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

[markhollin]

107 4th Ave. North (6 story Morgan Wallen themed entertainment bar) update.

Looking SW from 4th Ave. North, 1/4 block north of Broadway:

Looking NW from intersection of Broadway and 4th Ave. North:

[smeagolsfree]

Now he will have his own bar to throw chairs from.

[markhollin]

Chief's at 200 Broadway is open.

Looking north from Broadway, 1/2 block east of 3rd Ave:

[21jump]

On 4/24/2024 at 9:11 PM, BnaBreaker said:

Agreed... but I still, and never will, understand the hype around Raising Cane's... who'd have thought that "lets sell exactly one thing, and make it one thing that every other restaurant on planet earth also sells... and let's make SURE that one thing is only a slightly above average version," would be a brilliant business plan?  

I call it the chicken version of In N Out. Difference is, for me, In N Out's burgers are only pretty good but they're the cheapest fast food burger you can get (at least here in California). I think Cane's chicken is truly delicious, by far the best fast food chicken imo.

[PaulChinetti]

9 hours ago, markhollin said:

Chief's at 200 Broadway is open.

Looking north from Broadway, 1/2 block east of 3rd Ave:

What a great reno

[markhollin]

Federales Mexican restaurant has some more info on the conversion of the one story former office structure at 636 Division St:

- The developers, Four Corners/Lettuce Entertain You out of Chicago is spending $5.5 million on the design/build-out.

- There will be a total of 8,500 sq. ft., including a 3,400 sq. ft., 100 seat patio facing Division St. , and 120 capacity interior.

- The restaurant’s roof will have a rectangular, 2,000-square-foot, transparent section that when retracted completely disappears, as well as two garage door hangars that open.

- It will open March 1, 2025.

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2024/04/27/chicago-group-invests-55m-to-rehab-pie-town-offi.html

An updated rendering:

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

[markhollin]

The Pinnacle @ Symphony Place (29 stories/417', 520,000 sq. ft.) will  receive a complete rebrand staring in early 2025. Over 290,000 sq. ft. in leases are set to expire next February. 

"This will include the lobby as well as updating the seventh floor and its 29,600-square-foot green roof to become one of the most amenitized buildings in Nashville," a Highwoods spokesperson told the Business Journal.

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2024/04/29/pinnacle-tower-highwoods-properties-sobro-updates.html

[GreenHillsBoy]

On 4/29/2024 at 3:24 PM, markhollin said:

The pinnacle @ Symphony Place (29 stories/417', 520,000 sq. ft.) will  receive a complete rebrand staring in early 2025. Over 290,000 sq. ft. in leases are set to expire next February. 

"This will include the lobby as well as updating the seventh floor and its 29,600-square-foot green roof to become one of the most amenitized buildings in Nashville," a Highwoods spokesperson told the Business Journal.

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2024/04/29/pinnacle-tower-highwoods-properties-sobro-updates.html

Until the city gets the "transportainment" vehicles under control, no business is going to want to be in that area as roads are literally impassable for much of the time.  The Symphony has lost some of the older subscribers as they cant get to Schemerhorn due to traffic with much of that issue again impacted by the tractors/pedal taverns/hollowed out buses, etc. 

 

[markhollin]

8 minutes ago, GreenHillsBoy said:

Until the city gets the "transportainment" vehicles under control, no business is going to want to be in that area as roads are literally impassable for much of the time.  The Symphony has lost some of the older subscribers as they cant get to Schemerhorn due to traffic with much of that issue again impacted by the tractors/pedal taverns/hollowed out buses, etc. 

 

The parking garage in the building is also a complete fiasco.  Often takes an hour or more to get out during rush hour or after an event at the arena.  

[Luvemtall]

So this begs the question, how much does Metro cave and at what costs are they willing to sacrifice for the convenience and whims of Lower Broadway and its crowd? I fully understand the desire to please the tourists, they bring in boat loads of revenue and fill those hotels. But is it all worth it at the expense of the residents and businesses not associated with the circus that it’s become. There has to be a middle ground, and frankly transportainment vehicles ( if we can actually call tractors etc that) shouldn’t be allowed on public roads. Yeah I know some of you fall under their spell , and think they are fun( which for some they may be) but that sort of thing needs to be controlled and contained. Not everyone has to deal with them , so others can have a good time. 

[PaulChinetti]

Transpotainment is definitely part of the problem, it's also all the one way streets, lights that are just terribly timed and lane management that were made 5,10,15 years ago and have never changed.

A prime example is 2nd Ave S and KVB. The majority of people are turning right onto KVB. There are 3 lanes and only one turns right. Not to mention that the light at KVB and 1st Ave S is not timed properly with the previous intersection. 


The whole system as it stands needs a common sense over haul on current traffic patterns. 

[Luvemtall]

For sure it’s a combination of many factors, including the fact that this party district lies smack dab in the core of the city. Just imagine for a moment hypothetically if all these bars and Honky Tonks were part of a true entertainment district  on the property that is Opry Mills Mall, it would eliminate a lot of the issues because it would be its own private space not interfering with the day to day activities of the intercity. What it boils down to is that they are trying to merge a tourist amusement attraction into a major city core, and that doesn’t necessarily work out all that well. Even in Orlando the tourist attractions are 20-30 miles away, and Las Vegas that’s a lost cause it’s all one big tourist trap. 

[PaulChinetti]

Well it would not be nearly as popular if it was 30 miles away either. It can be integrated, the city just needs to do certain things that they haven't been willing to do. 

AKA shut down broadway on the weekend, have a ride share drop off set, etc, etc etc. All the things we know about and talk about all the time on here. 

[Luvemtall]

True, yes that is something that should be . Even go as far as eliminating the cross streets and turn lower Broad into a pedestrian plaza permanently. But then there still is the Transpotainment factor, that would still need to be eliminated, for containment purposes. Takes  me back to my previous post, how far will this go and at who’s expense. 

[Bos2Nash]

2 hours ago, PaulChinetti said:

Transpotainment is definitely part of the problem, it's also all the one way streets, lights that are just terribly timed and lane management that were made 5,10,15 years ago and have never changed.

A prime example is 2nd Ave S and KVB. The majority of people are turning right onto KVB. There are 3 lanes and only one turns right. Not to mention that the light at KVB and 1st Ave S is not timed properly with the previous intersection. 


The whole system as it stands needs a common sense over haul on current traffic patterns. 

Spot on! Its almost like we have a funding plan up for a vote in November that would upgrade 600+ signals to allow this haha. 

The city cannot control the legality of the transpotainment vehicles on the road. That is a State decision unfortunately. But I agree we can be alot more strict about the permitting and enforcement of them within city limits. One operator has already been thrown in jail for his ignorance. I think signal improvements will go a long way and hopefully more transit can get a foothold, but ultimately we have made a bed and are lying in it. Removing one-way streets, creating more ROW equity will go a long way, but until alot different dominos fall, we are in a chokehold of sorts. Also, because we have built so much structured parking with one-way in/one-way out we have created our own log jams. We no longer have those minimums, but to get project financing we still need that parking.

I wonder what the comparison looks like when comparing the peak egress times from the 222 garage vs the Pinnacle garage. Pinnacle being one block closer to Broadway may also hurt them with not having a "relief valve" other than going to Broadway. 222 at least can loop to 1st Ave from both of their garage access points.

[Argo]

Are transportainment or tourism in the article regarding the Pinnacle building?

[KJHburg]

the article did not specifically mention why some tenants moved out.

Here are the availabilities in the tower and lots of prime upper level floors.  It is close to the main tourist area for sure. 

The Pinnacle at Symphony Place | Highwoods

[Argo]

8 hours ago, Luvemtall said:

For sure it’s a combination of many factors, including the fact that this party district lies smack dab in the core of the city. Just imagine for a moment hypothetically if all these bars and Honky Tonks were part of a true entertainment district  on the property that is Opry Mills Mall, it would eliminate a lot of the issues because it would be its own private space not interfering with the day to day activities of the intercity. What it boils down to is that they are trying to merge a tourist amusement attraction into a major city core, and that doesn’t necessarily work out all that well. Even in Orlando the tourist attractions are 20-30 miles away, and Las Vegas that’s a lost cause it’s all one big tourist trap. 

I agree. I absolutely do. Nashville should remove it's downtown entertainment options. Especially when other cities have entertainment districts downtown or are trying to create entertainment districts. This makes all kinds of sense.

