Creating Places: Tidbits

As the night concludes and I ponder which rock band with the word "black" in its name — Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Black Sabbath, The Black Angels,  or The Black Keys — I most prefer, I offer some quick hits:

* The first tower crane is being assembled for Ray Hensler's luxury apartment tower in the Gulch.

* And speaking of whom, I saw Ray in the Gulch recently and asked him the chances of his tower converting to condos before it opened. He smiled and noted he is asked that question frequently. Then he smiled again and we exchanged good-byes.

* And speaking of that, my gut feeling is Hensler will open his tower as originally planned, that is, as Nashville's first 20-plus-story luxury apartment building. There will be no competition and, as such, the units should rent quickly — despite the reservations of a handful of naysayers. The fact that the building should be of top quality and has an absolutely prime location (in the Gulch, convenient to the inner-interstate loop and within walking distance of Midtown and the central business district) will help the marketing process all the more.

* I noticed Monday that the Yazoo Brewing Co. grain storage silo (which had been a shiny white as seen in the image below) on the Division Street face of the building has been painted and looks fantastic. I'll take a photo and post soon. On this theme, and because both the silo and the building's retro logo offer a stellar appearance, I hope Yazoo mastermind Linus Hall will consider an exterior color scheme change for his building. The industrial warehouse currently sports an underwhelming combination of light-yellowish cream and maroon (the latter color is not seen in the image below). If you're reading, Linus, please don't take this harshly. You know I am a major fan of all your beers and what you have done for this city.

*  Hill Realty is demolishing its Hillsboro Village buildings to make room for the long-awaited MZA-designed replacement. I will miss the vintage structures, with my best memory involving them being the time my little brother and I visited Mill's Bookstore in (I seem to recall) 1980 to meet the late author Alex Haley. As a gangly and acne-suffering 17-year-old, I had the audacity to tell the legend I appreciated what he did with Roots — even though I never read the book.