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

[21jump]

8 hours ago, downtownresident said:

We could use a Target or similar. Maybe a Walgreens/CVS in the gulch. Would’ve loved for H&M to stay a part of 5th and Broadway. 
 

Between Turnip Truck, Whole Foods, Publix, Walgreens on 5th, and DGX on third, the core is pretty well served on the grocery front. 

What's the closest Target to downtown? I'm very surprised that there isn't one there or in the Gulch by now. Here in San Diego there are Targets everywhere that range in size from a Dollar General to a Wal Mart. There's two in my neighborhood alone about 5 minutes from each other.

[donNdonelson2]

1 hour ago, 21jump said:

What's the closest Target to downtown? I'm very surprised that there isn't one there or in the Gulch by now. Here in San Diego there are Targets everywhere that range in size from a Dollar General to a Wal Mart. There's two in my neighborhood alone about 5 minutes from each other.

From 7th & Union Street to the nearest Target (on White Bridge Road) is 5.5 miles.

[dragonfly]

We have a lot of goofy growth in Houston since no one can tell you where you can or can't establish honky tonkin business or any business. Except the city when it's too close to a school, or the civic association or commercial district, if you are building and they don't approve it. In fact Houston has no zoning and never had zoning. Making it one gigantic urban goof ball. It's what goofy growth does, other than gigantism of the pro-business variety.

[AsianintheNations]

I assume the urban/city Targets (whatever they call them now) will start to appear as the population downtown continues to grow, since the new Publix and Whole Foods reflect that people actually live in downtown Nashville now. I remember looking at the census dotmap for even 2010 and seeing basically a hole in the center of the city. When I moved here in 2017, I was looking at apartments downtown and only saw the H. G. Hill market on Church in terms of nearby groceries.

9 hours ago, dragonfly said:

We have a lot of goofy growth in Houston since no one can tell you where you can or can't establish honky tonkin business or any business. Except the city when it's too close to a school, or the civic association or commercial district, if you are building and they don't approve it. In fact Houston has no zoning and never had zoning. Making it one gigantic urban goof ball. It's what goofy growth does, other than gigantism of the pro-business variety.

I will never forget this hilarious juxtaposition in Uptown Houston that was in a Houston Chronicle article on the subject (https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Weirdest-images-from-Houston-s-lack-of-zoning-laws-9171688.php). Despite the lack of formal zoning laws, my impression after several visits is that the overall layout of Houston is still not that different from many Southern and Midwestern cities, with a comparatively small but tall downtown, commercial clusters around major intersections/freeways, and huge swaths of single-family residential sprawling out, with a sudden transition from skyscrapers to houses.

 

Edited October 21, 2020 by AsianintheNations

[PaulChinetti]

Is that an old Dairy Queen now a strip club?

That building looks familiar.

[MLBrumby]

Def old fast food from 1960s... DQ, Pizza Hut, lums, arbys or Roy Rogers 

mat first glance without my glasses, I thought it said zone of er**tion... I had to put on my specs but it is Texas.

Edited October 21, 2020 by MLBrumby

[donNdonelson2]

The  “adult store” beside Dillard’s Galleria location was closed last year and is to be replaced by a restaurant called, believe it or not, Velvet Taco. 

[markhollin]

Sonder Hotel (6 stories, 45 units, restaurant) update.  Most of exterior work appears to be done.  Sure wish that after they added windows on the east side they would've bricked that wall.

Looking north from intersection of 9th Ave. North and Church St:

Looking NW from intersection of Church St. and Rosa L. Parks Blvd:

[titanhog]

26 minutes ago, markhollin said:

Most of exterior work a[[pears to be done.  

I'm still seeing a piece of the green banner on the roof.  

[markhollin]

First Baptist Church expansion (3 stories) update: Exterior seems to be complete.

Looking NW from 6th Ave. South, 1/2 block north of Demonbreun:
 

Looking NE from McGavock St., just east of 7th Ave. South:

Looking SE from intersection of 7th Ave. and Broadway:

[markhollin]

A&M Marketplace will be a new 1,400 sq. ft. international grocery opening in the Farmer's Market on Nov. 6th.

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2020/10/21/marketplace-international-grocery-farmers-market.html?cx_testId=40&cx_testVariant=cx_34&cx_artPos=3#cxrecs_s

[PillowTalk4]

On 10/21/2020 at 12:22 AM, donNdonelson2 said:

From 7th & Union Street to the nearest Target (on White Bridge Road) is 5.5 miles.

