Element Hotel at 536 Lafayette (15 stories/150'; 205 rooms; 4,300 sq. ft. of retail/restaurant space; 3,265 sq. ft. meeting space; one level underground valet garage)

[markhollin]

536 Lafayette Hotel (unknown brand at this time) will be a 14 story, 205 room project developed by Sila Hospitality on the .28 acre site that was previously home to Dandgure's Cafeteria Meat & Three. There will be no ground level retail, nor an internal parking garage.   Southeast Venture is the architect; Barge Design Solutions will oversee engineering/land-planning.

Via an LLC, local real estate investor Joong Seo owns the property, having paid $2 million for it in late 2018, Metro records note. Sila has the property under contract, according to a source.  Two floors of bonus height will be sought from Metro's Downtown Code Design Review Committee. No date has been scheduled.

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/sobro-site-eyed-for-hotel/article_66a6d53c-b9ec-11ed-98a4-d38dbab863f9.html


And at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2023/03/06/sobro-hotel.html

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

[smeagolsfree]

This one sort of came out of the blue. We knew there was something planned there since Dandgures closed but we were not sure what.

[Rick Dalton]

Good looking building, hope it gets built 

[MontanaGuy]

The shape is kind of interesting, at least it's not another predictable box.

[Luvemtall]

25 minutes ago, smeagolsfree said:

This one sort of came out of the blue. We knew there was something planned there since Dandgures closed but we were not sure what.

Was this one of the projects you have been dropping hints about? Or is there still more news ?

[downtownresident]

Love this one, it’s a good use of a funky shaped lot. 

[smeagolsfree]

36 minutes ago, MontanaGuy said:

The shape is kind of interesting, at least it's not another predictable box.

This was the surprise coming for the afternoon.

Still more to come!

[MLBrumby]

41 minutes ago, MontanaGuy said:

The shape is kind of interesting, at least it's not another predictable box.

First word that came to my mind... INTERESTING! 

That Lafayette corridor could be really cool with an eclectic mix of buildings of different wedge shapes. Hoping they don't try to put "Boxes" aligned with the downtown grid. I believe one of the towers on the south side of Lafayette is designed to be (what I call) "boxing" the triangle. I'll go and see which one it is, but I believe it's the one that has an overhang (next to the little stone church).  

[andywildman]

First no-parking hotel to be built in the last 50+ years?

[UrbanWes03]

It's incredible that there's no garage! Very promising step forward. Also a nice design. Love how it addresses the corners but a damn shame there's no retail, especially with such a large amount of Lafayette frontage

This looks to be an Element Hotel by Marriott. Not only is the color scheme the same, but the logo on the rendering is the exact same as the Element logo lol. This is definitely one of the nicest Element's I've seen so that's great too!

[subkyle]

I thought there was code downtown that required a certain amount of bottom floor retail. Does that just not exist? Or are there east workarounds?

[MontanaGuy]

16 hours ago, andywildman said:

First no-parking hotel to be built in the last 50+ years?

I was wondering about that too.  It seems like a significant percentage of tourists drive here and would need a place to park their car.  They must have thought this through though or they wouldn't be building it. 

[Azarat]

10 hours ago, MontanaGuy said:

I was wondering about that too.  It seems like a significant percentage of tourists drive here and would need a place to park their car.  They must have thought this through though or they wouldn't be building it. 

They must be targeting tourists or business folk shuttled from and to the airport. I wonder if there will be a internal restaurant.

[gannman]

It shows there being an entryway at the corner of Lea and 6th, but it doesn't indicate what the space is used for.

[Baronakim]

3 hours ago, gannman said:

It shows there being an entryway at the corner of Lea and 6th, but it doesn't indicate what the space is used for.

The checkin desk is at street level of Lafayette and the entryway at Lea & 6th shows no doors as the plan is cut at the upper level.   The space is down 20 risers by my count at 10 feet down from the desk.  I must assume the space is the main hotel lobby with that ceiling height.  The stair down has risers of 6", so it is going to be a "grand" stair.  I assume the space by the elevators will access the toilets and services as well as the stair tower ( as  there was no basement level plan shown yet).   I assume the hotel concierge desk will be there at that level as well.   There are no toilets shown on this automotive entry level plan, so the have to be on the lower level.   I am impressed that the building is signicantly  backe off Lafayette, but the upper hotel room floors do not require much  depth.  Stepping back that far will  be very nice as so many city towers build right up to the propertylines.  I was surprised to see a 10' grade change because I did not remember Lafayette being so steep at that point.  But looking  at street views of Maps, Degure's frontage is small and the rock wall adjacent does show a significant grade change.  Overall I think the architect has done a pretty good job  of design with such a small footprint on a steep sloping site.  One of the things that awes me in the growth in this area is that the change to vertical is so abrupt.   Most of the existing buildings there are one story or two at best.  Now they are being replaced with 5 to 20 story ones in a short period of time.  So transformative! It is mind boggling.  I can hardly wait to see what will go up on the Rescure Mission property eventually. As a Nashville  native, I never expected to live long enough to see this kind of change.  Bravo Nashville.

Edited March 5, 2023 by Baronakim

[nebularec]

11 hours ago, Baronakim said:

The checkin desk is at street level of Lafayette and the entryway at Lea & 6th shows no doors as the plan is cut at the upper level.   The space is down 20 risers by my count at 10 feet down from the desk.  I must assume the space is the main hotel lobby with that ceiling height.  The stair down has risers of 6", so it is going to be a "grand" stair.  I assume the space by the elevators will access the toilets and services as well as the stair tower ( as  there was no basement level plan shown yet).   I assume the hotel concierge desk will be there at that level as well.   There are no toilets shown on this automotive entry level plan, so the have to be on the lower level.   I am impressed that the building is signicantly  backe off Lafayette, but the upper hotel room floors do not require much  depth.  Stepping back that far will  be very nice as so many city towers build right up to the propertylines.  I was surprised to see a 10' grade change because I did not remember Lafayette being so steep at that point.  But looking  at street views of Maps, Degure's frontage is small and the rock wall adjacent does show a significant grade change.  Overall I think the architect has done a pretty good job  of design with such a small footprint on a steep sloping site.  One of the things that awes me in the growth in this area is that the change to vertical is so abrupt.   Most of the existing buildings there are one story or two at best.  Now they are being replaced with 5 to 20 story ones in a short period of time.  So transformative! It is mind boggling.  I can hardly wait to see what will go up on the Rescure Mission property eventually. As a Nashville  native, I never expected to live long enough to see this kind of change.  Bravo Nashville.

Zoning requires 15' sidewalks for any new development fronting Lafayette and 10' for the Lea Ave. side.  So, that's the reason for so much set back from Lafayette.

[markhollin]

CityNowNext has coverage of the announcement:

https://citynownext.com/2023/03/06/14-story-hotel-proposed-on-lafayette-street-in-downtown-nashville/

[Rlooper]

40 minutes ago, markhollin said:

CityNowNext has coverage of the announcement:

https://citynownext.com/2023/03/06/14-story-hotel-proposed-on-lafayette-street-in-downtown-nashville/

I updated my article confirming the hotel brand as Element Hotels and also was able to snag the Hi-res renderings.

[smeagolsfree]

I found the logo earlier today but got sidetracked.

[markhollin]

The Element Hotel on Lafayette has received approval from MDHA Design Review Committee. There are updated renderings for the project that is now being listed as 15 stories, with the same 205 rooms.  4,300 sq. ft. of retail/restaurant space, 3,265 sq. ft. of meeting space, and a 1 level underground valet parking garage are now listed.

More at CityNowNext here:

https://citynownext.com/2023/06/05/new-renderings-details-of-the-15-story-element-hotel-in-downtown-nashville/#more-32782

 

[downtownresident]

I really like this project. Great use of an odd shaped lot. 

[markhollin]

MDHA Design Review Committee has approved the additional height (one more story) on the Element Hotel design.

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

[rolly]

The curved edges look great.  Some background info:

https://medium.com/@fengshuidiy/feng-shui-tips-sharp-edges-and-corners-b684e5facb09

https://www.fastcompany.com/3020075/why-our-brains-love-curvy-architecture

[archilove]

Dandgure's and Arnold's were the premiere meat and threes in Nashville IMO. Our restaurant scene was once known for its meat and three places, but no longer. Fortunately, those of us who like that kind of food can still get it in its best version at Monell's, though that isn't technically a meat and three. The Puckett's meat and three in Leiper's Fork is high quality and  is housed in an authentic old general, store.  The Dotson's in Franklin was a good one, visited by many celebrities, but unfortunately gone. Satsuma on Union Street with its turnip greens and chocolate pie was one of the best. The  political movers and shakers had a table  reserved there in the upstairs room.                     

[donNdonelson2]

Wendell Smith’s and Swett’s are the only old-school M+3’s remaining, I guess. (But Ruby’s Kitchen on Dickerson Pike is pretty darn good, too.)