1010 Church Street (60 story/750', 500 unit residential tower, 7 story/60,000 sq. ft. YMCA addition), $350 million

[MontanaGuy]

They're drilling into what's left of that upper level next to the YMCA, the rest of it is mostly gone.  It looks like they're reinforcing the side of the hole on Church street, I don't know if that's what those long bars are for.  It's really hot and muggy again so I just took a few photos and headed home!

[smeagolsfree]

It seems as if shoring up the walls is what is taking the longest here. They have to be careful as they are digging right next to a bridge, so extra care has to be taken IMO.

[Sean blackdog]

Today this evening. 

[markhollin]

Hole is now 25 ft. deep on east end (where Downtown YMCA addition will be built).

Looking NE from Church Street Viaduct at Upper 10th Ave. North (Platform Way):

Looking SW from YMCA Way, 1/8 block north of Church St:

[MontanaGuy]

They just loaded up all of those blasting mats on to a truck so I guess they're done with them.  The hole continues to expand outwards to the edge of the YMCA building.   

[Sean blackdog]

Do know where tower crane base set up? 

[Bos2Nash]

I'm surprised they were able to blast as much as they did on this site. With being so close to the Church Street Viaduct and the existing YMCA, blasting without causing damage is impressive. If I remember correctly, the Asurion project blasting cause some shifting under the CSX tracks and they needed to stop blasting and chip out remaining rock. Presumably that area of rock at the northeast corner of the site will be chipped out and that YMCA wall patched (looks funky). Depending on permits, we may start seeing some excavation for footings in the next few weeks.

[nashville born]

On 7/12/2023 at 2:36 PM, rolly said:

Any news on that possible TSU tower that would intersect the 1010 tower and the Tennessee tower? 

It's neat how it compliments the Tennessee tower and extends the grid from the Nashville Yards complex. 

It was approved and the lot has been cleared.  Yet no permits have been issued.  Tony G is self-financing it so confidence is high that it will rise.

[smeagolsfree]

6 minutes ago, nashville born said:

It was approved and the lot has been cleared.  Yet no permits have been issued.  Tony G is self-financing it so confidence is high that it will rise.

I am hearing towards the end of the year. The tower was only announced a short time ago and it takes time as far as logistics to get things in place. Not to be scolding but the folks on this board are some of the most impatient people I have ever seen. It just seems that if a project is announced today everyone seems to think it has to start tomorrow. Most of the time it takes upwards of three years to get a project from thoughts to start and that is pushing it on a fast track. 

Remember some of these projects like the Reed site were announced in 2020 and we knew about them even before then and they still have not started. The same goes for the Station East project as that was a 2020 announcement. The best we are seeing is some demo work going on at some of these sites. Tony has a better track record of getting things done than most and yes, he has had some projects not to start just like other developers. Factors like not being able to acquire the land or the project morphed into something else, or the market changed, or the bottom fell out. Remember Tony has four projects underway right now with one of those just completed and trying to lease, two others with one being the tallest high-rise in the state and another almost 500-footer across the street, not to mention Rock Block Flats. Oh, by the way did I mention he owns a restaurant!

I have seen him in action, and he is involved in every aspect of development, building, furnishing, to leasing these buildings. I don't know how he does it. I also know he has other towers he is working on. For a boutique developer.

The same goes for a lot of the projects in Nashville right now. We have tons of buildings on the drawing board and if the announcements stopped right now and everything got built, we would add another 125 buildings 10 stories to 50 stories or so to the skyline. That is not counting what is under construction. It is going to take us some time to fill those buildings.

[MLBrumby]

1 hour ago, smeagolsfree said:

I am hearing towards the end of the year. The tower was only announced a short time ago and it takes time as far as logistics to get things in place. Not to be scolding but the folks on this board are some of the most impatient people I have ever seen. It just seems that if a project is announced today everyone seems to think it has to start tomorrow. Most of the time it takes upwards of three years to get a project from thoughts to start and that is pushing it on a fast track. 

Remember some of these projects like the Reed site were announced in 2020 and we knew about them even before then and they still have not started. The same goes for the Station East project as that was a 2020 announcement. The best we are seeing is some demo work going on at some of these sites. Tony has a better track record of getting things done than most and yes, he has had some projects not to start just like other developers. Factors like not being able to acquire the land or the project morphed into something else, or the market changed, or the bottom fell out. Remember Tony has four projects underway right now with one of those just completed and trying to lease, two others with one being the tallest high-rise in the state and another almost 500-footer across the street, not to mention Rock Block Flats. Oh, by the way did I mention he owns a restaurant!

I have seen him in action, and he is involved in every aspect of development, building, furnishing, to leasing these buildings. I don't know how he does it. I also know he has other towers he is working on. For a boutique developer.

The same goes for a lot of the projects in Nashville right now. We have tons of buildings on the drawing board and if the announcements stopped right now and everything got built, we would add another 125 buildings 10 stories to 50 stories or so to the skyline. That is not counting what is under construction. It is going to take us some time to fill those buildings.

Curious about a couple things:

1. Are the big projects like Reed, Beaman and Station East being marketed in any particular way, such as offices for tech, health, HQ relocation?

2. Do you know Mr. Giarratana well enough to have a sense if he ever intends to build a version of Signature Tower? 

Caught a bit of SEC Media Days on ESPN last night. [sigh] They were showing 3-year-old video of the skyline. No Assembly Food hall and the two towers at 5+Broad. No Four Seasons! 

[Sean blackdog]

1 hour ago, MLBrumby said:

 

Caught a bit of SEC Media Days on ESPN last night. [sigh] They were showing 3-year-old video of the skyline. No Assembly Food hall and the two towers at 5+Broad. No Four Seasons! 

I think ESPN too lazy.  

[smeagolsfree]

1 hour ago, MLBrumby said:

Curious about a couple things:

1. Are the big projects like Reed, Beaman and Station East being marketed in any particular way, such as offices for tech, health, HQ relocation?

2. Do you know Mr. Giarratana well enough to have a sense if he ever intends to build a version of Signature Tower? 

Caught a bit of SEC Media Days on ESPN last night. [sigh] They were showing 3-year-old video of the skyline. No Assembly Food hall and the two towers at 5+Broad. No Four Seasons! 

I have not heard of any marketing of these projects yet. That does not mean they are not happening; however, Circle South was being heavily marketed and is now for the most part dead as a doornail. I think Tony has moved well beyond Siggy and is focusing on 1010 Church.  We are not going to see a 1000' tower in Nashville until the FAA gives the OK as a developer will probably not build the building without being able to insure the building and get Metro approval for the height.

The fact that these marketing companies use 3-year-old videos is laziness on their part as they do not want to spend the money on shooting new video themselves or paying for the rights for new video. It drives me crazy to see old stock footage and photos of the skyline, but Nashville is a little unique as it has one of the fastest changing skylines in the nation. Only a few other cities have this problem when the skyline changes every few months.

[Armacing]

3 hours ago, smeagolsfree said:

I have not heard of any marketing of these projects yet. That does not mean they are not happening; however, Circle South was being heavily marketed and is now for the most part dead as a doornail. I think Tony has moved well beyond Siggy and is focusing on 1010 Church. 

My take on the high-rise market is this:

1) Commercial real estate is in decline and vacancies will continue to prevent most new office towers from coming to fruition.  This is due to the lingering effects of work-from-home and hybrid covid-era changes that have now (for many companies) become normalized.  We also have declining profit margins in many industries, so they are cutting back on office spending.  The falling demand for office space is also being reinforced by the higher interest rates, which makes it harder for employees to justify a move to a new city, so remote employees are the only employees available now.

2) Corporate relocations are down due to general economic uncertainty and also the interest rate problem for moving employees mentioned above.  In the era of work-from-home, does it really matter where a headquarters is located when a significant number of employees work and live elsewhere?  I think we are still in the midst of "the great scattering" where everything is being decentralized.  I think we will see more instances where large satellite offices are set up, but the actual headquarters remains where it is.  But even then, why set up a satellite office when everyone really wants to work from home?

3) A decade ago there was a compelling argument for living downtown according to the live-work-play urban lifestyle.  However, as office work turns remote, we are already seeing younger people choose to buy a house in the suburbs rather than rent downtown.    The residential high-rise boom is still happening in Nashville for now, but it's instructive to realize it's not happening in all cities for various reasons related to quality of life.  Nashville is a bit of a special case, it seems, but the value proposition of living downtown becomes more tenuous without the need to be close to an office.  Indeed, the ability to work remotely is seen as a status symbol for many.  I question the durability of the downtown housing boom without a corresponding office boom to anchor those residents in place.

4) In contrast to office and residential, I think the near and long term outlooks for hotels are strong and getting stronger based on Nashville's position as a close/cheap tourist destination.  The only down side to this is that tourism is highly discretionary and subject to boom/bust (ask Las Vegas about this).  However the location of Nashville is almost counter-cyclical in that the poorer people are, the less likely they are to visit Las Vegas or Cancun and the more likely they are to settle for a modest weekender to Nashville.  I think the Ritz Carlton failed to materialize for a reason:  That is not the demographic visiting Nashville except during conventions, which are not frequent enough to support a brand like that.

In summary, I think Nashville is coasting on the declining tail end of trends that started several years ago and I fear that many of the non-residential/non hotel proposals will not come to fruition, especially the live-work-play mega developments like Reed and Beaman.  I think existing office tenants will either scale back or at most hold-steady since most of their new hires will be remote.  I don't think we will see many corporate relo's and may eventually be disappointed by the numbers we see from Amazon and Oracle.  I think hotel construction will continue to skew towards value as the high-end market reaches total saturation.  I think residential will struggle to maintain momentum unless it is oriented towards Vanderbilt, so I place higher odds on mid-town focused residential developments versus downtown residential.

[gannman]

8 hours ago, smeagolsfree said:

I am hearing towards the end of the year. The tower was only announced a short time ago and it takes time as far as logistics to get things in place. Not to be scolding but the folks on this board are some of the most impatient people I have ever seen. It just seems that if a project is announced today everyone seems to think it has to start tomorrow. Most of the time it takes upwards of three years to get a project from thoughts to start and that is pushing it on a fast track. 

Remember some of these projects like the Reed site were announced in 2020 and we knew about them even before then and they still have not started. The same goes for the Station East project as that was a 2020 announcement. The best we are seeing is some demo work going on at some of these sites. Tony has a better track record of getting things done than most and yes, he has had some projects not to start just like other developers. Factors like not being able to acquire the land or the project morphed into something else, or the market changed, or the bottom fell out. Remember Tony has four projects underway right now with one of those just completed and trying to lease, two others with one being the tallest high-rise in the state and another almost 500-footer across the street, not to mention Rock Block Flats. Oh, by the way did I mention he owns a restaurant!

I have seen him in action, and he is involved in every aspect of development, building, furnishing, to leasing these buildings. I don't know how he does it. I also know he has other towers he is working on. For a boutique developer.

The same goes for a lot of the projects in Nashville right now. We have tons of buildings on the drawing board and if the announcements stopped right now and everything got built, we would add another 125 buildings 10 stories to 50 stories or so to the skyline. That is not counting what is under construction. It is going to take us some time to fill those buildings.

Tony was also announced as part of the new airport authority.

[Rick Dalton]

Let’s put Tony in charge of transit. On time and under budget. 

[smeagolsfree]

15 hours ago, Armacing said:

I think the Ritz Carlton failed to materialize for a reason:  That is not the demographic visiting Nashville except during conventions, which are not frequent enough to support a brand like that.

There are other reasons that this has not started that I can't go into because I do not have all of the details, but I know others that do. It is not because of the market but more of the developer. There are other high-end hotels about to start. Nashville is a strong hotel market and we just do not have enough hotels even with what we have now. The 750 room White Lodging project will be starting by years end is what I am hearing. It all has to do with the track record of the developer involved. I think that any number of other developers could get that project off the ground and it may still happen but someone else may end up doing it. That is my speculation and no I do not know anything. My guess is that it is too residential heavy and thus that is why they cut the second tower to phase two. It still may happen. Financing is the problem is my guess. Condos are a lot harder to finance with any project these days and they have not pre-sold any of the units. What's wrong with that picture.

[NissanvilleTitans]

22 hours ago, MLBrumby said:

Curious about a couple things:

1. Are the big projects like Reed, Beaman and Station East being marketed in any particular way, such as offices for tech, health, HQ relocation?

2. Do you know Mr. Giarratana well enough to have a sense if he ever intends to build a version of Signature Tower? 

Caught a bit of SEC Media Days on ESPN last night. [sigh] They were showing 3-year-old video of the skyline. No Assembly Food hall and the two towers at 5+Broad. No Four Seasons! 

I LOVED! Siggy's design. It had a shorter height design at the beginning, which actually would be doable today. I'd love to see that iteration rise up.

[Luvemtall]

1 hour ago, NissanvilleTitans said:

I LOVED! Siggy's design. It had a shorter height design at the beginning, which actually would be doable today. I'd love to see that iteration rise up.

That would be 50 stories and 807 feet, 57 feet above the FFA’s 750 foot maximum height for Nashville. Now the terrain in Nashville is veritable , so maybe if it wasn’t built on a higher ground it might pass. Maybe the center piece of the East Bank Development. One can always dream. 

[jjbradleyBrooklyn]

21 hours ago, Armacing said:

I think the Ritz Carlton failed to materialize for a reason:  That is not the demographic visiting Nashville except during conventions, which are not frequent enough to support a brand like that

The lack of demand is NOT why the Ritz Carlton failed to materialize. It was the small time, mostly inexperienced development team, from what I've read.

