901 King Blvd. (33 stories/375', 250 residential units)

[rolly]

Pretty small footprint for such a tallboy.  And the style fits in great with the neighborhood.

[nashville born]

Digging the new 370' mark.  Cool that it's relatively slender build will accentuate that height!

[East Side Urbanite]

On the Avon Williams (TSU) brutalist building theme ...

... the importance of the building is not in its stellar design (as the building offers multiple flaws and is ugly in some respects). Rather, it is the fact that it's important our downtown offer at least one or two "solid examples" of as many architectural styles as possible. This variety  of buildings and their eras creates an interesting visual. The NewsChannel 5 building located on James Robertson Parkway  — though "suburban" in that it is a one-story single-use structure that is out of scale for the wide street on which it sits — is a respectable example of googie design (a futuristic aesthetic derived from the auto culture and atomic/space age  that was popular in the 1950s to early 1970s.

Similarly, the TSU building is one of downtown's only prominent brutalist buildings. The fact that it houses a university makes it all the more distinctive. It's cool that Nashville offers a brutalist building of note while various other mid-sized cities do not. I hope it never is razed. As to an exterior painting ... that could be interesting.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 12, 2023 by East Side Urbanite

[Baronakim]

1 hour ago, East Side Urbanite said:

On the Avon Williams (TSU) brutalist building theme ...

... the importance of the building is not in its stellar design (as the building offers multiple flaws and is ugly in some respects). Rather, it is the fact that it's important our downtown offer at least one or two "solid example" of as many architectural styles as possible. This variety  of buildings and their eras creates an interesting visual. The NewsChannel 5 building located on James Robertson Parkway  — though "suburban" in that it is a one-story single-use structure that is our of scale for the wide street on which it sits — is a respectable example of googie design (a futuristic aesthetic derived from the auto culture and atomic/space age  that was popular in the 1950s to early 1970s.

Similarly, the TSU building is one of downtown's only prominent brutalist buildings. The fact that it houses a university makes it all the more distinctive. It's cool that Nashville offers a brutalist building of note while various other mid-sized cities do not. I hope it never is razed. As to an exterior painting ... that could be interesting.

 

 

 

 

It is interesting that both the Avon & Cbs are from the same local architecture firm.  Earl Swensson Associates.  The bat Building, Schemerhorn, Belmont concert halls and half of Belmont.  A plethera of important new towers too.  i can think of no other architect that has been as important to the city as whole.   Oh yes, does anyone know where the staging for construction  for the 901 would be?  Alcove was exceptionally tight, but this one has no land besides the footprint at all.

 

[East Side Urbanite]

1 hour ago, Baronakim said:

It is interesting that both the Avon & Cbs are from the same local architecture firm.  Earl Swensson Associates.  The bat Building, Schemerhorn, Belmont concert halls and half of Belmont.  A plethera of important new towers too.  i can think of no other architect that has been as important to the city as whole.   Oh yes, does anyone know where the staging for construction  for the 901 would be?  Alcove was exceptionally tight, but this one has no land besides the footprint at all.

 

I did not know ESa designed both.

As to staging for 901, ... Ron (Smeags) might have some thoughts. Good question. The building once know as the Mastrapasqua Building (on Church) is being used to stage Prima (801 Church and also a Giarratana project).

[PillowTalk4]

1 hour ago, Baronakim said:

It is interesting that both the Avon & Cbs are from the same local architecture firm.  Earl Swensson Associates.  The bat Building, Schemerhorn, Belmont concert halls and half of Belmont.  A plethera of important new towers too.  i can think of no other architect that has been as important to the city as whole.   Oh yes, does anyone know where the staging for construction  for the 901 would be?  Alcove was exceptionally tight, but this one has no land besides the footprint at all.

 

I was wondering the same.  I suspect a portion of one lane of YMCA Way will be closed.  Wasn't one lane of 9th near the Alcove site closed?  Or maybe they'll do like some of the big cities and just have a caravan of trucks delivering materials throughout the day.  It's additional costs to do that but it might be the only alternative.

I'm anxious to see how deep they are going to excavate and if they hit the corner of the TSU building ... LOL!!!

[chc3]

I believe one of the older State buildings is also Brutalist.

[markhollin]

MDHA Design Review Committee has approved the additional 3 story bonus height for the grand total 33 story project.

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/metro-oks-added-height-for-planned-sobro-hotel/article_949cd772-0625-11ee-aa65-7b57f03fcc12.html

[smeagolsfree]

On 4/12/2023 at 2:48 PM, East Side Urbanite said:

I did not know ESa designed both.

As to staging for 901, ... Ron (Smeags) might have some thoughts. Good question. The building once know as the Mastrapasqua Building (on Church) is being used to stage Prima (801 Church and also a Giarratana project).

It is hard to say but staging areas can be onsite or within 2 or 3 blocks away. I will bet there are a number of options open, and the staging lot will not have to be huge. It depends on who he can get to rent part of a parking lot to him. Besides how do they handle this is NYC where there are not any large parking lots available? I will bet Nashvylle can answer that one as he worked there for a time in the industry. There is always a solution.

[lmc123]

The state lot directly to the East towards the TN Tower is never full. I wouldn't be surprised if this could be an option. 

[Sean blackdog]

Today this morning. 
No one working on under construction. 

[smeagolsfree]

Good reason is that no permits have been pulled yet.

