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

[markhollin]

Rome Mixed-Use will be the name of the 7 story, 75' tall, 210 unit, 243 capacity internal garage residential project at  1231 2nd Ave. North. The project previously was known as Second & Monroe. Greenpointe Construction is the developer of the .87 acre site, and they will go before the Metro Planning Commission on May 27th for rezoning.  A new rendering is available.

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/article/21147166/details-emerge-for-planned-germantown-project
 

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

[nashvylle]

Another great infill project for Germantown. 

[markhollin]

AT&T Plaza remodel update.

Looking east from SunTrust Tower eastern patio:

Looking SE from intersection of 4th Ave. North and Commerce St:

[KJHburg]

Plaza improvements outside the AT&T Tower downtown.   Today. 

[chris holman]

16 hours ago, markhollin said:

Work on Gibson Garage at Cummins Station.

Looking west from Clark Place at 10th Ave. South:
 

Cool I work a Gibson the employees get a access to this soon 

[KJHburg]

Various Gulch area projects from Broadway.   Today. 

[markhollin]

Muse (5 stories, 51 units, ground level retail, internal garage) update.

Looking SW from intersection of Hermitage Ave. and Lindsley Ave:

Looking SE from Linsdley Ave., 1/4 block east of Academy Place:

[markhollin]

First Baptist Church addition (3 stories) update: Exterior complete.

Looking SW from intersection of Broadway and 6th Ave. South:
 

Looking south from Broadway, 1/4 block west of 6th Ave. South:

[markhollin]

The Goo Goo Shop at 111 3rd Ave. South (1 story structure built in 1920) will be closing April 25th for a $2 million upgrade. It will reopen Labor Day Weekend. 

The future Goo Goo Chocolate Co. space will offer interactive classes, a design-your-own confection station, a full-service chocolate bar and a retail shop. The chocolate bar will serve premium chocolates, wine and whiskey pairings, alcoholic milkshakes and a rotating selection of seasonal treats.

Centric Architecture and CITY Construction will serve as architect and general contractor, respectively.

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/food-business/article/21147195/goo-goo-shop-to-close-for-2m-upgrade
 

[markhollin]

The L&C Tower (Nashville's oldest skyscraper) is for sale at an undisclosed price by theCIM Group, which last purchased it in 2015 for $29,75 million.

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2021/04/20/l-c-tower-for-sale.html

[markhollin]

One Nashville Place continues to have upgrades done to its entrance area.

Looking north from Commerce St. at 4th Ave. North:
 

[markhollin]

[Nashvillain]

^ That map really makes it apparent the connections that were severed with the interstate. And that's just one small section

Edited April 21, 2021 by Nashvillain

[MLBrumby]

38 minutes ago, markhollin said:

@rookzie didn't you grow up in this area?  What are your thoughts on this proposal? 

Edited April 21, 2021 by MLBrumby

[rolly]

WHY is this dude wearing a mask in his bio photo?

[Nashvillain]

31 minutes ago, rolly said:

WHY is this dude wearing a mask in his bio photo?

To set an example...?

[rookzie]

9 hours ago, MLBrumby said:

@rookzie didn't you grow up in this area?  What are your thoughts on this proposal? 

I've posted at least once on a related topic, during the last 8 months.

On 8/18/2020 at 8:55 AM, rookzie said:

The land bridge to which markhollin has referred was  formally proposed in 2016 by Metro, as a component of the  Gateway to Heritage Walking Improvements initiative.   This particular land bridge would be in addition to another land bridge at 16th/17th Ave. (also within the 2016 proposal), which is based on a concession once offered by the state during the interstate construction.

Although the rationale is to restore a small portion of lost street connectivity, my honest opinion is that the land bridge(s) alone constitute mere piecemeal "pet projects, a practice typical of what Metro has undertaken to this point in time.  They really should be incorporated into a much more practical proposal for continuity and revitalization of Jefferson Street by incorporating land bridges as a transit corridor proposal and planning, in order to make any significant and meaningful improvements and transformations of mid- and upperJefferson Street.