It seems to me that Nashville only has Targets in the suburbs.  I can't believe that Nashville hasn't pushed to establish urban Targets for downtown, east Nashville, south Nashville and Mid-town.  And, in some of the communities not so far out from downtown like Bordeaux which is lacking in practically everything one typically finds in a suburb. 

I live in the Maryland suburbs of the DC metro area.  I live between two full scale Target stores that are no more than 3 miles in either direction from my house.  There's also a Wal-Mart that I never go to.  Two Home Depots and a Lowes.  I just don't get how after all the years Target has been in Nashville and with the growth of the city, that it basically still has the same number of stores.  I mean come on, even the College Park Maryland has a small Target store nearby to serve the students at UM and then there's a full scale one just a couple of miles away from it.  

[Armacing]

19 hours ago, PillowTalk4 said:

It seems to me that Nashville only has Targets in the suburbs.  I can't believe that Nashville hasn't pushed to establish urban Targets for downtown, east Nashville, south Nashville and Mid-town.  And, in some of the communities not so far out from downtown like Bordeaux which is lacking in practically everything one typically finds in a suburb. 

I live in the Maryland suburbs of the DC metro area.  I live between two full scale Target stores that are no more than 3 miles in either direction from my house.  There's also a Wal-Mart that I never go to.  Two Home Depots and a Lowes.  I just don't get how after all the years Target has been in Nashville and with the growth of the city, that it basically still has the same number of stores.  I mean come on, even the College Park Maryland has a small Target store nearby to serve the students at UM and then there's a full scale one just a couple of miles away from it.  

The time for building brick & mortar retail is past.  Online shopping is the order of the day, and it doesn't even matter where stores are located anymore.  Once drone delivery becomes more widespread this will become even more obvious.

Edited October 24, 2020 by Armacing

[smeagolsfree]

I think COVID certainly has changed buying habits of people, however, I think that in tourist destinations such as Nashville, there will still be a demand for brick and mortar retail, for the folks that are impulse buying while away from home. 

I have changed the way I buy items, however, once things return to normal, I will still go out and buy items at traditional stores. The internet does not always provide a good description or give you the answers you need in order to buy what you are looking for. Some items are way over priced and some items are just crap. You can't always trust the reviews and ratings that are out there and it requires even more research to see if the product is worth buying.

I still like to touch and see the item, ask a question of the sales clerk. Trust me, its really hard to buy shoes and boots online too.

With all of this being said I think the small mom & pop retailer's may be gone for good. The same goes for a lot of restaurants. It may take 10 years for the restaurant industry to recover. 

A quote from Game of Thrones...."Winter is coming" and it is not going to be kind to the retail, restaurant and movie industry.

[titanhog]

2 hours ago, Armacing said:

The time for building brick & mortar retail is past.  Online shopping is the order of the day, and it doesn't even matter where stores are located anymore.  Once drone delivery becomes more widespread this will become even more obvious.

Yeah...I've pretty much gone 100% Amazon and grocery delivery from Publix and was headed in that direction before the pandemic.  

[markhollin]

A couple of small triangular lots in PieTown (I like to refer to it as LoLa--Lower Lafayette) are up for sale and/or partnership:

1) 706 7th Ave. South is .19 acre at the SE intersection of Fogg, 7th, and the CSX tracks is being offered for $940,000.  More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/article/21144081/pie-town-site-near-third-man-listed-for-940k

2) 634 Division is about .13 acre 1/4 bock east of 7th Ave. South and also hugging the CSX tracks.  The owners have posted a billboard on the site that shows a rendering concept of a 5 story structure that might fit there.

706 7th Ave. South is the triangular space to the north of Alana Healthcare.  634 Division is the triangular lot to the east of Alana Healthcare:

[PaulChinetti]

That would be some decent infill. I like it. 

[smeagolsfree]

Pretty sad when the real estate agent does not even have a working website. You would think when they do a sign like this they would want to have a lot more information on a website, but in this case no information is  available about any of her properties.

[markhollin]

CrossBridge Connection Center (4 stories, office/residential) update: Stairwell and elevator shafts rising.