Nashville has one of the wealthiest suburbs and regions in the US (Franklin and WIlliamson County), as well as the city of Nashville becoming a 'luxury traveler' destination.  https://www.kiplinger.com/real-estate/603232/the-real-richest-counties-in-the-us

There's a reason Nashville has many second location NYC restaurants and bars, and many boutique, high-end retailers and destinations locating there. Tons of celebrities live in and around Nashville, and there is a lot of buying power in the region.

The Ritz will probably still happen in Nashville, in the near future, with another developer. 

Edited July 20, 2023 by jjbradleyBrooklyn

[Rick Dalton]

four seasons condos seem to have done really well

[Armacing]

3 hours ago, Rick Dalton said:

four seasons condos seem to have done really well

Don't get me wrong, there is a market for high-end hotels, but I'm just saying that there are limitations to how much high-end the hotel market can support in Nashville.  

Personally I think the location for the Ritz was wrong.  It needs to be either closer to Lower Broadway or closer Vanderbilt.  I think Nashville is an obvious expansion city for Ritz, but other cities that should have one also don't have one like Austin, Salt Lake (Park City), Houston, or Jackson Hole.    On the other hand, there are some cities with a Ritz that surprise me like Cleveland and St.Louis.  So who knows?

[BnaBreaker]

3 hours ago, Armacing said:

Don't get me wrong, there is a market for high-end hotels, but I'm just saying that there are limitations to how much high-end the hotel market can support in Nashville.  

Personally I think the location for the Ritz was wrong.  It needs to be either closer to Lower Broadway or closer Vanderbilt.  I think Nashville is an obvious expansion city for Ritz, but other cities that should have one also don't have one like Austin, Salt Lake (Park City), Houston, or Jackson Hole.    On the other hand, there are some cities with a Ritz that surprise me like Cleveland and St.Louis.  So who knows?

Ritz Carlton isn't QUITE the exclusive ultra-luxury brand it once was, but I take your point for sure.  I sometimes wonder if all these luxury brands aren't just flocking to Nashville because of some misguided notion due to the presence of celebrities that it is like another New York or LA in that respect, and that the market isn't just being majorly over-saturated.  Same for dining and retail options.  It seems like every few months we hear about another super trendy upscale New York restaurant that plans to open a location here, and it just gets me thinking like, okay that's cool and all, but have these people really thought it through, or are they just sort of following the crowd?  Do they know Nashville is just a metro of two million?  Or maybe that is just my own personal residual Nashvillian self-consciousness bubbling to the surface left over from times past?  

Edited July 21, 2023 by BnaBreaker

[nashville born]

On 7/10/2023 at 3:34 PM, Bos2Nash said:

Thanks @MontanaGuy. Shows the importance of patience about the level of construction activity and material excavation. 

Speaking for myself, my comments weren't rooted in impatience.   I was seeking to understand because ultimately this project represents two major milestones (700' barrier and new tallest) and I desperately want to see it happen.  I even mentioned being a bit skittish with this one for those reasons, so just want to clarify.

[Nash_12South]

Keep in mind that top tier hotels will adjust prices to fill beds. I have friends who routinely shop booking sites and stay in luxury hotels for a fraction of the published rates. 

[jjbradleyBrooklyn]

10 hours ago, BnaBreaker said:

Ritz Carlton isn't QUITE the exclusive ultra-luxury brand it once was, but I take your point for sure.  I sometimes wonder if all these luxury brands aren't just flocking to Nashville because of some misguided notion due to the presence of celebrities that it is like another New York or LA in that respect, and that the market isn't just being majorly over-saturated.  Same for dining and retail options.  It seems like every few months we hear about another super trendy upscale New York restaurant that plans to open a location here, and it just gets me thinking like, okay that's cool and all, but have these people really thought it through, or are they just sort of following the crowd?  Do they know Nashville is just a metro of two million?  Or maybe that is just my own personal residual Nashvillian self-consciousness bubbling to the surface left over from times past?  

Agree with the part that the Ritz is not what it used to be. Now owned by Marriott Corp, it's lost a bit of that "exclusivity" factor it once had. 

Also, many cities have Ritz Carltons where you scratch your head puzzled at that decision. Whereas many also do not, that should have one, or you'd think they would.   New Orleans has a Ritz, for example, and the metro is just 1.2 million. Granted, they have a lot of tourists, but Nashville does too.

Nashville is a brand, and everyone wants in on the action. It acts very differently than most 2 million metro cities at its level, in that it attracts a lot of media attention and those entertainment media options are right at your doorstep.