Surrounding Counties - Cheatham, Dickson, Montgomery, Rutherford, Sumner, Wilson, Williamson, Maury, etc.

[markhollin]

Veteran developer Pat Emery is aiming to open his latest building in the region's longtime corporate office hub in late 2019 or early 2020 — which means a key decision point looms within the next few months.

Emery's newly formed company, Hall Emery, is now making public these renderings of the proposed Three Franklin Park building, the third and largest of the buildings at the Cool Springs office campus Emery is developing at the northwest corner of Carothers Parkway and McEwen Drive. The 11-story building would contain 312,000 square feet of leasable office space, which would rank as the fifth-biggest office building in Williamson County.

The building plans are under review with the city of Franklin as Hall Emery works to drum up leasing activity that would spur construction. The firm may also decide to start building without tenants in hand, a generally riskier development move that would reflect even more confidence in the market.

"We've not changed our strategy. We're taking the steps we can take that don't box us in and give us flexibility," said David Wells, president of Hall Emery. "We are approaching a date by which we will have to make a decision whether to move forward or pause and take another assessment."

A construction budget has not been finalized, Wells said. The most recent Franklin Park building cost about $70 million to create, and construction costs have grown since then. 

Three Franklin Park would be roughly 15 percent larger than its siblings, One Franklin Park and Two Franklin Park. The latter of those two buildings opened almost one year ago and today is 89 percent leased — mostly to the headquarters of CKE Restaurants Holdings Inc., which owns Hardee's and Carl's Jr., as well as an 850-person regional hub for Schneider Electric, which will formally debut its space at a Feb. 20 event.

In addition to being one story taller than its siblings, a rooftop terrace would distinguish the building along with top-floor conference space for any tenant to book and a cafe where the company Fooda could arrange pop-up restaurants, as the company does at the two other Franklin Park buildings. A fitness center with locker rooms would be in the basement, which because of the site's topography would have direct access to parks outside the building.

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2018/02/15/first-look-emerys-newest-office-building-aims-to.html

 

[21jump]

New Interchange in Spring Hill

FHA approved an interchange at Buckner Rd. and Interstate 65 in Spring Hill. This is desperately needed in that area and should significantly reduce traffic on US 31 and Lewisburg Pike south of Franklin.  Work will commence within 8 years.

[Pdt2f]

The story Mark posted mentioned that the second of the two existing Franklin Park buildings has the Schneider Electric offices and the CKE offices. Does anyone know who occupies the first building?

[markhollin]

Construction to begin next month for Brentwood Self Storage facility, a 120,000-square-foot structure on 2.8 acres at the intersection of Old Hickory Boulevard and Cloverland Drive.

 

[markhollin]

Officials for online search engine giant Google Inc. confirmed that the company will officially break ground Friday afternoon on its planned, $600 million Clarksville-Montgomery County data center.

The ceremonies are expected to launch, officially, the start of construction, formally signaling that the company plans to make good on its promises to Clarksville-Montgomery County and the state of Tennessee.

Google acquired the site formerly owned by Dow Corning and Hemlock Semiconductor in 2015, and is part of a trio of nine-digit corporate investments in Montgomery County that also includes Hankook Tire ($800 million in phase 1), and LG Electronics ($250 million planned in phase 1).

The data center is expected to be the 15th, globally, for Google, storing Google's vast and growing database of information. The Clarksville data center is expected to employ between 70 to 100 people in high-tech positions.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/clarksville/2018/02/15/google-break-ground-friday-clarksville-data-center/341493002/

[markhollin]

One of the larger private employers in Williamson County, Jackson National Life Insurance Co, plans to swell its headcount by 40 percent this year, a jolt of 200 new jobs that further entrenches the company in Tennessee's fastest-growing county. 

Full story behind paywall here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2018/02/16/exclusive-denvers-loss-is-our-gain-as-franklin.html

[NashvilleObserver]

8 hours ago, markhollin said:

Google acquired the site formerly owned by Dow Corning and Hemlock Semiconductor in 2015....

It is so unfortunate the Hemlock Semiconductor plant closed. They were a major boon to the area, but it seems this is being picked up by other companies. 

The first time I saw the plant, I was driving to the outskirts of Clarksville, and noticed the plant's tall towers glowing in the distance surrounded by miles of cornfields. Very eerie... like something out of a futuristic Sci-Fi film

[MidTenn1]

More on the Google facility from the Clarksville Leaf~Chronicle...

Quote

With tall construction cranes already standing in the backdrop, Google formally broke ground, on a blustery, chilly and damp Friday afternoon, on its planned $600 million data center near Clarksville…..

…..It’s for certain, according to Pichai, and Enoch Moeller, Google’s hardware operations site manager, that the Clarksville data center now under construction — the 15th worldwide — will be the most advanced yet in the expanding global Google network. 

“It will obviously be our newest and therefore our most advanced data center facility,” Pichai said. “With each data center that we bring online, we’ve operated with the goal of being able to do increasingly more, and with this data center our goal is to bring the very latest in technology to Clarksville, and Tennessee,” Pichai said. 

Moeller added that Google is constantly updating designs. There is no cookie-cutter methodology to Google’s expanding network. 

The Clarksville data center will employ about 1,000 people in construction and 70 in high-tech permanent positions.

 

[japan]

On 2/16/2018 at 8:55 PM, NashvilleObserver said:

It is so unfortunate the Hemlock Semiconductor plant closed. They were a major boon to the area, but it seems this is being picked up by other companies. 

The first time I saw the plant, I was driving to the outskirts of Clarksville, and noticed the plant's tall towers glowing in the distance surrounded by miles of cornfields. Very eerie... like something out of a futuristic Sci-Fi film

Did that plant ever officially open?

[LA_TN]

15 hours ago, japan said:

Did that plant ever officially open?

No. They maintained the plant with a skeleton crew for a long time (1 year?) before shutting it down

[NashRugger]

New 2-story building to be built just off the square as a restaurant expands and with a new concept. This is currently a vacant lot used as storage that was home to a previous building that was vacant and collapsed a few years back. 

http://www.dnj.com/story/news/2018/02/19/alley-main-rooftop-bar-downtown-murfreesboro-restaurants/350870002/

[NashvilleObserver]

On 2/19/2018 at 8:01 AM, japan said:

Did that plant ever officially open?

15 hours ago, LA_TN said:

No. They maintained the plant with a skeleton crew for a long time (1 year?) before shutting it down

Correct. The site was fully constructed, but maintained in what I understood as a "ready to go" mode, but not fully-functioning. I knew of several people who worked on maintenance, not to mention the construction teams. Also a family friend was offered a large sum to sell part of his property for the plant.

[markhollin]

Crane up for the $105 million Harpeth Square mixed-use development on Main Street in Franklin:

 

[markhollin]

Chartwell Hospitality works through details of multi-level development that would extend Main Street’s draw. At a Franklin historic design review meeting on Feb. 19, committee members discussed the architectural features and materials for a proposed multi-level, mixed-use project at 99 Main Street across from from Puckett’s Boat House. The development would house a combination of office space, retail shops, and a restaurant with a 100-seat rooftop patio.

https://brentwoodhomepage.com/chartwell-works-through-details-of-multi-level-development-that-would-extend-main-streets-draw/
 

[BnaBreaker]

Downtown Franklin has really been impressing me with the quality of the projects going up lately.  I hope the trend continues, because that neighborhood really is a treasure!

[Pdt2f]

1 hour ago, BnaBreaker said:

Downtown Franklin has really been impressing me with the quality of the projects going up lately.  I hope the trend continues, because that neighborhood really is a treasure!

I also like the fact that they’re not destroying noteworthy historical structures to do it. All the projects I’ve heard of in downtown franklin are happening on eyesore properties from like the ‘70s and ‘80s. I do miss Dotson’s (or whatever it was called), the meat and three that used to be on this property. 

[Titans10]

15 hours ago, Pdt2f said:

I also like the fact that they’re not destroying noteworthy historical structures to do it. All the projects I’ve heard of in downtown franklin are happening on eyesore properties from like the ‘70s and ‘80s. I do miss Dotson’s (or whatever it was called), the meat and three that used to be on this property. 

That place was awesome, I remember going there as a kid!!

[MTFAN]

Video of Middle Tennessee's planned athletic facility upgrade.

 

http://www.dnj.com/videos/sports/college/mtsu/2018/02/16/video-mtsu-introduces-plans-athletic-facilities-upgrades/110483234/

[NashRugger]

A new proposal consisting of a hotel, condos, retail, & office space for the former FUMC building and land in downtown Murfreesboro. Several years back, a bank was planning on building a mid-rise office tower on the parking lot behind the church but that was scraped due to the recession. 

http://www.dnj.com/story/news/2018/02/22/murfreesboro-city-council-picks-developer-historic-church-project/362594002/

[MTFAN]

Rendering of the mixed use project in Murfreesboro.  The building on the south side along college street is a hotel with retail on the bottom level.  Along Church street there is retail on bottom and office space above and the Northeast structure is a parking garage and condos.   They are saving the church and it is supposed to be an event venue and restaurant.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

[NashRugger]

I want to see more detailed renderings but this project looks massed very well, especially with the office & hotel portions hiding the residential garage pretty well. 

[MLBrumby]

Isn't there a plan for a mixed-use block on the site of the former medical center, near the MTSU campus?

[NashRugger]

3 hours ago, MLBrumby said:

Isn't there a plan for a mixed-use block on the site of the former medical center, near the MTSU campus?

I believe MTSU has some long-term plans for that site, potentially a medical school or something like that. 

[markhollin]

Schnieder Electric has opened it's office that will eventually house 850 employees at the Two Franklin Park 10 story building in Cool Springs at exit 67 of I-65.

Full story and slideshow behind paywall at NBJ:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2018/02/28/this-company-just-went-from-0-to-850-people-in.html

 

[FrankNash]

I was told the other day that Schnieder would move the headquarters  from Boston to Nashville if we had a direct flight to Paris.  They love it here!