic change occurs then there could be some obvious changes.  The parking garage might be one if a significant amount of it is above grade; those loads from added height could transferred to a larger base (the garage) and not have to sacrifice much commercial or retail space due to the amount of structure that is needed. 

 

If this doesn't make since it's because I've been up since 4:30.

 

 

I'm not familiar with the site, so I don't know how large it is really (other than y'alls photos, occasionally driving by when in Nashville, and Google Earth), but it seems that 3 towers and parking is a lot for that lot. 

[captainwjm]

FWIW, there has been no activity at this site for over a week, and almost all of the equipment that has been there, including all of the trucks and drilling equipment has been removed.

[dmillsphoto]

FWIW, there has been no activity at this site for over a week, and almost all of the equipment that has been there, including all of the trucks and drilling equipment has been removed.

 

That probably means time is nearing for crane bases and concrete pouring.

[captainwjm]

That probably means time is nearing for crane bases and concrete pouring.

I'd be very surprised if that was the case.  If you look at the site, it is still quite raw, especially on the West End/Broadway side.  My guess is that we still have some extensive blasting and excavation to endure before "construction" begins.  I was commenting on the derth of activity after the recent flurry,and seeing the above posts concerning redesign, anticipate that site preparation activity will be in a hiatus until the redsign is complete.

Edited June 7, 2013 by captainwjm

[UTgrad09]

I'm not familiar with the site, so I don't know how large it is really (other than y'alls photos, occasionally driving by when in Nashville, and Google Earth), but it seems that 3 towers and parking is a lot for that lot.

3.93 acres, or roughly 171,000 square feet.

West side: 359.76'

North side: 432.62'

East side: 435.37'

South side: 433.71' (angles northward)

The lot is pretty close in size to the downtown library + parking garage (3.81 acres).

I've also thought that 3 towers may seem a little crowded, depending on the layout. I wonder if 2 towers with the hotel portion within one of them wouldn't be a better option. Just make the towers a little taller (closer to the original height plan).

[dmillsphoto]

I'd be very surprised if that was the case.  If you look at the site, it is still quite raw, especially on the West End/Brioadway side.  My guess is that we still have some extensive blasting and excavation to endure before "construction" begins.  I was commenting on the derth of activity after the recent flurry,and seeing the above posts concerning redesign, anticipate that site preparation activity will be in a hiatus until the redsign is complete.

 

I will see if I can take a drive by on Monday when I am downtown for an interview (being jobless sucks), but I know foundation work was supposed to begin "in the summer months" from earlier releases. I cannot envision a scenario where HCA would allow work to simply stall or go into hiatus due to redesign/ICH addition. Palmer is more than able to work while in motion on these activities.

[barakat]

The uses of WES are very close to what 505CST would accommodate, if not in exact sqft.  Not considering the site and context, wouldn't combining three buildings into one make better sense financially?  Something like 505CST on a portion of the WES site would be interesting.

[dReAmWiELdEr]

The uses of WES are very close to what 505CST would accommodate, if not in exact sqft.  Not considering the site and context, wouldn't combining three buildings into one make better sense financially?  Something like 505CST on a portion of the WES site would be interesting.

 

Ironically, in our annual employee survey, I had indicated 505 CST as a viable option when suggesting that we go with a consolidated space (optimally a tower design) for various (and even obvious) reasons. I would crap biscuits if they took that seriously and we ended up going with that instead... but I'm not sure as to what stipulations would have to be involved for the existing contracts to be nulled.

 

Either way, one potential problem with a single tower design, or the idea that one of entities (SCRI, H2U, or Parallon) would not like the idea of sharing space... the entire idea behind choosing WES (other than Metro incentives) was branding. It allows each entity their own specific, branded, and prominent space/tower, each with their own emblem (which I know was a priority for both entities.) Though they may be wholly owned subsidiaries of HCA, they are still entirely different organizations and are very picky about conserving distinct branding. 

 

My idea was let them continue to have their own towers as planned (regardless of size/height,) and have Corporate Headquarters consolidate into a single tower design. We are currently in a phased renovation of our existing campus buildings, but for the spaces that have been completed, most employees are not pleased (and many even outraged) at the new "open space" concept they adopted to consolidate work areas to come up with "more space" for our ever-expanding workforce. (Think upscale "Call Center" with small cubicles in an open environment; NOT very conducive for corporate business.) I work in Building 4, and at our recent divisional meeting (most of us being in Building 4,) many spoke out loud and adamantly about conservation of the amount of space and environment we currently have vs. what we will be working in once renovated. What has been done at other buildings will simply NOT work for most people in that building due to the nature of our jobs. The biggest problem with the possibility of going to a consolidated design is that if they get to the phase of the redesign of our current data center (currently in Building 4, soon to be moved to the new Antioch facility) which will be repurposed to become a DR data center, then we may just be "set in stone," as it would simply be too expensive to reinvest in yet another data center rebuild in a new building.

 

I CAN say with absolute confidence that regardless of where and how, we WILL be building/leasing/buying a large amount of space, and SOON! I'm just as excited as anyone to see how this turns out, and I will keep my ear to the ground at work and post any findings (given it won't get me in trouble.)

Edited June 8, 2013 by dReAmWiELdEr

[dmillsphoto]

dReAmWiELdEr, do we know each other? I've worked with a lot of people in building 4 and had several bids to make the Antioch facility happen (racks, UPS', PDUs, & Riverbed appliances). Either way, I'm glad that your information matches what I have said in the past after talking with my building 4 folks, and that something is in motion finally. Everyone I had talked to has been ready for a change for years, and the power issues in your building was pushing some over the edge.

[dReAmWiELdEr]

dReAmWiELdEr, do we know each other? I've worked with a lot of people in building 4 and had several bids to make the Antioch facility happen (racks, UPS', PDUs, & Riverbed appliances). Either way, I'm glad that your information matches what I have said in the past after talking with my building 4 folks, and that something is in motion finally. Everyone I had talked to has been ready for a change for years, and the power issues in your building was pushing some over the edge.

 

I'm not sure if we know each other, but you can message me off-post.    You are right about the power issues... that was (one of)the main reason(s) we needed to relocate the datacenter (other than its age.) NES simply could not provide us any additional power that we needed without obscene cost; however the power needs that are necessary can be supplied at the new location. I think it will also inadvertently spur development of a higher caliber in that area (hopefully.)

[dxfret]

I noticed new site fencing along West End Avenue along with large TURNER signs.  I appears excavation is nearing completion and foundation work is starting.

[captainwjm]

I noticed new site fencing along West End Avenue along with large TURNER signs.  I appears excavation is nearing completion and foundation work is starting.

Fencing and signage has been up for about 2 weeks; still no equipment on site.

[nashvillwill]

Anything happening at this site?