Project Thread/New Construction/Photo du jour/Const. CAMs

[fieldmarshaldj]

3 hours ago, titanhog said:

^^I see lots of parking lots in that photo just begging for a 500 footer. 

You meant to say 750-1,000 footer.

[VSRJ]

Call me unimaginative, but I wouldn't be completely opposed to a (well kept) mostly grassy and subtly landscaped roundabout space. I've always wondered about the combination of drivers not knowing how to navigate a roundabout (however simple they may be) and intricate art/fountains/etc. in the middle. I know I've been distracted trying to figure out the Styx while driving through.

I think a simple green space would contrast well with the hustle and bustle of the surrounding urban fabric. That said, I can't wait to see the Music Row roundabout get the fountain treatment.

[titanhog]

2 hours ago, fieldmarshaldj said:

You meant to say 750-1,000 footer.

Now you're just being greedy!! 

[fieldmarshaldj]

47 minutes ago, titanhog said:

Now you're just being greedy!! 

 (Besides, Tony G did promise us a 1,000 footer !)

[markhollin]

Always love walking around Fisk University's historic architecture.  Some classics we as Nashvillians should be proud of:

Jubilee Hall, 1876:

Carl Van Vechten Art Gallery, 1889:

 

Cravath Hall, 1926:

 

Fisk Memorial Chapel, 1892:

Talley-Brady Hall, 1928:

Edited April 9, 2016 by markhollin

[rookzie]

2 hours ago, markhollin said:

Always love walking around Fisk University's historic architecture.  Some classics we as Nashvillians should be proud of:

Fisk Memorial Chapel, 1892:

 

I see that tree in the Chapel south chimney has grown a bit since I first spotted it there around 2004 ─ not a lot but a bit bigger.

[titanhog]

^^How many of those are in disrepair?  With Fisk's financial troubles, I would imagine some of those buildings could use some financial TLC.

[fieldmarshaldj]

5 hours ago, markhollin said:

Always love walking around Fisk University's historic architecture.  Some classics we as Nashvillians should be proud of:

Jubilee Hall, 1876:

 

Just imagine, if Jubilee Hall sat in the CBD, it would have been demolished by the 1950s or '60s. It remains one of Nashville's architectural gems.

[fieldmarshaldj]

5 hours ago, markhollin said:

Cravath Hall, 1926:

 

My father worked directly across the street from Cravath Hall at Meharry (in the Hulda Margaret Lyttle Hall) in the '70s and '80s, so I used to stare out the windows at this building a lot. I always thought it was mysterious looking with the ziggurat style. Still a beauty, though.

[rookzie]

4 hours ago, titanhog said:

^^How many of those are in disrepair?  With Fisk's financial troubles, I would imagine some of those buildings could use some financial TLC.

Let's put it this way.

ALL are, to be sadly blunt.  Probably the one in best shape would be the Carl Van Vechten Art Gallery, and that only would be because the Walton family, discussion of which you and several others enjoined over a year ago on the Waltons' shared ownership of Fisk's donated Georgia O'Keeffe / Alfred Stieglitz art collection, graciously footed the bill for a massive renovation a couple years ago or so, as a security measure for alternate hosting of the collection.  This entailed replacing the entire slate roof with the slate in kind, along with the addition of a standby power generator, and most likely other provisions..

The most recent massive renovation prior to that probably was Cravath Hall, during 2002-2003 with a huge grant from the US Dept. of the Interior and the National Trust (NTHP).  Sadly soon after reopening, institutional lack of oversight led to premature damage to the interior of Cravath Hall, including a then-recently restored Art-Deco mural by Aaron Douglas, and caused by defective roof and/or masonry repair by the general contractor.  The fact is, Fisk has been unable to adequately and timely maintain any given structure, once it has undergone restoration or a reno-, and the practice of deferred maintenance usually has been the norm, until something nearly catastrophic has defaulted or which has resulted in insurance underwriters refusal to guarantee indemnity.  Even then, repairs typically have been minimal, while disregarding cosmetics.  Several structures on campus have been determined to have undergone structural deterioration, not readily apparent.  Jubilee Hall is one of these.

EDIT:  Not only does it require sizable financial resources to maintain the structural and aesthetic integrity of the physical plant, even one of the relatively small size of Fisk, but it also requires a person delegated as a "point" man (or woman) in charge ─ one who is scrupulous for detail and who is sensitively perceptive and consciously responds to minute indications of evolving conditions, such as evidence of bird-nesting, mold-slime from dripping wall hydrants, dislocated downspouts, and crumbling parking curbs and masonry or dry-stacked retaining walls.  Fisk simply does not and seems to not have given weighted attention to such an administrative need, at least for over a half century.  It could be considered bordering on disgusting that Fisk has permitted the loss due to neglect and external damage of at least 40 percent of the historic stone retaining wall along the north and northwestern boundaries of the campus, as well the complete loss of several stonewall gate pillars, with once-fancy finial crowns struck by automobiles and left fallen nearby.  Over the last 50 years, several pairs of these once beautiful ornaments have been damaged, destroyed (beyond evidence), or replaced with plain concrete.  Most if not all of this is the direct result of management apathy, from one "shortened" administration to the next, rather than being due to lack of funding priority alone (leadership and stewardship).

Edited April 9, 2016 by rookzie

[titanhog]

I would really hate for all of us to lose these gems.  They tell such a rich history of the African-American community right after the Civil War.  Fisk in an important bit of architectural beauty that deserves saving.  I really wish the alumni could find a way to raise funds to get this wonderful institution back on track, not only as a university of learning...but to protect these structures.

[markhollin]

Land continues to be cleared on the massive TopGolf property on the east bank. While this is a fun project, both UTGrad09 and I feel that within a decade the owners of TopGolf will turn around and develop the site with much more lucrative possibilities as far as residential, etc. as the value of the land keeps rising. 

Looking north from corner of Spring and Cowan:

 

Looking east from corner of Spring and Cowan.  That is the Neuhoff Packing Plant and smokestack in the distance on the other side of the Cumberland River:

 

Looking northeast from the Spring Street Bridge:

 

Looking east from near the river's edge back towards Cowan Street in the distance:

 

Looking from the east central part of the property towards the southwest and downtown.  That is the Spring Street Bridge in the foreground.

 

A map of the massive property on a sign near one of the entrances. UTGrad09 and I were walking around the lot, trying to surmise where the main entrance and primary entertainment structure would be.  We're guessing on the Cowan Street side of the northeast corner, with a panoramic view of downtown the the southwest (lower left across the river in this aerial shot). 

 

Edited April 10, 2016 by markhollin
Add a photo

[Nathan_in_DC]

17 hours ago, rookzie said:

Let's put it this way.

ALL are, to be sadly blunt.  Probably the one in best shape would be the Carl Van Vechten Art Gallery, and that only would be because the Walton family, discussion of which you and several others enjoined over a year ago on the Waltons' shared ownership of Fisk's donated Georgia O'Keeffe / Alfred Stieglitz art collection, graciously footed the bill for a massive renovation a couple years ago or so, as a security measure for alternate hosting of the collection.  This entailed replacing the entire slate roof with the slate in kind, along with the addition of a standby power generator, and most likely other provisions..

The most recent massive renovation prior to that probably was Cravath Hall, during 2002-2003 with a huge grant from the US Dept. of the Interior and the National Trust (NTHP).  Sadly soon after reopening, institutional lack of oversight led to premature damage to the interior of Cravath Hall, including a then-recently restored Art-Deco mural by Aaron Douglas, and caused by defective roof and/or masonry repair by the general contractor.  The fact is, Fisk has been unable to adequately and timely maintain any given structure, once it has undergone restoration or a reno-, and the practice of deferred maintenance usually has been the norm, until something nearly catastrophic has defaulted or which has resulted in insurance underwriters refusal to guarantee indemnity.  Even then, repairs typically have been minimal, while disregarding cosmetics.  Several structures on campus have been determined to have undergone structural deterioration, not readily apparent.  Jubilee Hall is one of these.

EDIT:  Not only does it require sizable financial resources to maintain the structural and aesthetic integrity of the physical plant, even one of the relatively small size of Fisk, but it also requires a person delegated as a "point" man (or woman) in charge ─ one who is scrupulous for detail and who is sensitively perceptive and consciously responds to minute indications of evolving conditions, such as evidence of bird-nesting, mold-slime from dripping wall hydrants, dislocated downspouts, and crumbling parking curbs and masonry or dry-stacked retaining walls.  Fisk simply does not and seems to not have given weighted attention to such an administrative need, at least for over a half century.  It could be considered bordering on disgusting that Fisk has permitted the loss due to neglect and external damage of at least 40 percent of the historic stone retaining wall along the north and northwestern boundaries of the campus, as well the complete loss of several stonewall gate pillars, with once-fancy finial crowns struck by automobiles and left fallen nearby.  Over the last 50 years, several pairs of these once beautiful ornaments have been damaged, destroyed (beyond evidence), or replaced with plain concrete.  Most if not all of this is the direct result of management apathy, from one "shortened" administration to the next, rather than being due to lack of funding priority alone (leadership and stewardship).

Excellent points, Ricky. It's so unfortunate that such a renowned institution has been subjected to years of mismanagement. It's strange though, I know that Fisk's financial woes are well known and have been made conspiciously public, but very little appears to have been said about the management (or apparent lack thereof) of the school. Why hasn't anyone apparently been taken to task over this?

15 minutes ago, markhollin said:

Land continues to be cleared on the massive TopGolf property on the east bank.

I don't have any problem with TopGolf, I think quite a good time can be had there, but I do feel this is a MASSIVE underutilization of that site. In 10-20 years, we'll be wishing that it had been built in Bellevue.

[Salbato]

A few pictures from today. 

 

[MLBrumby]

Wow!  Midtown is getting a skyline!  Would never believe that that is the small southern city where I first arrived to attend college back in fall 1988.  Would love to see someone go to the Fern Street overpass (over I-24/I-65) to get a nice skyline shot of downtown and midtown after the Skyhouse is topped out.  Really curious to see if it stretches the skyline to the west. 

So eager to see the last two shots in panorama with B'stone and M-Residences and Buckingham Gulch and JW Marriott and W hotel finished. Don't expect that the box on box 222 and Sobro will be visible from that angle after the B'stone goes up.  Cambria and Joseph hotels might be barely visible. 

Edited April 11, 2016 by MLBrumby

[rookzie]

12 hours ago, Nathan_in_DC said:

Excellent points, Ricky. It's so unfortunate that such a renowned institution has been subjected to years of mismanagement. It's strange though, I know that Fisk's financial woes are well known and have been made conspiciously public, but very little appears to have been said about the management (or apparent lack thereof) of the school. Why hasn't anyone apparently been taken to task over this?

Nathan, thanks for the insight on this long recognized issue.  In the seemingly unending mire of struggling to keep its doors open, when an institution has sought financial rescue several times in the past from the community, it becomes no different from panhandling , when benefactors see the same subject of solicitation extending the hand , over and over.

The fact that the Fisk ─ or rather, its then-appointed president ─ persisted in the strategy of selling an interest in its art collection, rather than developing a capital campaign, appeared to have shifted any purported focus on dedicated fund-raising activities.  It has been stated that the normal way of managing an institution is to have developed and implemented a plan for substantial fund-raising to build an endowment, and the university has literally siphoned off all previously existing endowment resources not constrained to specific program targets.  I know as a matter of fact, during the court battle to sell part interest in the O’Keeffe art collection, that the then-current administration had engaged in polling all departmental heads for estimated assets and assumed worth.  This is no different from one trying to keep from freezing to death, by using the home furnishings for firewood, and then, when that source has been consumed, expending some of the actual house framing.  It amounts to a moribund existence.

Foundations who give serious money don't give it to poorly managed institutions ─ not to say outright that Fisk is currently poorly managed, but if the institution continuously has not been able to make itself sustainable with solvency over some long period of time, then that raises flags, which effectively creates a vicious circle of diminishing equilibrium.  Donors are frightened off by an institution’s decades of financial problems, and people who give money traditionally for conceived projects of value and who have given money to Fisk in the past, have concluded that the underlying problems of struggle have not necessarily been addressed.  In turn, these donors become just plain “sick and tired” of reaching out, so they naturally become convicted.  In the seemingly unending mire of struggling to keep its doors open, when an institution has sought financial rescue several times in the past from the community, it becomes no different from panhandling, when benefactors see the same subject of solicitation extending the hand over and over.

Sadly, an understood, silent majority ─ those who either have, who are, or who would become stakeholders in the concern ─ have quietly turned they eyes on the competence of the board of trustees themselves as ultimately accountable for the repeated shortfall of any previous administration.   Not many years in the past, there had been preliminary plans by one administration to construct a new natural science building, and more recently the last outgoing president had aspired to build a new residence hall.  The silent consensus had been that this proposal was rather grandiose at best, given the bottom line that almost all of the university’s assets are mortgaged.   There seems to have been a perpetual tendency by the Board selections committee to appoint “leaders” misaligned with reality, as harsh and opinionated as this may sound. -==-

 

[fieldmarshaldj]

^That would be the Hazel O'Leary regime you're speaking of. She was a real... gem when it came to administration.

[markhollin]

Updates from the south side:

Village 21 mixed-use project at corner of 21st Avenue South and Blakemore.  Will be four stories tall, have 101 apartments, 22,000 feet of commercial/restaurant, and 250 parking spaces (mostly below ground). This shot looking west from the Fifth Third Bank parking lot next door.

 

Looking at Village 21 from corner of 21st Avenue and Blakemore looking northeastward.

 

Village 21 from alley behind Fifth Third Bank looking southwestward toward corner of 21st Avenue and Blakemore:

 

12th and Acklen Apartments are now topped-out. Six-stories.  Looking northward from corner of 12th Avenue South and Acklen:

 

Millennium Music Row (formerly Music Square Flats) is continuing ground work.  Will be 6-stories tall and have 230 units and 580 sq. feet of retail space. Looking north from the corner of 17th Avenue South and Grand:

 

Millennium Music Row excavation looking east from corner of 17th Avenue South and Grand:

Edited April 11, 2016 by markhollin

[CenterHill]

Thanks, MH.    I haven't been by the Village 21 site lately.    That's a seriously big hole.   This project is going to be much larger than I was expecting.   

[Vrtigo]

On 4/8/2016 at 5:03 PM, BnaBreaker said:

I really hate how the Westin addresses the roundabout.

Fair point, but consider also how little of the Westin property actually directly faces the roundabout. I think they designed the Westin with the assumption that the adjacent property would be much more appropriate for addressing the roundabout (see: enormous blank cinderblock wall on south face).

...stay tuned?

[markhollin]

^ ^ ^ One has to wonder what Westin may have up it's sleeve for the remainder of their property that is just south of the massive blank wall.  It is the construction office at this moment. Perhaps they will build a large restaurant or something that will better address the curve of the roundabout.  For that matter, it will be curious to see what Tony G. is putting together for the thin-slice curved lot immediately to the south (currently he has made it a Premier parking lot). Maybe he is working on buying the land directly to the west (a parking lot) and northwest (314 9th Avenue South) that would give him a decent slice of land large enough for a tower that would, hopefully, address the roundabout.  You can see all of this laid-out in this screen shot from Smeagolsfree's excellent Nashville Development Map:

 

Here is the imposing blank cinder-block on the south edge of the Westin development from a month ago that Vrtigo is talking about:

Edited April 11, 2016 by markhollin

[fieldmarshaldj]

^Please tell me they are not going to leave that monstrosity of a wall just like that.

 

[farm_boy]

Cell phone pic

[titanhog]

^^When are they going to install the "water fountains" (or whatever they are called) in the Cumberland?  If I remember correctly, they would be somewhere in front of Broadway where you could see water shooting into the sky from the river if you're down by the honkytonks.

[Pyramid Scheme]

10 hours ago, fieldmarshaldj said:

^Please tell me they are not going to leave that monstrosity of a wall just like that.

Eventually, a new development will sit up against that wall. Otherwise, it would at least have windows or something. Maybe it will get covered in graffiti in the meantime.