[UTgrad09]

8 hours ago, Argo said:

I agree. I absolutely do. Nashville should remove it's downtown entertainment options. Especially when other cities have entertainment districts downtown or are trying to create entertainment districts. This makes all kinds of sense.

Strawman fallacy at work here. 

[henburg]

19 hours ago, Luvemtall said:

For sure it’s a combination of many factors, including the fact that this party district lies smack dab in the core of the city. Just imagine for a moment hypothetically if all these bars and Honky Tonks were part of a true entertainment district  on the property that is Opry Mills Mall, it would eliminate a lot of the issues because it would be its own private space not interfering with the day to day activities of the intercity. What it boils down to is that they are trying to merge a tourist amusement attraction into a major city core, and that doesn’t necessarily work out all that well. Even in Orlando the tourist attractions are 20-30 miles away, and Las Vegas that’s a lost cause it’s all one big tourist trap. 

I think that the main reason that Broadway is what it is today is due to the fact that it's smack dab in the middle of Nashville's downtown. As soon as you move the tourist district that is mostly dedicated to drinking and partying to a place that is a substantial drive away from where the people are, it loses a ton of its appeal and convenience. I think that's something that people really like about it in comparison to those other destinations you mention too.

[Luvemtall]

17 minutes ago, henburg said:

I think that the main reason that Broadway is what it is today is due to the fact that it's smack dab in the middle of Nashville's downtown. As soon as you move the tourist district that is mostly dedicated to drinking and partying to a place that is a substantial drive away from where the people are, it loses a ton of its appeal and convenience. I think that's something that people really like about it in comparison to those other destinations you mention too.

And that’s my original question, to what point does that go to ? Does the whole general population have to bend over to cater to the people who find lower Broadway appealing and such a convenient spot? Yeah for those that find partying and drinking it’s great, but why do we all have to be inconvenienced just for the sake of making an appealing place for getting drunk? The morels of this world are getting ridiculous and hope for the future is fading fast.

[PaulChinetti]

16 minutes ago, Luvemtall said:

Does the whole general population have to bend over to cater to the people who find lower Broadway appealing and such a convenient spot?

I mean being slightly inconvenienced by traffic is part of living in a city (especially one where people have voted against transit plans).

The traffic at Wedgewood and 8th Ave S is terrible all the time. Should the business there get some relief too? 

I'm hoping the citizens wise up and vote to pass this new plan so all of these changes can start happening.

[henburg]

24 minutes ago, Luvemtall said:

And that’s my original question, to what point does that go to ? Does the whole general population have to bend over to cater to the people who find lower Broadway appealing and such a convenient spot? Yeah for those that find partying and drinking it’s great, but why do we all have to be inconvenienced just for the sake of making an appealing place for getting drunk? The morels of this world are getting ridiculous and hope for the future is fading fast.

I work about as close to Broadway as one can and it certainly has its drawbacks, but it's not debilitating by any means and I see it as a part of being in the city. If it wasn't music and wooing, it could be car horns or any other sources of noise. If you don't work or live down there, I also think it's easy enough to avoid. 

Besides, I think we're already seeing some shifts in this area that address your concerns. The old CBD and SoBro area are trending toward almost entirely residential and hotel projects in the pipeline while Nashville Yards and other various Midtown developments in the pipeline seem to be bringing the bulk of Nashville's office to the western side of downtown. 

[Luvemtall]

Fair enough, granted things are changing all around the city. As new developments take place, maybe the LB vibe evolves into a different version of what it is now. But these are just my personal opinions, and all is good.

[markhollin]

Essex Development has finally purchased the tiny .13 acre lot at 304 Jefferson St. for $2.3 million that will now give them the full space needed for their projected 7 story mixed-use project (132 rental units, 108 rooms hotel, 4,650 sq. ft. ground level retail, and internal garage) with a primary address of 300 Jefferson.  The previous owners of the tiny lot paid $1,275 for the raw land in 2008 (whew...what a profit margin. on that turnaround!).  

No word as to when Essex may get started on the full project yet, or if it will remain in the same configuration as stated several years ago. No renderings have ever been released. 

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/germantown-site-eyed-for-project-sells-for-2-3m/article_7ea75148-08d3-11ef-b1f1-6734f1556905.html

The site just purchased:

The rest of the Essex site as seen from the screen shot from Smeagolsfree's excellent development map: