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

[smeagolsfree]

On 9/22/2021 at 8:34 AM, geoephemera said:

Yes, & upzone Wedgewood Houston & Chestnut Hill too. Anything within 2 miles of downtown along 2nd Ave South & 4th Ave South should leverage the existing BRT Lite routes for more transit oriented development (Route 52). 

Why does West End Ave get to build tall but nearby Edgehill & Wedgewood Houston get arbitrarily stunted height? And why do Edgehill Towers, Trevecca Towers, & Vine Hill Towers not count as precedent for adding to building height? Or better, why does the SoBro storage building get to be taller than residential buildings?

A lot of it is past precedent and a lot of it is current zoning now. The rest of it is who the current council person is in the district. There were a lot of things that were done in the 70s that would not be allowed today under current zoning. Nashville’s zoning laws have been hap-hazard IMO over the years.

[markhollin]

The Residences at The Finery and T3 (6 stories, 383 units, 416,000 sq. ft. office/retail, 640 capacity internal garage) have landed a $68 million loan to continue construction.

More behind the NashvillePost paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/notes-skyscraper-project-planned-for-sobro-progresses/article_65a8cfe4-1c97-11ec-829a-276f996bf23d.html

[Rick Dalton]

Have there ever been discussions about developing the lot where Virginia’s market sits in Midtown? It’s a somewhat small lot but seems like good real estate (right next to Virgin hotel).

[markhollin]

Pearl Studios (3 stories, 108 units) update: 90% of cladding/brick work is complete.

Looking south along 17th Ave. North, 1/4 block south of Jo Johnston Ave:

Looking NW from intersection of Pearl St. and 17th Ave. North:

Looking NE from intersection of Pearl St. and Fisk St:

[geoephemera]

On 9/24/2021 at 6:28 AM, smeagolsfree said:

A lot of it is past precedent and a lot of it is current zoning now. The rest of it is who the current council person is in the district. There were a lot of things that were done in the 70s that would not be allowed today under current zoning. Nashville’s zoning laws have been hap-hazard IMO over the years.

I value the response. I want to keep workshopping these responses for neighborhood meetings. I hear the "one less story reflex" prior to Zoning in the neighborhood meetings. I heard the one less story reflex during a session about 1414 4th Ave S & Bianca Paige Way proposing 6-7 stories. The "one less story reflex" did not make a lot of sense there since Bento Living was already 5-6 stories without any residential units--only hotel prices to market rate extended stay. The site is located along Route 52, one of the best BRT Lite routes in Nashville, creating an opportunity for market rate & affordable housing to serve those with accessibility issues. I heard the "one less story reflex" in a neighborhood group again with AJ Capital's Phase 3 project when a 4 story building was proposed--showing that the one less story reflex is arbitrary at the neighborhood group level. I want to have some thoughtful responses to support that taller buildings have greater potential for more affordable housing units--instead of build shorter with less units, but more affordable units. Developers keep fine tuning the initial ask to build tall enough to lose some stories as a negotiation tactic, in preparation for the "one less story reflex," to let people feel like they got something or got to kick something. If they propose to tall, outrage. If they propose too small starting out, the units will get taken away regardless. 

I am following what you are saying about the 70s with West End Ave. And while some 70s high rise housing may serve as a precedent that we can build taller, the experiment on how those units are filled & managed has not been linear. Hopefully, 6-10 stories within 2-3 miles of downtown can provide a decent balance of increasing units, increasing affordable units, & creating more units that are affordable for anyone with accessibility constraints.

I wanted to bring up West End Ave because of the proposal for a 27 story tower at 2410 West End to replace a 2 story building. I support the taller building. I just want to know why is there pushback against not-as-tall residential buildings along a transit route or next to existing taller buildings.

On 9/17/2021 at 2:04 PM, markhollin said:

The 1.3 acre triangular property at 1302 4th Ave. South in WeHo is being offered for sale at $7 million.  This is directly to the south of the Bento Box development on the other side of the CSX tracks. It is currently a storage lot and is zoned industrial.

