Inner Loop - CBD, Downtown, East Bank, Germantown, Gulch, Rutledge

[markhollin]

...a city loses its character and history when everything is replaced by glass.

We are getting hyperbolic here. Not EVERYTHING is being REPLACED.  In fact, very little is being replaced or torn down. Nearly all of the new development in the CDB/SoBro/Gulch/North Capitol/Germantown is taking place on vacant lots, surface parking, or low-grade industrial structures with no historic significance nor architectural value. The only buildings I can think of within the inner belt that have been razed in the last decade that might fit into that realm would be those two older homes in the Gulch along 11th Avenue, and old home that was on 8th Avenue next to the strip club (now part of the MCC), and the Trail West building.  And if developers want to raze and replace Meyers Carpeting, the former Nissan dealership on Broadway, half of the LifeWay structures, the old Convention Center, PSC Metals and the other low-level industrial dreck on the east side of the river, etc. they would have my blessing. 

And look at what we have saved (and often given new life): Cummins Station, Frist Fine Arts, Union Station, The Flying Saucer, Two Old Hippies and the like in the Gulch, NES Building, Bridge Building, Shelby Street Bridge, Elliot School as part of the new Centerstone Project, Rolling Mill Hospital building as part of that whole development, War Memorial Building and Theater, Trolly Barns, Cordell Hull, Stockyard building as part of new apartment complex, Customs House, Hume Fogg HS, The Arcade, Davidson County Courthouse, The Ryman, Masonic Temple, Barbershop Quartet Building, Bernie Dillon, Castner Knott, Hermitage Hotel, James Robertson Apts., Nashville Children's Museum, Southern Methodist Publishing House, The Cannery District, Werthen Mills, Howard School, Tennessee Supreme Court, State Capitol, Frost Building, Berger Buidling, Fire Hall #1, Doctor's Building, Noel Hotel, the Printers' Alley District, nearly all the old structures on 5th/4th/3rd Avenues between Commerce and Union, nearly everything on 2nd and 1st Avenues from Symphony Place northward to Union, nearly everything on Broadway between 5th Avenue and the riverfront, 14 churches all built in the 1800s (St. Mary's, Downtown Pres., Mount Zion Baptist, Church of Holy Trinity, The Bell Tower, First Lutheran, Christ ChurchCathedral, McKendree United Methodist, Lindsley Ave. Church of Christ, Fifteenth Avenue Baptist, Elms Street Methodist, Church of the Assumption, Primitve Baptist, St. Patrick's Catholic), hundreds of older homes and structures in Germantown and Buena Vista, etc. And this is just within the inner-belt. 

Does anyone miss the Thermal Plant? Barge builders and Bridge Company? The old bus station? The strip clubs that used to be in the area where Capitol View is going in? All the grimy warehouses that populated what is now the Nissan Stadium site? The abandoned railroad tracks and cinderblock wasteland that was the Gulch? The massive asphalt and gravel wastelands of parking where Bridgestone Arena, MCC, Omni, Country Music Hall of Fame, and Hall of Fame Park now sit? The weed-infested empty lots and gravel parking lots where Bicentennial Mall, First Tennessee Park, and soon-to-be Tennessee State Museum, Tennessee State Library, several new apartment complexes and restaurants are situated?

Having lived in many other major metropolitan areas in my life, and having traveled extensively (all 50 states and 54 countries), I can state definitively that Nashville is doing a whole lot more RIGHT in its development than many places I have observed.

Edited October 27, 2015 by markhollin

[CenterHill]

Having lived in many other major metropolitan areas in my life, and having traveled extensively (all 50 states and 54 countries), I can state definitively that Nashville is doing a whole lot more RIGHT in its development than many places I have observed.

Good post.   This weekend, I was reading the new publication by the MHC Foundation, Nashville Architecture, A Guide to the City.    I recommend it (not just because my wife had a hand in the research and writing) to anyone interested in a good overview of this city's architectural heritage and how it has developed the way it has.    The book is not another re-tread list of what was and is lost.   To the contrary, it's a celebration of the significant architecture that is still here that we walk or drive by every day, including new structures like the MCC, Batman, CMHOF and almost every one of the preserved or renovated buildings you list above.    It's a feel good read about the wealth of built environment we have today.   It also illustrates the importance of saving and, wherever possible, adaptively reusing the gems we have from yesterday.            

[markhollin]

Good post.   This weekend, I was reading the new publication by the MHC Foundation, Nashville Architecture, A Guide to the City.    I recommend it (not just because my wife had a hand in the research and writing) to anyone interested in a good overview of this city's architectural heritage and how it has developed the way it has.    The book is not another re-tread list of what was and is lost.   To the contrary, it's a celebration of the significant architecture that is still here that we walk or drive by every day, including new structures like the MCC, Batman, CMHOF and almost every one of the preserved or renovated buildings you list above.    It's a feel good read about the wealth of built environment we have today.   It also illustrates the importance of saving and, wherever possible, adaptively reusing the gems we have from yesterday.            

Amen. I'll need to check that book out.  Do you have a link or can recommend where to buy it?

[CenterHill]

Try this link.  There's a description of the book and I think a link to order a copy.   Proceeds go to the Foundation. 

http://www.metrohistoricalfoundation.org/index.html

 

[markhollin]

The Crossings in the Gulch is now fully leased:

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/blog/2015/10/if-you-wanted-retail-space-in-gulch-crossing-it

[markhollin]

^ ^ ^   Thanks so much, CenterHill.  Just ordered my copy.  : )

[TNinVB]

Thanks for posting this!! Ordering my copy now

[smeagolsfree]

Drove by 222 2nd today and didn't look like it had begun yet

I believe there is a delay of a couple of weeks or so. I have not heard there is anything to be worried about.

[Vrtigo]

Speaking of bringing down historic structures... The Goodyear at 8th & McGavock is coming down this morning.

[MLBrumby]

Have any dates been announced for the Cambria?  Any renderings?  Who is developing this?  Architect(s)?

[wmaddbb2018]

I believe there is a delay of a couple of weeks or so. I have not heard there is anything to be worried about.

nice, figured it was nothing. Just ready to see another project get going!

[markhollin]

For those who had been wondering, there is, indeed, remodeling going on with the exterior of the Renaissance Hotel.  

http://nashvillepost.com/news/2015/10/28/summer_2016_completion_eyed_for_renaissance_exterior_upgrade

Edited October 28, 2015 by markhollin

[Vrtigo]

For those who had been wondering, there is, indeed, remodeling going on with the exterior of the Renaissance Hotel.  

http://nashvillepost.com/news/2015/10/28/summer_2016_completion_eyed_for_renaissance_exterior_upgrade

The Renaissance Hotel will now and forever henceforth be known as "The Zebra". Appropriately hip for Nashville, no?

[titanhog]

The Renaissance Hotel will now and forever henceforth be known as "The Zebra". Appropriately hip for Nashville, no?

I wasn't crazy about the Sheraton downtown painting their building bright white.  Now...another building with white (stripes).  Not a fan.  Stands out a little too much.

[smeagolsfree]

I wasn't crazy about the Sheraton downtown painting their building bright white.  Now...another building with white (stripes).  Not a fan.  Stands out a little too much.

Sounds like something Jack White would like.

[Hey_Hey]

Have any dates been announced for the Cambria?  Any renderings?  Who is developing this?  Architect(s)?

I noticed during the last Predators game that Cambria had advertising for the television audience on the "green screen" ad space along the boards.

[smeagolsfree]

I wasn't crazy about the Sheraton downtown painting their building bright white.  Now...another building with white (stripes).  Not a fan.  Stands out a little too much.

I will wait till it is finished before I make a call on it. I will say the color it is now is dated. As far as the Sheraton goes, the exterior is better than what it was. As far as the inside goes........uck.. Makes me sick.

[MLBrumby]

My beef about the Renaissance is the new paint actually enhances the 1980s horizontally bland architecture.

Edited October 28, 2015 by MLBrumby

[ruraljuror]

The Renaissance Hotel will now and forever henceforth be known as "The Zebra". Appropriately hip for Nashville, no?

Piano keys maybe?

[Guest]

My beef about the Renaissance is the new paint actually enhances the 1980s horizontally bland architecture.

Unfortunately.... Horizontal banding is making a comeback. I despise it.

[titanhog]

 

Unfortunately.... Horizontal banding is making a comeback. I despise it.

Do these stripes make my building look wider?

[NikOnder]

I wasn't crazy about the Sheraton downtown painting their building bright white.  Now...another building with white (stripes).  Not a fan.  Stands out a little too much.

I dunno, both of these buildings were looking severely dated and depressed with the fading, beige concrete. Personally, I think the Sheraton looks way better now, especially looking from the Capitol Mall vantage point. It's not like that building was an architectural gem anyway and it takes at least 20 years off the age of the building. Hell, if I were to be completely honest, I'd have to say all the concrete on the batman tower looks pretty dated now, too.

Anyway, coupled with the updates coming to the UBS building, this renovation should do a lot to help smooth the stark contrast in architecture between the cbd and the shiny, squeeky clean new development quickly rising in sobro and the gulch.

[titanhog]

I dunno, both of these buildings were looking severely dated and depressed with the fading, beige concrete. Personally, I think the Sheraton looks way better now, especially looking from the Capitol Mall vantage point. It's not like that building was an architectural gem anyway and it takes at least 20 years off the age of the building. Hell, if I were to be completely honest, I'd have to say all the concrete on the batman tower looks pretty dated now, too.

Anyway, coupled with the updates coming to the UBS building, this renovation should do a lot to help smooth the stark contrast in architecture between the cbd and the shiny, squeeky clean new development quickly rising in sobro and the gulch.

I just wonder if they could have painted it a different color.  Maybe a light grey color.

[CenterHill]

I dunno, both of these buildings were looking severely dated and depressed with the fading, beige concrete. Personally, I think the Sheraton looks way better now, especially looking from the Capitol Mall vantage point. It's not like that building was an architectural gem anyway and it takes at least 20 years off the age of the building. Hell, if I were to be completely honest, I'd have to say all the concrete on the batman tower looks pretty dated now, too.

Anyway, coupled with the updates coming to the UBS building, this renovation should do a lot to help smooth the stark contrast in architecture between the cbd and the shiny, squeeky clean new development quickly rising in sobro and the gulch.

You mention UBS, which received a top to bottom "power wash" that removed stains and pollution discoloration.   The result is a much "fresher" look, without paint.    That would have been an alternative for both the Sheraton and the Renaissance.    I have an issue with applying paint to towers that were not designed to be painted.   The biggest issue with the Renaissance is the orangish/red window trim.    To me, that contributes more than anything to its dated look.   

 

Also, noticed activity today on the cleared lot at 8th and Church where the old parking garage was removed.   There are workers on site and the temporary fencing is being removed.   Anyone know what's going on?   

Edited October 29, 2015 by CenterHill

[markhollin]

They may have to paint/wash it again in five years due to all the grime that will be flying around with construction of the new NCC development, two floors being added to the Library parking garage, and (hopefully) the new Federal Courthouse all happening immediately around it.  ; )