East Bank – I-24 to the Cumberland/I-24 Overpass up to Jefferson – 338 Acres, Nissan Stadium, "Imagine East Bank"

[Baronakim]

38 minutes ago, Bos2Nash said:

While WeGo Central has a reputation for bad homelessness, it really isnt bad at all. I've been taking the bus more and more on trips into downtown, especially on the weekdays, and it really is not bad. There may be a couple homeless citizens here and there, but its not like it is overrun with homelessness and crime. 

You must be unfamiliar then with the WEgo stops by Weiss Liquors on Main Street.  Almost always there are passed out homeless folks  there.  I see little  difference to be expected  in this proposed Transit Center.  I think your optomism may  not  be warrented in this case.

[Deepdish53]

On 9/8/2023 at 9:57 AM, Bos2Nash said:

I remember hearing one of my first years in Nashville, that there were whispers of a James Robertson rebuild. Similar to a number of items in the Vision Plan, rebuilding James Robertson to ground it and slope the bridge similar to Woodland is going to need to happen for the success of the EB and the Boulevard. I don't think we can try and claim success for a new urban neighborhood and still have a raised viaduct cutting right through it. While it would be a traffic nightmare for a short time, IMO it would absolutely be in the best interest for the city and the long run to rebuild it now, before any new development gets into the area.

Metro has the East Bank Infrastructure RFQ out right now that includes preliminary design of the rebuild of James Robertson (with the goal being to essentially remove the viaduct cutting through the EB). That's definitely the plan and something that Metro is recognizing as a priority.

[Bos2Nash]

1 hour ago, Deepdish53 said:

Metro has the East Bank Infrastructure RFQ out right now that includes preliminary design of the rebuild of James Robertson (with the goal being to essentially remove the viaduct cutting through the EB). That's definitely the plan and something that Metro is recognizing as a priority.

[KJHburg]

I saw Fallon Company was chosen to develop the East Bank near the new Titans stadium.

""A real estate developer from Boston beat three finalists to win the right to build on Metro-owned land surrounding a $2.1 billion domed stadium on the East Bank.

Metro selected The Fallon Co. as the winner of the development bid, according to an official notification sent to bidders on Tuesday morning. Fallon was one of four finalists, as first reported by the Business Journal.

Fallon Co. now will enter formal contract negotiations with Metro officials.

The land is coveted: Metro sought a developer to build on about 30 acres adjacent to the forthcoming stadium for the Tennessee Titans NFL franchise. The property is a central element of Metro's vision for a revitalized East Bank, opposite downtown.

Metro plans to lease that land to Fallon under a long-term arrangement intended to allow the city to influence what is built on the property. High-end development will be vital to generating the tax revenue needed to repay some of the $760 million Metro borrowed to help fund stadium construction""

from the Nashville Biz Journal Metro selects Boston developer Fallon to build around new Tennessee Titans stadium - Nashville Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

I hope they build it a lot faster than they have done with their big project here  in Charlotte Centre South. It is in our booming South End market and still has not gotten off the ground.  They were chosen as a developer in 2016 with our Charlotte Housing Authority to redevelop this big track of land.  We call them Fallow development as they like to let the land sit.

https://www.falloncompany.com/projects/centre-south

They did build a new office tower in downtown Raleigh.  

 

[Rick Dalton]

Charlotte South End is not exactly the Boston Seaport lol

[Bos2Nash]

38 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

I hope they build it a lot faster than they have done with their big project here  in Charlotte Centre South. It is in our booming South End market and still has not gotten off the ground.  They were chosen as a developer in 2016 with our Charlotte Housing Authority to redevelop this big track of land.  We call them Fallow development as they like to let the land sit.

I think there is also a big difference between master developer and actual developer. Sometimes things don't materialize in a master plan. Contrary to Charlotte, Fallon has done a great job with Boston Seaport, specifically the Fan Pier (which is just a portion of the Seaport). Seaport Boulevard (East Bank Boulevard equivalent w/o bus lanes) was built prior to 2007 and from 2007 through present day (16 years!) the neighborhood has been going gangbusters. Their boulevard did not need the bus lanes because the silver line runs underground for much of Seaport.

Again, Nashville has been pretty spoiled by how quickly so much of the development has come out of the ground especially in recent years. Seaport is still filling in parcels and the Boulevard was built over 16 years ago. 

In the article I saw local firms EOA Architects and Barge Design Solutions are part of Fallon's team. With EOA's involvement I wonder if Bjarke Ingles Group (BIG), who EOA is teamed up with on TPAC, is at all involved with the Fallon.

One thing that the article does not state is the value of the lease between Metro and Fallon. Maybe this is all part of the negotiation period they are entering now, but I would think the value of the lease would be a big part of the scorecard. Looking over it there does not appear to be anything in the scorecard about lease value. The "Financial Approach and Proposal" has some questions in the RFP (does anyone have these?) for bidders to answer and a weakness of Fallon's was infrastructure funding. Hines also had negative comments in regards to infrastructure funding. This land is suuuuuppper coveted, why on earth would Metro not be able to capitalize on that from a monetary standpoint??

[KJHburg]

31 minutes ago, Rick Dalton said:

Charlotte South End is not exactly the Boston Seaport lol

Charlotte's Southend is actually one of the top markets in the southeast for new apartment construction.  I was just mentioning it because everyone here is surprised it is not further along.  Boston is not comparable with Charlotte or Nashville either and that is where they are based.   They have high barriers of entry for developers and very limited land options.  

[Rick Dalton]

Fallon + BIG is literally a dream team. Don't get my hopes up like that.

[Rick Dalton]

The Post has some pictures. Are those new?

[markhollin]

A document Fallon submitted to Metro notes the phase one component could offer up to 60 percent of the future residences as affordable. The first building could be fully affordable housing (380 units) with 30,000 square feet of retail. A mid-2027 delivery is envisioned.

Subsequent additions during the first phase could include two hotels and two residential buildings.

Joining the Fallon team are James Corner Field Operations, KPF, and the Nashville offices of Barge Design Solutions, EOA Architects, Holladay Ventures and Pillars Development.

Selection of Fallon follows Metro’s having recently awarded HDR Engineering Inc. the contract for “program management for the implementation of the East Bank vision plan,” according to a Department of Finance notice of intent to award document.

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/metro-taps-east-bank-master-developer/article_675f216a-5185-11ee-a25f-a3aa0c03d28c.html


NBJ states that initial projects will start in 2025 and could include:

• a 40-story hotel with 450 rooms, plus retail;
• a 16-story hotel with 325 rooms and retail;
• a building with 550 apartments; 25 of them would be affordable housing units;
• a building with 175 apartments, all of which would be affordable housing units.

Final details are subject to upcoming contract negotiations with Metro.

Also in the pipeline is a WeGo transit hub with 380 apartments above it, all affordable housing units. Plans also call for the Tennessee Performing Arts Center to relocate to a site likely near the Korean Veterans Boulevard bridge and the Cumberland River waterfront. Other phases of construction would continue into the early 2030s.

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2023/09/12/fallon-co-east-bank-development-plan.html

Some renderings that were part of Fallon's proposal:

[Bos2Nash]

I'm digging the "Music City Mile" concept. Our version of the High Line that would die at the front door of the stadium. Takes folks directly over the Boulevard and is activated on multiple levels. Two-level retail can be difficult, but when you have a pedestrian corridor on two levels, that makes things very different.

[markhollin]

Other bidders have 10 days to contest Metro's selection of Fallon from the time Metro issued its formal "intent to award" notification on Sept. 12. If no challenge emerges, contract negotiations with Fallon will begin to finalize a master development agreement — which needs approval at Metro Council. The government will retain ownership of the land and lease it to Fallon in a decades-long deal.

Metro officials expect those talks to take a couple of months or more to resolve. The contract would be presented as an ordinance at Metro Council, according to bid documents, which means it requires a hearing or discussion over three council meetings (a process that would take no less than six weeks).

"In order for this project to stay on schedule, a master development agreement should be executed by November," Fallon Co. wrote in a proposal submitted to Metro in July. At that time, Metro had contemplated final approval of a deal at Metro Council happening in December, according to bid documents.

Looking beyond that, Fallon is urging Metro to either rezone the 30 acres in question or create a broader East Bank zoning code, similar to the city's downtown code, to "streamline the entitlement process to expediate the development on the East Bank." Either of those also would require approval at Metro Council.

"New [zoning] entitlements will be required to achieve the densities, building forms and heights desired by both Metro and Fallon," reads language in a Fallon submittal.

Fallon is aiming to finish its first phase of construction around when the domed stadium opens in 2027. To do that, the company said it will need building permits by the first quarter of 2025. "That dictates needing to have the necessary entitlements by early summer 2024," according to Fallon's bid.

Fallon has selected the tandem of Turner Construction and Nashville's Polk & Associates to build their development. The same two contractors also are involved in building the Titans stadium.

One key point in contract negotiations will be how to pay for infrastructure. Recent Metro estimates have circled more than $700 million of potential work across the roughly 340-acre East Bank area, part of which could be paid for with possible state or federal funds.

In its bid, Fallon estimates a total of $230 million of work on the 30 acres up for grabs, including $75 million of parking garages (those can cost an average of $50,000 to $60,000 per space to build).

Fallon officials offered a few possible scenarios, noting that this topic will be part of negotiations. The company offered to split the cost with Metro or fund all of that work up-front, proposing that it recover that money plus interest through a potential tax-break on the new property taxes that the development would generate.

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2023/09/13/fallon-east-bank-timeline-development-construction.html

[Argo]

It looks like they're showing the design for the TPAC.

[Luvemtall]

1 hour ago, Argo said:

It looks like they're showing the design for the TPAC.

I’m thinking the same, at least a placeholder. In 11th rendering from top behind the Bridge Building you can make out what appears to be a building with multiple floors and escalators and in the 14th rendering it clearly shows “ TPAC CAFE “ which seems to be the ground floor of same building. In the last rendering marked Site Plan this shows as “E” which does appear like it could be a theater type building. 

[Luvemtall]

If you look closely at most of the renderings it’s kinda clear that’s going to be TPAC ,It’s almost obvious .

[MLBrumby]

39 minutes ago, Luvemtall said:

I’m thinking the same, at least a placeholder. In 11th rendering from top behind the Bridge Building you can make out what appears to be a building with multiple floors and escalators and in the 14th rendering it clearly shows “ TPAC CAFE “ which seems to be the ground floor of same building. In the last rendering marked Site Plan this shows as “E” which does appear like it could be a theater type building. 

Edited... after seeing that Bldg E is exactly the one you're referring to. I'll keep this (not to show how carelessly I read the posts here sometimes), but because it has the diagram. 

The building labeled with E in this diagram might even be the three theaters they'd need to build to replace the existing theaters at TPAC. The section closest to the river even looks like it has a high stage roof. 

 

On 9/12/2023 at 3:17 PM, markhollin said:

 

Edited September 14, 2023 by MLBrumby

[andywildman]

The biking connection for the pedestrian bridge into the east bank as illustrated here is pretty bad.

A person bicycling east over the river headed towards Shelby Park would be stuck looping under the bridge pointed north, around a switch-back, and then back under the bridge headed south towards what's currently Davidson.

[markhollin]

CityNowNext with coverage of Fallon's initial ideas for the first 30 acres to be developed around the new domed stadium:

https://citynownext.com/2023/09/18/see-whats-now-next-for-the-east-bank-central-waterfront-in-nashville/#more-35829

 

[Argo]

That is very sparse parking for NFL game days and large tradeshows.

There has to be more. They can't be that dumb.

Edited September 18, 2023 by Argo

[Argo]

On 9/12/2023 at 9:34 AM, KJHburg said:

I hope they build it a lot faster than they have done with their big project here  in Charlotte Centre South. 

 

They will. Nashville is box office.

[Bos2Nash]

20 hours ago, Argo said:

That is very sparse parking for NFL game days and large tradeshows.

The lease for the stadium requires 2,000 parking spots available for the stadium. But remember there is also parking maximums now on developments.

EDIT: the CityNowNext article references that a parking structure of 600 (out of 2,000 required), or 30% of all lease required parking, will be built directly behind the existing gas station in Phase 1 of the development. The gas station was not included as part of the master development agreement because it is not owned by Metro.

Nobody investing this amount of money is "dumb".

[nashvylle]

How many available parking spaces are in the downtown area on Sundays? 

Also, there will be some form of mass transit right next to the stadium. 

[smeagolsfree]

Affordable housing and TPAC will cost 370 million in tax revenue if built on the East Bank. That is pretty much what the article says. 

Developer's winning East Bank bid forecasts Metro tax revenue, impacted by affordable housing and TPAC - Nashville Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

 

[colemangaines]

2 hours ago, smeagolsfree said:

Affordable housing and TPAC will cost 370 million in tax revenue if built on the East Bank. That is pretty much what the article says. 

Developer's winning East Bank bid forecasts Metro tax revenue, impacted by affordable housing and TPAC - Nashville Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

 

It's really frustrating to hear this guy frame an amenity like TPAC as "costing" tax revenue because something more profitable isn't going in there. Meanwhile he left out the new Titans stadium, which is costing the taxpayer actual money, where you could make the same argument and say that the stadium site could instead bring in much more tax revenue if used for 600ft+ mixed use skyscrapers.

Edit: Just remembered the state allocated money for the new TPAC facility so that part of the comparison is unfair on my part.

Edited September 20, 2023 by colemangaines

[gannman]

7 minutes ago, colemangaines said:

It's really frustrating to hear this guy frame an amenity like TPAC as "costing" tax revenue because something more profitable isn't going in there. Meanwhile he left out the new Titans stadium, which is costing the taxpayer actual money, where you could make the same argument and say that the stadium site could instead bring in much more tax revenue if used for 600ft+ mixed use skyscrapers.

I think the only reason why it is being mentioned is because of the 130 acre tax district that will be  around the new stadium; an estimated $682 million will come from a 50% sales tax capture.