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/wedgewood-houston-land-offered-for-7m/article_eb5938ba-17cc-11ec-9de5-830339bda370.html

 

And finally, I read NIMBY arguments against the former Beaman properties on NextDoor.  However, YIMBYs are making more thoughtful responses supporting 9 story buildings. Hopefully, the demographics of the latter will keep supporting more units at an agreed percentage of affordable housing resulting in more affordable housing units--versus the confusing build less but more. I also hope this helps with building taller at 1302 4th Ave S as well as 1414 4th Ave S.

Edited September 28, 2021 by geoephemera
Typos, Clarify

[markhollin]

910 8th Ave. South (7 stories, 252 units, 15,000 sq. ft. restaurant space, 437 capacity internal garage) update: near;ly all structures across the site have been razed.

Looking NE from 8th Ave. South, 1/2 block north of Archer St:

[markhollin]

Vanderbilt Univ. Owen School of Management Building addition/remodel update.

Looking north from 21st Ave. South at Grand Ave:

[smeagolsfree]

20 hours ago, geoephemera said:

I value the response. I want to keep workshopping these responses for neighborhood meetings. I hear the "one less story reflex" prior to Zoning in the neighborhood meetings. I heard the one less story reflex during a session about 1414 4th Ave S & Bianca Paige Way proposing 6-7 stories. The "one less story reflex" did not make a lot of sense there since Bento Living was already 5-6 stories without any residential units--only hotel prices to market rate extended stay. The site is located along Route 52, one of the best BRT Lite routes in Nashville, creating an opportunity for market rate & affordable housing to serve those with accessibility issues. I heard the "one less story reflex" in a neighborhood group again with AJ Capital's Phase 3 project when a 4 story building was proposed--showing that the one less story reflex is arbitrary at the neighborhood group level. I want to have some thoughtful responses to support that taller buildings have greater potential for more affordable housing units--instead of build shorter with less units, but more affordable units. Developers keep fine tuning the initial ask to build tall enough to lose some stories as a negotiation tactic, in preparation for the "one less story reflex," to let people feel like they got something or got to kick something. If they propose to tall, outrage. If they propose too small starting out, the units will get taken away regardless. 

I am following what you are saying about the 70s with West End Ave while some 70s high rise housing may serve as a precedent that we can build taller the experiment on how those units are filled & managed has not been linear. Hopefully, 6-10 stories within 2-3 miles of downtown can provide a decent balance of increasing units, increasing affordable units, & creating more units that are affordable for anyone with accessibility constraints.

I wanted to bring up West End Ave because of the proposal for a 27 story tower at 2410 West End to replace a 2 story building. I support the taller building. I just want to know why is there pushback against not-as-tall residential buildings along a transit route or next to existing taller buildings.

And finally, I read NIMBY arguments against the former Beaman properties on NextDoor.  However, YIMBYs are making more thoughtful responses supporting 9 story buildings. Hopefully, the demographics of the latter will keep supporting more units at an agreed percentage of affordable housing resulting in more affordable housing units--versus the confusing build less but more. I also hope this helps with building taller at 1302 4th Ave S as well as 1414 4th Ave S.

I think a lot of this would be a DIRECT question to Colby. Now there is a new overlay that was just done in the area too that a lot of time and effort was put into and that’s  why I say you should talk to him directly. The problem with some of these projects is they were sort of in the works at the same time the overlay was being approved too. I am unsure if that played a part in this. 

As far as pushback against some projects and not others I think you can sort of look at the character of the neighborhood. The West End neighborhood has very few residents compared to the others and the Councilperson is different in that district and it’s not Freddie. That’s a whole different animal. Orange to Blueberry.

The affordable housing aspect is going to be a very difficult and touchy issue to tackle as Metro has no way to mandate any affordable housing with any developer regardless of what these residents want or don’t want and they just don’t understand that.

[PaulChinetti]

Regardless of overlay can’t you go in and still request a variance? 