[nashville born]

just moved this one on the wiki page.

[smeagolsfree]

I think it will start by years end as Tony is self-financing the tower, but we will just have to wait till permits are pulled before we can say it is officially under construction. Some of the ones on the WIKI list may have to be put into the stalled category at some point like the Ritz as I pointed at the meeting Saturday that one is supposed to start this month according to the last news and folks it is not going to start this month. That tower is in trouble and the Circle South office tower is DEAD. So, at some point someone will have to take it off the list, but I do realize no official work has come down I do not think regardless of what the website says. Circle South | Nashville, Tennessee’s Newest Landmark

[Azarat]

IMHO and uneduc

On 6/8/2023 at 3:28 PM, markhollin said:

MDHA Design Review Committee has approved the additional 6 story bonus height for the grand total 36  story project.

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/metro-oks-added-height-for-planned-sobro-hotel/article_949cd772-0625-11ee-aa65-7b57f03fcc12.html

 

On 7/5/2023 at 12:28 PM, smeagolsfree said:

I think it will start by years end as Tony is self-financing the tower, but we will just have to wait till permits are pulled before we can say it is officially under construction. Some of the ones on the WIKI list may have to be put into the stalled category at some point like the Ritz as I pointed at the meeting Saturday that one is supposed to start this month according to the last news and folks it is not going to start this month. That tower is in trouble and the Circle South office tower is DEAD. So, at some point someone will have to take it off the list, but I do realize no official work has come down I do not think regardless of what the website says. Circle South | Nashville, Tennessee’s Newest Landmark

Yes, IMHO, I bet when the Prime is cladded and the crane dismantled, Mr. G gives the go-ahead to pull permits and begin digging. Likely we'll be well before the EOY. Just an uneducated hunch.

[markhollin]

A $552,550 permit has been requested by Giarratana to start the foundation for 901 MLK.   BOWA Construction will be the contractor.  Still appears that groundbreaking will be by year's end. 

The specs are a bit more defined: still 33 stories. Will be 375' instead of 370', and offer 250 units, instead of 255. 

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/real-estate-notes-developer-seeks-permit-for-mlk-tower/article_36d6d1c4-2a56-11ee-a84b-9f7c86880e4c.html

[MLBrumby]

Are there any other renderings for this building... esp. close ups and from other angles? 

[smeagolsfree]

13 hours ago, MLBrumby said:

Are there any other renderings for this building... esp. close ups and from other angles? 

Nope, that may be all of the renderings we see unless TG posts something on his website.

[markhollin]

Giarratana has applied for a permit to allow construction of the core and shell of the tower. This follows the filing for a permit, valued at $552,550, to allow for foundation construction. Construction is still planned to begin by year's end.

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/real-estate-notes-melrose-building-listed-for-sale/article_64a45c4e-36d0-11ee-8508-4373f2daf265.html

[markhollin]

CityNowNext with a video update on 901 MLK:

https://citynownext.com/2023/08/21/video-story-33-story-tower-progresses-on-mlk-blvd-in-downtown-nashville/#more-35080

[nashville born]

Love the curved corner on this one.

[Armacing]

On 8/29/2023 at 10:23 AM, nashville born said:

Have they released a rendering of the south or west sides of the building yet?  I'm curious to know if there will be some small windows on those sides, which should be there, in my opinion.  I think the chances of other buildings being built there in the near/medium term are minimal.   

Hopefully there is not some fire code that precludes the inclusion of windows on those sides since they are building right up to the property line.

On the other hand, if there are no windows at all, this building will be notable for being a windowless mystery building when viewed from the south & west... which is also kind of cool.  It would be cool if they covered the west-facing wall in a 30-story tall LED screen (but some NIMBY's would probably oppose that).

[Bos2Nash]

59 minutes ago, Armacing said:

Have they released a rendering of the south or west sides of the building yet?  I'm curious to know if there will be some small windows on those sides, which should be there, in my opinion.  I think the chances of other buildings being built there in the near/medium term are minimal.   

Hopefully there is not some fire code that precludes the inclusion of windows on those sides since they are building right up to the property line.

On the other hand, if there are no windows at all, this building will be notable for being a windowless mystery building when viewed from the south & west... which is also kind of cool.  It would be cool if they covered the west-facing wall in a 30-story tall LED screen (but some NIMBY's would probably oppose that).

I was speculative of how the design team would handle this as well. But we have seen through their submissions that they will have glass all the way around. They are achieving this by stepping back from the property line on those frontages. See the images below.

This one has the dashed line above indicating the tower.

This one you can see the green roof at the left and bottom of the image that separates the building from the property line.

There is a building code that limits the amounts of openings depending on their proximity to a property line. The likelihood of something being built has little bearing on the code because something could be built at some point. Depending on how close they are to the property line, buildings are allowed a certain about of openings. Buildings can also have what is called "protected" openings which would allow a higher percentage in some cases (I don't have the sections in front of me).

Let's hope we never end up with another high rise blank wall again.

[nashville born]

Any permit activity on this one?

[Bos2Nash]

45 minutes ago, nashville born said:

Any permit activity on this one?

They have applied for Foundation and Shell permits, but neither have been issued. Foundation had some activity on it as recently as 09/25.

I don't know for certain, but I might think some of the phasing of the Charlotte Street Overpass (over Rosa Parks) may play a factor in how things start.