I expressed concerns with only promoting the cap (land bridge) as a standalone initiative, without coordinating it with a medium-term transit initiative by including it within a Jefferson Street Transit Corridor transformation proposal I drafted in 2019.  This "cap" is a revisited watered-down version of the proposal offered as a concession by the former Department of Highways (TDOT) around 1969-70.  That land bridge proposed in 1970 offered two options.  The first and larger option would have capped off I-40 between 16th/17th Ave N and 21st and allowed more range for above-highway mixed development and additional north-south surface connectivity.   The second and lesser option aligned more with this one pictured, with the western extent at 18th/DBTodd.  The roadbed floor of I-40 reportedly already was excavated during construction (blasted through rock), to allow for a future cap at DBTodd.

That first proposal (1970) did not include the land bridge between Jefferson and Jackson streets, where I-40 runs perpendicular to Jefferson.  Both land bridges were included in proposal conceived in 2016 with submissions to the "Gateway to Heritage Walking Improvements Design Challenge" Application offered by Metro Nashville.

In my opinion, they need to be on board with both land bridges ─ not just the one at DBTodd.  I say this because, as I see it, the land bridge concept alone does little or nothing to engender a mass revival of redevelopment along the Jefferson Street Corridor, which by my definition extends from 33rd and John Merritt Blvd (at TSU main campus) to the riverfront (North Capitol).   They both need to be considered concurrently because the proper structural engineering needs to be incorporated for any dedicated transit-way along the Jefferson Street Corridor.

Edited April 22, 2021 by rookzie

[think365]

Now that North Nashville is gentrified he's going to engage the people of North Nashville to right the wrong?

[rookzie]

11 hours ago, Nashvillain said:

^ That map really makes it apparent the connections that were severed with the interstate. And that's just one small section

 

While today “North Nashville” has been expanded to include all of the NNW and mid-NW extents of the county, most older-generation native Nashvillians refer to North Nashville specifically as the urbanized region most subjected to the effects of the urban freeway.  This is the portion of old North Nashville within the corporation limits of 1963, before the consolidation of the city and county government.  That’s defined roughly as all the contiguous area between 1^st and 40^th avenues and bounded by the Cumberland River, and north of Charlotte Ave., although officially the southern boundary would be Broadway / West End.  The initial concept of the the urban expressway had the route generally follow closely parallel with Charlotte, as it does roughly west of 40th Ave., and join interchanges to other freeways in the downtown area.  That had been the typical example and pattern for urban expressways nationwide for getting traffic into and away from the central business district.  Before 1963, Bordeaux, which is now considered as part of North Nashville, was simply unincorporated area, mostly rural area.

Within only 5 years of the Metro consolidation, condemnation by eminent domain had begun and construction commenced.  The surface roadway connectivity lost within the North Nashville community, over a half century ago by the construction of I-40 and former I-265 (now I-65), actually became fragmented into 3 sub-regions by the northeasterly-to-southwesterly stretches of the urban expressway, and then further where I-40 sharply bends southward near Scovel and Jefferson streets at 12^th Ave.

The Jefferson Street / Centennial Blvd corridor was particularly hard hit by routing the highway crossings over and under it in the space of a mile and parallels the street in between, having drained the vitality from the businesses that lined that corridor.   From the Jefferson Street Bridge on the east to TSU on John Merritt Blvd., somewhere between 25 and 30 surface-grid roadways were permanently severed by the expressway.  Because of the finalized routing of the interstate to run NON-parallel to the street grid, except roughly between 12^th and 24^th avenues in the portion shown, reduced connectivity was compounded by the severing both north-south and east-west streets.  Wide boulevards like 14^th Ave were cut off and rejoined to others by new alignments in some cases, while in other cases, segments were turned into abrupt dead-ends, with no provisions for vehicle turning, as with sub-division cul-de-sacs.  To the present, 8^th, 18^th (DBTodd), 28^th avenues and even Jefferson Street itself have encumbered a much higher demand of traffic as arterials and frequently have been subjected to over-capacity traffic throughout any given day.   The sharply reduced redundancy which formerly had afforded an organic system integrated with the network of mobility and access from other parts of the city, also has adversely affected the efficacy of basic transit by requiring excessive route weaving with an already marginal service.

There is evidence to suggest that properties adjacent to the interstate right-of-way had witnessed an unusually rapid degree of deterioration, since clearance first began for the interstate project.  Not only was the judgment that further deterioration would be imminent, especially in those areas adjacent to the interstate right-of-way, but also my personal observation has corroborated that assumption.  This especially can be noticed along those severed streets turned into dead-ends, which currently do not have good access, in the absence of frontage road systems (that parallel and flank the interstate) .  Alameda, Eden, and Morena  streets west of 26^th Ave are examples. Additionally, some streets became chopped into multiple segments, if they hadn’t already been as such by the railroad at the turn of the 20^th century.  Scovel St. always was a secondary street, but at one time (at the start of my driver’s license privileges in 1967) it had been a good alternative to Jefferson St. between 9^th and 21^st avenues.  Now it’s so chopped up that the only meaningful piece would be the portion between 9^th and 11^th.  The short portion of Scovel that runs south of I-40 in the map shown is nothing more than the remains of a former alley that got ripped lengthwise by I-40 almost like a piece of lumber in a mill.

This discussion is focused on North Nashville, but the issue is not limited to affecting the primarily Black community of the Old North.  It has affected White people as well, in other districts within the city, although arguably not as severely socially and economically as with the North.  The same has occurred along I-65, both north and south of downtown, when the now-currently designated I-24 east of downtown was still I-65, before the latter was rerouted in the early 2000s to run concurrent with I-40 on the inner loop.  Waverly and Melrose have seen strides, while Vine Hill, McFerrin Park and Cleveland Park have been slow to recover, the latter two in part because of the splitting effects of Ellington Pkwy.

[markhollin]

A render from the latest Jefferson Street Corridor Cap proposal:
 

[markhollin]

Pinnacle Tower looks quite handsome from street level.
 

[Nashvillain]

8 hours ago, think365 said:

Now that North Nashville is gentrified he's going to engage the people of North Nashville to right the wrong?

Well, Cooper has only been mayor for two years. And it's not like he can do this unilaterally

[BnaBreaker]

I absolutely love the intentions here, but this seems like an odd spot for this project to me if reconnecting the neighborhood is really the primary goal.  Are they actually reconnecting any of the street grid?  It doesn't really look like it based on the rendering... in fact this park looks somewhat difficult to access?  I mean look at what immediately surrounds the park.  Is there a big need to reconnect those seven houses with the empty lots on the other side?  This location would make more sense if it was directly adjacent to Fisk, but I understand that would require acquiring that row of properties.  

Edited April 22, 2021 by BnaBreaker

[rookzie]

4 hours ago, BnaBreaker said:

I absolutely love the intentions here, but this seems like an odd spot for this project to me if reconnecting the neighborhood is really the primary goal.  Are they actually reconnecting any of the street grid?  It doesn't really look like it based on the rendering... in fact this park looks somewhat difficult to access?  I mean look at what immediately surrounds the park.  Is there a big need to reconnect those seven houses with the empty lots on the other side?  This location would make more sense if it was directly adjacent to Fisk, but I understand that would require acquiring that row of properties.  

I already was too freakin' wordy (so what's new?), with my take on the land bridge proposal(s).

North Nashville's old-school grid already was rife with misalignments a century ago in almost every sub-community throughout the district in subject.  This not to say the same doesn't apply with other parts of the city's old urban core.  I agree with your statement in general about connectivity., particularly with respect to street access patterns.  And the purported objective would be made far more impactful, if consideration were given to engineering some changes to the street array as a whole, not just the localized areas immediately adjacent to the proposed land bridges.  Not even the park itself  (a designated space on each of the two air-rights platforms proposed) would seem a useful asset without some more integrated approach to collateral planning.

Edited April 22, 2021 by rookzie

[think365]

6 hours ago, Nashvillain said:

Well, Cooper has only been mayor for two years. And it's not like he can do this unilaterally

More too little too late politics.   This has nothing to do with the people that were wronged.