Creating Places: A Citizen Observer's Look at Nashville's Built Environment


Writer's Note: William Williams' interest in the manmade environment dates to 1970, at which point the then-young Williams started a collection of postcards of city skylines. The collection now numbers 1,000-plus cards. Among the writer's specific interests are exterior building design, city district planning, demographics, signage, mixed-use development, mass transit and green/sustainable construction and living. Williams began his Creating Places column with The City Paper in February 2005. The column in its original form was discontinued in September 2008 and reinvented via this blog in November 2008. Creating Places can be found on the home page of the website of The City Paper, at which Williams has worked in various capacities since October 2000.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Creating Places: 2011 Update

Here's a look into the 2011 "built fabric crystal ball" — with both hoped-for and expected projects. I wrote this quickly and likely have overlooked various projects, the result of minimal sleep after a New Year's Eve of staying up past my bed time.

First, some large-scale developments that have been announced as slated for a 2011 start date.

* Omni Hotel: 95 percent certain construction on this project will materialize.

* Ryman Lofts on Rolling Mill Hill: 80 percent certain.

* Southern Land project on Elliston: 75 percent certain.

* Hotel at FYE site: 60 percent certain.

* Patel project: 50-50. The project announced for the FYE building could impact the Patel effort.

* West End Summit Building I: 50-50.

* African-American Museum: 10-20 percent certain.

And for the smaller developments, I would like to see...

* ... The Square at Fourth and Madison (in Germantown) fully materialize. Some work has been done but it seems intermittent.

* ... start on the proposed LEED building in the Gulch on Division Street and "behind" Icon.

* ... start on a new Greyhound Bus terminal on Lafayette Street. Of course, a cutting-edge designed would be needed.

* ... the saving of the vintage brick gem that sits in the footprint of the future SoBro roundabout (I've been told the building could actually be moved.)

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