Creating Places: Hilton's Home2Suites

Midtown is slated for yet another hotel, as Hilton will construct a Home2Suites that will front Division Street and be sited on the east side of Bristol on Broadway. Within that general area is a Hilton Garden Inn, a structured parking garage with which Home2Suites will share. The design, though not particularly distinctive, at least offers a contemporary feel and fairly masculine color scheme. One characteristic of note: The main entrance seems very underwhelming based on the rendering. At least, however, that entrance, will address a sidewalk — and not a surface parking lot. Motorists seemingly will access the building on its west side (much like the HGInn's east side offers an interior motor court). With construction to start soon, we must wonder if the two Marriott hotels slated for 18th and West End avenues will now be built.

Creating Places: Harding House

I recently noticed the Harding House Condominiums building has been given a bit of a facelift with some new black exterior paint elements. Very cool. The building, which I would think was built in the 1960s, is located at 4807 Harding, across from MBA. I can't find a photo.

Creating Places: Sounds stadium

Here's an image created by a University of Tennessee architecture student and showing a version of a future Nashville Sounds stadium.

Creating Places: The Astoria

I see The Astoria — a two-story office building in Green Hills' Bedford Commons — has been fully framed. Based on an image on the construction site signage, the building should be quite attractive.

Nashville-based Southeast Venture is handling architectural work, with the company having skillfully excecuted design work for two of my favorite Nashville-area structures completed within the past few years: 1700 Midtown (an industrial looking apartment building) and Gateway at Armory Oaks (home to Nashville School of Law).

Ewing Properties is the developer of The Astoria, the colors and shapes for which suggest a very contemporary and masculine building.

The Astoria should be a fine addition (although I do wish it were three stories) to Bedford Commons.

Creating Places: Polar Ice Storage Building

The Nashville Business Journal reported today that Tony Giarratana has sold his Polar Ice Storage Building at 11th and Charlotte avenues (in the North Gulch) to Eleven North LLC for $4.5 million.

Reportedly, EN LLC wants to develop a 302-unit apartment building on the site.

One of the Eleven North partners is TriBridge LLC, a Georgia-based entity with a website that highlights countless generic suburban-style "garden apartment" complexes. I hate to stereotype, but this suggests the company knows no more about cutting-edge urban architecture than I know about the history of Brazilian fashion.

On a local note, TriBridge owns (or manages, or both — I can't determine and really don't care given the ho-hum design styles of the company's vanilla-looking properties) Wyndchase Aspen Grove in nearby Franklin. The name — likely pretentiously created by some bland marketing outfit and combining an alt-spelling of "wind" while referencing Colorado evergreens (please, no more of this absurdity) — is pitiful enough.

Perhaps TriBridge has somebody on the team that "gets it" regarding urban design and development. If not, I have major concerns. The North Gulch needs cutting-edge infill, and a Lakes of Bellevue-like "apartment community" would be no more welcomed for the district than my having a 4-inch fire-hot needle plunged into the hemorrhoids I suffer upon fretting about such matters.