Looking SW from Lindsley Ave. 1/2 block east of University Court:
 

[markhollin]

Water Tower Condos (5 stories, 37 units) update.  Elevator shaft/stairwell nearly topped; up to 2nd grade above street level.

Looking SE from 1st Ave. North, 1/2 block north of CSX tracks:

[markhollin]

Cato Cottages will be a boutique residential development featuring 30 homes on 3.29 acres on NW corner of Cato Rd. and Ashland City Hwy. Guerrier Development is putting it together, with Smith Gee the architect.

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/article/21144125/bordeaux-slated-for-residential-project
 

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

[PillowTalk4]

On 10/24/2020 at 11:56 AM, Armacing said:

The time for building brick & mortar retail is past.  Online shopping is the order of the day, and it doesn't even matter where stores are located anymore.  Once drone delivery becomes more widespread this will become even more obvious.

I don't totally disagree, however, Targets expansion in the DC metro area continued well into 2019.  We've seen the addition of suburban town center style Targets, which tend to be two story stores with attached garages.  We've also seen smaller Target stores in the urban and college areas, which tend to be about 1/3 to 1/2 the size of a typical target store.  Those were designed to be neighborhood oriented stores.  All the departments except beauty and health care goods are scaled down quite a bit.  The College Park store may not be that much bigger than a Walgreens.  That's what's needed in downtown, Germantown, Five Points, Midtown and other areas leading out to the suburbs.  There's always going to be a market for brick and mortar retail.  Retailers simply can't hire or utilize enough delivery services to meet the demands of consumers for everything.  Consumers are not going to be that savvy with their shopping needs to plan ahead for everything they need.

As for drones, from when I worked with one of those companies that is now testing drone delivery, even they don't see it becoming as big as they once thought it would.  There are still a lot of logistical, security and practicality issues with drone delivery.  It'll happen.  But it probably won't be as widespread as initially conceived.  I for one don't want to see the skies filled with buzzing drones delivering packages.  I also think it about from the perspective of the number of jobs drones could eliminate.  Drones would kill a lot of real jobs that are not easily replaceable.  Of course that's a discussion for another thread.

[PaulChinetti]

I agree with you on drone delivery @PillowTalk4 .

The battery maintenance, changing, and charging logistics of it for one would be pretty huge. I think for rural areas they would be pretty awesome. For cities, electric vans would make more sense still I think.

 

[Armacing]

59 minutes ago, PillowTalk4 said:

Retailers simply can't hire or utilize enough delivery services to meet the demands of consumers for everything.  Consumers are not going to be that savvy with their shopping needs to plan ahead for everything they need.

As for drones, from when I worked with one of those companies that is now testing drone delivery, even they don't see it becoming as big as they once thought it would.  There are still a lot of logistical, security and practicality issues with drone delivery.  It'll happen.  But it probably won't be as widespread as initially conceived.  I for one don't want to see the skies filled with buzzing drones delivering packages.  I also think it about from the perspective of the number of jobs drones could eliminate.  Drones would kill a lot of real jobs that are not easily replaceable.  Of course that's a discussion for another thread.

Hiring delivery people will become unnecessary when drones reach their full potential.

All of the issues you mentioned will be resolved and drones will become ubiquitous.  The skies will be filled with buzzing drones and your complaining about it will simply be attributed to your old-fashioned mentality and your quaint, outdated notion of what is normal (their future words, not mine).  

Also, regarding jobs - those jobs are going away just as sure as blacksmiths and carriage-makers went away.  Nothing you can do will stop the inevitable replacement of low-skill jobs with automation.  Cry about it.  Vote against it.  Whatever you want - but eventually your very survival will depend on your adoption of the newest technology.  In the same way that you can't just go out in the woods and live on deer meat and burn wood for heat without committing to an austere life of isolation as a hermit woodsman, so too will you be unable to insulate your "normal" existence from the inexorable progress of technology. 

I sense from your comments that you fail to understand that technological advancement is a fundamental, evolutionarily-inherited trait of humans.  It's what we do.

[markhollin]

The triangular lot at 706 7th Ave. South that was listed last week now has some conceptual renderings showing a 7 story structure.  This is not to be confused with the 630 Division 5 story renderings several posts above this (Sunday, Oct. 25) . Both properties are for sale or possible partnerships options in developing buildings. 

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/article/21144152/pie-town-properties-listed-for-sale