[smeagolsfree]

1 hour ago, PaulChinetti said:

Regardless of overlay can’t you go in and still request a variance? 

I think through the BZA., but the council person and the neighborhood has a lot of influence there.

[markhollin]

The Gilmore (4 stories,  99 condos, 4,200 sq. ft. ground floor retail, underground garage) update:  Excavation for garage continues.

Looking SW from Gilmore Ave., 1/2 block east of 12th Ave. South:

[markhollin]

The rehab/repurposing of 1204 Buchanan (1 story, office space) continues.

Looking NW from Buchanan St., 1/2 block east of 14th Ave. North:

Looking SE from 14th Ave. North, 1/4 block north of Buchanan St:

[Baronakim]

Thought this old photo of the May Hosiery building was interesting.

[markhollin]

Velvet Taco Midtown update.

Looking NW from intersection of Division St. and Lyle Ave:

[markhollin]

Olympic II (5 stories, 108 units, internal garage) update: columns and elevator shaft/stairwell rising.

Looking SW from 8th Ave. South, 1/2 block north of Olympic St:

[markhollin]

Edgehill Village Townhomes (3 stories? 10 units) update: house/garage on site razed.

Looking NW from Edgehill Ave. at Villa Place:

 

[DMilner]

They’ve dropped off a construction trailer and started clearing land (including the old structure that was on site) for the Finery project on Martin. 

 

Edited October 1, 2021 by DMilner

[markhollin]

Urban Grout Commercial Real Estate has finalized their payment of $13.75 million for the 12.3 acre industrial site at 1116 Polk Ave. with plans for a residential mixed-us project of unknown size.  They will keep the 30,000 sq. ft. bow truss warehouse that will be repurposed as part of the development. 

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2021/10/01/deal-dash-basin-alley-building.html?cx_testId=40&cx_testVariant=cx_34&cx_artPos=0#cxrecs_s
 

This screen shot from Smeagolfree's excellent development map shows the site highlighted in teal at the center of the frame:

[markhollin]

The 7 parcel .9 acre site with the main address of 301 15th Ave. North has sold for $5 million to Q&A Holdings for a residential development that could potentially be  7 and 15 stories tall 9unknown amount of units) according to a zoning diagram from earlier in the year. 

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/midtown-property-on-15th-avenue-sells-for-5m/article_d80c0e26-22db-11ec-b0f1-5ffc27270a5c.html
 

This screen shot from Smeagolfree's excellent development map shows the site highlighted in teal at the center of the frame:

[GregH]

This might have been posted somewhere already but the old Rohr Chabad house at Vanderbilt (111 23rd Ave. N) has been demolished and is being replaced by a new building, the Lubeck Center for Jewish Life https://chabadvanderbilt.com/chabadhouse

 

[smeagolsfree]

I knew about this one for sometime, but it sort of fell through the cracks. Thanks for the reminder.

[markhollin]

5 hours ago, GregH said:

This might have been posted somewhere already but the old Rohr Chabad house at Vanderbilt (111 23rd Ave. N) has been demolished and is being replaced by a new building, the Lubeck Center for Jewish Life https://chabadvanderbilt.com/chabadhouse

 

Thanks, Greg H.  Here are some screen shots from the tiny rendering video:

[markhollin]

1900 Church St. is nearing completion of its facelift.

Looking NW from intersection of 19th Ave. North and Church St:

[markhollin]

Woodfield (5 & 6 stories, 292 units, internal garage) update: framing underway on SE corner.

Looking NW from intersection of State St. and Mcmillin St:

Looking NE from State St., 1/2 block east of 17th Ave. North:

[markhollin]

17th & Grand (7 stories, 160,000 sq. ft. office space, ground level retail, underground garage) update: up to 6th floor.

Looking west from 16th Ave. South, just south of Grand Ave:

Looking SW from intersection of 17th Ave. South and Grand Ave:

Looking NW from 17th Ave. South, 1/4 block south of Grand Ave: