Nashville Bits and Pieces

[Guest]

I was walking from the Gulch to my condo yesterday and noticed not only construction on the roof and back of the flying saucer space, but it also looked like that had added onto the back of the entire building.

[tragenvol]

On ‎5‎/‎2‎/‎2016 at 5:59 PM, Hey_Hey said:

2 hours ago, Vrtigo said:

IAs someone who parks in that lot every day, I can tell you firsthand that it is filled to overflowing almost every day and there has to be a viable replacement before they even begin to consider filling it with something else.

Those are surely among some of the most narrow parking spaces in the city....excluding parking garages.

 

[Vrtigo]

1 hour ago, nashville_bound said:

I was walking from the Gulch to my condo yesterday and noticed not only construction on the roof and back of the flying saucer space, but it also looked like that had added onto the back of the entire building.

Mostly just renovating the Baggage Building.

I believe the part you're specifically referring to is the section on the south end of the building which had housed stairs and an elevator connection with the parking lot below--all of which appear to have been almost completely replaced by now. Among the external improvements involved in this project, I feel this component was one of the more necessary needs. Anyone who has walked those stairs knew how dank, smelly and unappealing the trek truly was...

[markhollin]

Music City Center has another great month: $93.9 million in economic impact from 130,000 attendees in April:

http://www.nashvillepost.com/business/economic-indicators/article/20630701/mcc-generates-939m-in-economic-impact-in-april

[BnaBreaker]

Today is the 100th birthday of modern urban planning trailblazer Jane Jacobs.  She is widely credited with being one of the major driving forces behind modern urban planning as we know it.  If you haven't read her book "The Death and Life of Great American Cities," do yourself a favor and buy it today.  It really is eye-opening. 

Edited May 5, 2016 by BnaBreaker

[BnaBreaker]

If you have eight minutes, consider using it to watch this short film produced by the website "Eater," about a beautiful old local woman named Phila Rawlings Hach.  There are a lot of interesting little glimpses of life in historic Nashville in this piece about her amazing and colorful life.  Do check it out if you can:

 

Edited May 5, 2016 by BnaBreaker

[PaulChinetti]

On May 4, 2016 at 10:56 AM, nashville_bound said:

I was walking from the Gulch to my condo yesterday and noticed not only construction on the roof and back of the flying saucer space, but it also looked like that had added onto the back of the entire building.

Flying Saucer is redoing their kitchen too. They are only serving appetizers during it. 

[MLBrumby]

Looks like the Ben West building (former library ca 1963) will be saved. The Tennessee Education Association plans to buy it and renovate it (restore).  From William Williams at the Post: http://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/article/20630829/tennessee-education-association-to-buy-ben-west-property

* An estimated $8.5 million in renovations, with “total preservation” of the building and no modifications to its height or façade. TEA’s full investment is expected to be about $12.5 million.

 

The building is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places and Metro is requiring the building be adaptively reused. In addition to the building, the property includes a surface parking lot that faces Church Street.

DEVELOPMENT

[Flatrock]

On Monday, April 11, 2016 at 5:40 PM, nashwatcher said:

Always Loved the Ben West bldg. Well done,  TEA.  

8 minutes ago, MLBrumby said:

Looks like the Ben West building (former library ca 1963) will be saved. The Tennessee Education Association plans to buy it and renovate it (restore).  From William Williams at the Post: http://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/article/20630829/tennessee-education-association-to-buy-ben-west-property

* An estimated $8.5 million in renovations, with “total preservation” of the building and no modifications to its height or façade. TEA’s full investment is expected to be about $12.5 million.

 

The building is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places and Metro is requiring the building be adaptively reused. In addition to the building, the property includes a surface parking lot that faces Church Street.

DEVELOPMENT

Grew up here in the 60s and 70s. ..always loved that bldg. Well done, TEA!

Edited May 5, 2016 by Flatrock
Quoted wrong link. Oops. sorry

[rookzie]

51 minutes ago, MLBrumby said:

Looks like the Ben West building (former library ca 1963) will be saved. The Tennessee Education Association plans to buy it and renovate it (restore).  From William Williams at the Post: http://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/article/20630829/tennessee-education-association-to-buy-ben-west-property

* An estimated $8.5 million in renovations, with “total preservation” of the building and no modifications to its height or façade. TEA’s full investment is expected to be about $12.5 million.

 

The building is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places and Metro is requiring the building be adaptively reused. In addition to the building, the property includes a surface parking lot that faces Church Street.

DEVELOPMENT

Someone needs to go shake John Paramount, although I would think that he's already hipped to this. 

[fieldmarshaldj]

29 minutes ago, rookzie said:

Someone needs to go shake John Paramount, although I would think that he's already hipped to this. 

I got my gun to wake him up. Do you think my dress and hair will scare him ?

[rookzie]

Just now, fieldmarshaldj said:

I got my gun to wake him up. Do you think my dress and hair will scare him ?

..I think that would be enough to both wake him and scare him, LoL
-==-

[rookzie]

On 5/4/2016 at 1:00 PM, Vrtigo said:

Mostly just renovating the Baggage Building.

I believe the part you're specifically referring to is the section on the south end of the building which had housed stairs and an elevator connection with the parking lot below--all of which appear to have been almost completely replaced by now. Among the external improvements involved in this project, I feel this component was one of the more necessary needs. Anyone who has walked those stairs knew how dank, smelly and unappealing the trek truly was...

 

12 hours ago, PaulChinetti said:

Flying Saucer is redoing their kitchen too. They are only serving appetizers during it. 

Photos of the grungy and dilapidated baggage building / crew house, which I took around 1973-74.

View facing NW at 10th Ave.

 

View at track level facing NE- tracks passing beneath

 

View of NE corner of the baggage building, shown with aerial postal handling bridge
Razed in 1980, this bridge connected the then-main U.S. Post Office (now Frist Center).
I mentioned last year of the evidence of the removal shown now as a granite wall blank
on the west side of the Frist.

Edited May 6, 2016 by rookzie

[chris holman]

http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/print-edition/2016/05/06/music-city-s-apartment-boom-is-over.html

I don't believe this because every week there still announcing new apartment high-rise it's all over the city

[titanhog]

1 minute ago, chris holman said:

http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/print-edition/2016/05/06/music-city-s-apartment-boom-is-over.html

I don't believe this because every week there still announcing new apartment high-rise it's all over the city

If this is true, that would mean that almost every proposal we've seen put forth over the last month or so (huge projects) will either stall or fall apart altogether.  Guess time will tell.

[NashRugger]

20 minutes ago, chris holman said:

http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/print-edition/2016/05/06/music-city-s-apartment-boom-is-over.html

I don't believe this because every week there still announcing new apartment high-rise it's all over the city

If anything, the smaller and less experienced developers will potentially be at the highest risk because they don't have the cash reserves or credibility to get funding. The absorption rates are potentially decreasing slightly, but that's expected when over 3,000 units are being delivered. 

The same is happening here in Dallas, absorption rates have decreased slightly because the highest number of apartments are being delivered during the next year now, so expect a slow down. 

[smeagolsfree]

The projects that have been announced may be delayed for a while or some of them will take a while to come on line. We will have to wait and see how SoBro, and Aertson fill in addition to Element and some of the other low rises coming on line soon, especially in Germantown.

 

We have been saying this for a number of months and was discussed at length at one of the forum meets.

 

One thing that may happen is a number of these units that come on line and built to condo standards may be converted to condos.

 

The Endeavor project is condos.

[markhollin]

Fifth Third Bank exec says of Nashville, "I have never seen this type of growth."  

Also within the piece: The crop of local banks in Greater Nashville saw their collective balance sheets soar by a staggering 21 percent during 2015, far outpacing national averages. The real estate market has helped boost local bank earnings to record highs — especially for those with a heavy residential real estate focus. Even banks with a heavy emphasis on commercial lending — such as CapStar Bank and Pinnacle Bank — have lauded a resurgence in demand from business borrowers. The leadership at FirstBank, the second-largest bank headquartered in Nashville, has also pointed to heightened demand for business lending as a main driver of balance sheet growth.

http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/blog/2016/05/fifth-third-exec-on-nashville-ive-never-seen-this.html

[chris holman]

Does Anyone else believe  that the center of downtown is shifting  from where 5th& Church is now to possibly two blocks to the west only because of the old convention center redevelopment size andscale and the LifeWay property size , 

 

So if someone were to build a Super tall it should be a place or a lot that could possibly be used in between those developments

[smeagolsfree]

The lot that always comes to mind is the lot on the corner of 7th and Commerce, behind Hume Fogg.

[AUNash]

This may be heresy ... But I think Hume-Fogg desperately needs an attached green space. I think there would be something really positive about seeing a green field on the back of the HF property. I like the notion of an active old school in the center of the city. And seeing the kids running track or what have you on the back field would be a good addition.

[markhollin]

It's an arts-oriented school...so those kids don't run.   ; )

[Guest]

Hume Fogg is the academic magnet in Nashville.... Nashville School for the Arts is the arts-oriented magnet school

 

1 hour ago, markhollin said:

It's an arts-oriented school...so those kids don't run.   ; )

 

[MidTenn1]

I remember speculation as to when Nashville would get its' own Skyhouse as they were being built is all the boom towns around the south. Sure enough, as soon as the speculation began, the announcement was made. Now I notice there are several Ascent Apartments being built around the country in hot markets and wonder if Nashville might be on their list.

The Covington Kentucky one looks interesting.

[MLBrumby]

That Covington one is striking, but I think it's not pretty. It's curved, and as you can see the windows are randomly set. IMHO, it makes a better picture than it looks up close. It was being built about ten years ago when I was doing a lot of travelling to Cincinnati, and stayed across the street from that building at an Embassy Suites. 

Edited May 9, 2016 by MLBrumby