Virgin Hotel on Music Row, 15 stories, 262 rooms, music club

[rookzie]

BTW...

It recently darned on me that the Virgin Hotel design as rendered has some striking resemblance to the design of Chicago's Wrigley Building (1922).  The plan of each of the two towers comprising Wrigley is a quadrilateral with obtuse and acute angles of the front-most corners, with one tower being shorter in height than the other.  Although the Wrigley front faces appear somewhat aligned to a common vertical plane, with the front face of the south tower aligned with the south corner of the front face of the north tower, the facial angles of fronts of the towers are slightly different.

 

The Virgin rendering similarly shows towers of differing heights, although the taller one is set back from the frontal (17th Ave.) plane of the shorter tower, while the frontal planes of both towers appear to be oriented at the same angle.  Both the Virgin rendering and the Wrigley Towers are appointed with a high-mounted bridge.  The characteristic non-right angles (viewed from curbside or the roundabout) and the aerial bridge are what IMO makes the Virgin echo the geometric elevation of the Wrigley.

 

-==-

 

 

Edited January 28, 2015 by rookzie

[Paramount747]

Not much original in architecture anymore. I would rather have the above buildings on that lot than what they have proposed.

[japan]

What's going on with this project?

[Nathan_in_DC]

Unfortunately, not much at the moment it seems.

[titanhog]

So far...the only that's gone on is the demolition of an 1860's era home.  Nothing to see here.

[wmaddbb2018]

Every time I drive by this site I think what waste, I hope they are close to making it come together.

[Nashville Cliff]

This project is in the running to be the winner of this year's Palmer Award, given to the destructionist of the year, the developer who tears down some piece of our city's history and then isn't able to build their shining temple to progress.

[titanhog]

What I've always wondered is if David Chase is a big enough developer to pull off two major projects at the same time.  He's building the Westin right now...so he'd need an entire 2nd crew to be building the Virgin right now.  I don't know if that's a difficult thing to make happen...but it seems like it wouldn't be that easy to do if you weren't used to building more than one large project at a time.

[dmillsphoto]

What I've always wondered is if David Chase is a big enough developer to pull off two major projects at the same time.  He's building the Westin right now...so he'd need an entire 2nd crew to be building the Virgin right now.  I don't know if that's a difficult thing to make happen...but it seems like it wouldn't be that easy to do if you weren't used to building more than one large project at a time.

 

They're subcontracting all the actual work. But it's still a legitimate question of resources for DF Chase.

[titanhog]

Also have to wonder if they're having any issues finding the financing.  Chase has to get the $$, right?

[Hey_Hey]

IIRC, it was reported that he has the debt portion of the financing in place and was beginning work on the equity portion. I would love for this to be Nashville's first large-scale crowdfunded development. To my knowledge Nashville developers have yet to go that route on any projects.

[titanhog]

IIRC, it was reported that he has the debt portion of the financing in place and was beginning work on the equity portion. I would love for this to be Nashville's first large-scale crowdfunded development. To my knowledge Nashville developers have yet to go that route on any projects.

I didn't know developers had gone that route.  Cool!

 

What do the "investors" receive?  I'm assuming a percentage commensurate with their investment?

[Hey_Hey]

I didn't know developers had gone that route.  Cool!

 

What do the "investors" receive?  I'm assuming a percentage commensurate with their investment?

 

Crowdfunding is still in its infancy at this time, but it is rapidly growing.  I haven't seen any deals from the Nashville area yet.  These are essentially platforms that pools money together from several investors instead of one bank, private equity firm, etc. Those investors then get a rate of return based on the type of investment that was offered.  For example, in a purely debt position the investor can act as "the bank" with senior debt that has first position on the lien (8-12% IRR), they can get in for mezzanine level investment which holds a more junior position of financing (11-15% IRR), or they can be a pure equity partner which has higher average rates of return but also has a much higher risk level. 

 

Those rates for debt are likely a bit higher than they could get through traditional financing, but the speed of closing the funds can be pretty fast.

 

Check this project out in Manhattan.  It is a crowd funded project by Prodigy Network, and they even did their interior design through a crowd funded design competition.  http://newyorkyimby.com/2015/06/23-story-commercial-building-filed-at-17-john-street-financial-district.html 

[Paramount747]

At this point, I don't see this happening. Sorry folks, let's move on nothing to see here.

[RonCamp]

At this point, I don't see this happening. Sorry folks, let's move on nothing to see here.

 

Don't count this one out just yet.

[smeagolsfree]

Remember, if John says it will not happen, stay tuned for a groundbreaking soon.

[BnaBreaker]

At this point, I don't see this happening. Sorry folks, let's move on nothing to see here.

 

All the times your baseless pessimism on projects has been proven wrong and yet you still let it get the best of you.  Breathe buddy.  Breathe.  You may end up being right in the end, who knows?  There's always a possibility something could go sour.  But I feel like in your mind, if it takes some extended length of time to get all the ducks in a row on a project, that's reason enough to proclaim it dead.  It's not. 

Edited June 4, 2015 by BnaBreaker

[UTgrad09]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctM3U1SOVQg

[Paramount747]

The "Pessimism" is not to be taken serious…it's a joke. It is a joke based on the  past optimism of Signature Tower and West End Summit. It is not to be taken seriously…..

Edited June 5, 2015 by Paramount747

[titanhog]

This is one project I'm not sure will happen.  I hope it does because I like the design and I'll be ticked if they knocked down the antebellum home for no reason.  I just wonder if Chase can come up with $$.

[smeagolsfree]

I will now say a 75% chance or better.

[titanhog]

I will now say a 75% chance or better.

Spill the beans. What did you hear?! 

[MidTenn1]

The 3HL group on at 3 pm on the sports talk station called 104.5 The Zone apparently have moved to the Music Row area and remarking about all the cranes in the area. They mentioned several developments and said the Virgin Hotel is now underway. A few minutes later Littlejohn Engineering tweeted that they can provide them with any information they want about the projects. 

 

I'm inclined to think they probably don't know what they are talking about regarding the Virgin Hotel, but then there's that slight curiosity as to why he would say that with such affirmation.

[smeagolsfree]

Lips are sealed.

[UTgrad09]

Lips are sealed.

*Grabs rope, a bucket of water, and a cloth*

We can do this the easy way, or the hard way.