North Gulch Gateway, (Tennessean site) Phase II: Gulch Central (41 story residential/hotel, 28 story office, 6 story mixed-use); Phase I: Asurion HQ (10 & 11 stories)

[markhollin]

Asurion pour (courtesy of REI Concrete):

 

[markhollin]

Tennessean demo update.

Looking west from Broadway Viaduct where it crosses over 11th Ave:

Looking south from intersection of 12th Ave. North and Porter St:

 

Looking south from intersection of Porter St. and 11th Ave. North:

Looking SW from intersection of Porter St. and 11th Ave. North:

[Sean blackdog]

12 minutes ago, markhollin said:

Tennessean demo update.

Looking west from Broadway Viaduct where it crosses over 11th Ave 

What going on with woods? 

[smeagolsfree]

They are probably closing off the area that runs underneath  Broadway, as the building actually went under the road and was connected to buildings on the other side of Broadway. Just a guess without looking.

At some point soon the bridge will comedown and be replaced.

[CenterHill]

6 hours ago, smeagolsfree said:

At some point soon the bridge will comedown and be replaced.

You mean Broadway?     Is that a TDOT project?     

[PruneTracy]

2 hours ago, CenterHill said:

You mean Broadway?     Is that a TDOT project?     

Yes, it's in the planning phase at TDOT.

[smeagolsfree]

Yep.

[e-dub]

2 hours ago, PruneTracy said:

Yes, it's in the planning phase at TDOT.

Whoa, really? Is there any documentation/announcement of this?

[Sean blackdog]

2 hours ago, PruneTracy said:

Yes, it's in the planning phase at TDOT.

Which planning phase at TDOT? 

[CenterHill]

5 hours ago, PruneTracy said:

Yes, it's in the planning phase at TDOT.

Wow.    If downtown ingress/egress is bad now, take this segment of Broadway, or even half of it at a time, out of commission for a year and we have a real CF.     

[smeagolsfree]

9 hours ago, CenterHill said:

Wow.    If downtown ingress/egress is bad now, take this segment of Broadway, or even half of it at a time, out of commission for a year and we have a real CF.     

I suspect they would do something like the fast fix where it would be down to 2 lanes at a time and the work would be done on the weekends. Just a guess on my part, but this is a new tech since the Demonbreun Street bride was done.

[PruneTracy]

13 hours ago, Sean blackdog said:

Which planning phase at TDOT? 

Typically once projects within TDOT's purview reach the point where they are considered on an individual level, TDOT completes a planning report for the project that brings together most of the information they need to start an environmental review and begin design. They go out to the project site, collect traffic counts, perform preliminary cost estimates, put together functional plans (done on aerial imagery without survey), things like that. I'm pretty sure this project is in that phase and that the report should be close to completion.

After that report is completed, the project moves to the environmental phase where TDOT completes all the documentation necessary to satisfy NEPA requirements. This is usually where projects get bogged down, but TDOT has a programmatic categorical exclusion agreement for bridge replacements. That's here:

https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/tdot/environmental/Final%20PA%20for%20Categorical%20Exclusions.pdf

This just means that TDOT can skip most of the environmental process for bridge replacements meeting certain conditions. I am not sure if this bridge would qualify since Union Station is a NRHP-listed building, but either way they can expedite the process. There are some examples of CEs for bridge replacements located here (for a design-build project currently out for bids in West Tennessee):

https://www.tdot.tn.gov/Applications/Documents?pathName=%5CConstruction%5CDesign_Build%5CDB1901%5CReference%20Material%5CEnvironmental%5C3-12-19

After that is approved it may go to design or to alternative delivery, more on that in a minute.

14 hours ago, e-dub said:

Whoa, really? Is there any documentation/announcement of this?

If I am correct, it would show up here once completed, but it is generally not publicized at this stage:

https://www.tn.gov/tdot/government/g/planning-studies.html

There are also other examples of the project planning reports I mentioned above at this link.

11 hours ago, CenterHill said:

Wow.    If downtown ingress/egress is bad now, take this segment of Broadway, or even half of it at a time, out of commission for a year and we have a real CF.     

1 hour ago, smeagolsfree said:

I suspect they would do something like the fast fix where it would be down to 2 lanes at a time and the work would be done on the weekends. Just a guess on my part, but this is a new tech since the Demonbreun Street bride was done.

If I can speculate, I would guess that, if they leave the bridge open during construction, they will retain at least four lanes (two in each direction) at all times. The AADT on Broadway in the bridge area can work with only four lanes, and most people familiar with the Broadway / West End corridor know that, due to the intermittent on-street parking, turning vehicles, deliveries, and the like, the outside lane is not often utilized anyway. The work would require multiple phases but the bridge is wide enough to reconstruct in this manner (any proposed bridge can't be much wider and the horizontal/vertical alignment has to stay pretty much the same because of the adjacent developments).

That being said, this is a prime candidate for ABC, either through an alternative delivery contract or via the typical contracting methods. If TDOT goes for ABC via an alt-d contract, the most straightforward way to do it is to assign costs for time and lane closures and let the contractors figure out the quickest and cheapest way. So it could take any form: weekend closures, shut it all the way down, etc.

And of course there is CSX underneath the bridge, so they will have a say in the process.

[smeagolsfree]

That was the same issue CSX had to deal with when the did the I 40 fast fix over Joe Johnston and the CSX tracks. 

[markhollin]

Asurion HQ (10 and 11 stories, 550,000 sq. ft.) update. 3rd level of garage. about 80% complete.  

Looking south from Church Street Viaduct where it crosses over 11th Ave. North:

Looking SE from Church Street Viaduct where it crosses over 11th Ave. North:




Looking NE from intersection of 11th Ave. North and Porter St:

Looking north from intersection of 11th Ave. North and Porter St:

Looking north from Broadway Viaduct, just east of where it crosses over 11th Ave:

[markhollin]

Tennessean demo.  All structures now razed.  

Looking west from Broadway Viaduct where it crosses over 11th Ave:

[Bos2Nash]

With the building down it really shows how big this site is. Impressive!

[chris holman]

[titanhog]

From the OxBlue cam...it appears they're excavating now at the Tennessean building site.  Does that mean there is definitely something imminent?

 

[rjgo]

1 hour ago, titanhog said:

From the OxBlue cam...it appears they're excavating now at the Tennessean building site.  Does that mean there is definitely something imminent?

 

It'll just be parking for the time being/

[titanhog]

48 minutes ago, rjgo said:

It'll just be parking for the time being/

But it appears they're digging down.  Surely they're not going to excavate and then pave down in the hole for parking.  Am I missing something?

[rjgo]

1 hour ago, titanhog said:

But it appears they're digging down.  Surely they're not going to excavate and then pave down in the hole for parking.  Am I missing something?

I think what you're seeing is remnants of one of the walls from the original building. Check out the cam during a different time of day with better lighting and you should be able to see.

[titanhog]

53 minutes ago, rjgo said:

I think what you're seeing is remnants of one of the walls from the original building. Check out the cam during a different time of day with better lighting and you should be able to see.

Yeah...I think you're right.  Just an optical illusion.  Thanks!

[OnePointEast]

Will this be 11 stories from Church St. or from 11 Ave.?

[markhollin]

34 minutes ago, OnePointEast said:

Will this be 11 stories from Church St. or from 11 Ave.?

Asurion will be 11 stories from from 11th Ave. 

[OnePointEast]

1 hour ago, markhollin said:

Asurion will be 11 stories from from 11th Ave. 

Thanks a lot, @markhollin. It shouldn't be prominent from I-40 innerloop, right?