Nashville Business Journal

June 26, 2018

The first chunk of a major mixed-use development in the Cool Springs commercial hub will open in fall 2019, now that construction has begun.

The 45-acre McEwen Northside project will initially feature an eight-story building with office space, restaurants and stores, and a 274-unit apartment complex — all across from a 2-acre park. Bell & Associates Construction, of Brentwood, will build the office and retail space. The work is beginning without tenants in hand. That is a generally riskier move showing the confidence that a developer, and its financial backers, have in a particular market.

Those are some of the new details Boyle Investment Co. and Northwood Ravin are disclosing about their project. Last month, the companies cemented $78 million of construction financing from Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. toward the total $140 million of infrastructure and commercial construction set to occur in the first phase of McEwen Northside.

By scale and price tag, the development is one of the biggest active projects in Williamson County. It is among the projects attempting to inject a more urban environment into suburban Cool Springs. The project creates new opportunity to lease space in the region’s longtime corporate office hub, and new apartments to rent in Franklin, which is one of the 10 fastest-growing large cities in the U.S.

Boyle and Northwood Ravin previously said their project would cost $270 million in full, headlined by about 750,000 square feet of office space, 580 apartments and about 100,000 square feet of retail and restaurants. Construction is imminent on a 150-room SpringHill Suites in the development. Given ongoing surges in construction costs, particularly the pay required to find and keep skilled laborers, the project as fully proposed would likely cost beyond that initial $270 million forecast.

Future phases of McEwen Northside would be dominated by office space, including a potential 220,000-square-foot building at the far east end of the property.

The site is located at 1130 W. McEwen Drive, across from the Whole Foods Market. A traffic light will be installed at McEwen and Aspen Grove Drive, to connect to that Whole Foods-anchored shopping center.

Nashville Post

June 11, 2018

The development team behind the Hampton Inn & Suites Capitol View now underway in the North Gulch has released a new image for the building and has pushed back the completion date to fall 2019.

Franklin-based hotel operations and development company Chartwell Hospitality and Rockbridge, an Ohio-based investment firm that focuses on hotels, are undertaking the project. Previously, a summer 2019 completion had been eyed.

The Hampton Inn & Suites Capitol View will rise 10 stories and offer 169 rooms. Memphis-based Bounds & Gillespie Architects is the architect. See the previous rendering here.

The hotel will sit at the southwest corner of the intersection of 11th Avenue North and LifeWay Plaza. The project represents the two firms’ second hotel deal partnership. Rockbridge owns the Hilton Garden Inn in SoBro, which Chartwell developed and manages.

“Rockbridge has proven to be an excellent partner in delivering high-quality hotels and we are excited to collaborate with them on this unique project,” said Chartwell President Rob Schaedle said in a release.

In addition to 169 guest rooms, the Hampton Inn & Suites will contain 4,000 square feet of meeting space and a rooftop bar and pool.

Capitol View spans about 32 acres and is expected, once built out, to offer multiple buildings with a collective 1.1 million square feet of office space, 130,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 600 apartment units, a park/community space and jogging trails.

Rockbridge has invested in 223 hotel projects in 38 states, with the properties offering a collective $5.8 billion in capitalization.

A cohesive yet flexible master plan sets the stage for this Nashville mixed-use development, which is now underway on a brownfield site.

From a 32-acre brownfield in a virtual wasteland once known as “Hell’s Half Acre” there now rises a $750 million walkable urban district stitching together its surroundings into a new modern neighborhood destination. Capitol View represents a dense, mixed-use development rising from an underutilized section of land adjacent to Nashville’s booming downtown area, known as the North Gulch. The site sat mostly vacant, save for a smattering of one-story light industrial and other vacant buildings, prior to the inception of this project.

“In the late 1800s, this area was known as ‘Hell’s Half Acre,’ home to new European immigrants and saloons. From there, it was home to various businesses and residences, including an ice house, a service station, a car dealership and Greyhound bus station. We have uncovered cobblestone roadbeds and outdated trolley tracks during our site work. We also discovered abandoned sewer lines dating to pre-civil war Nashville,” says Austin Webb, project manager, Hoar Construction, which is building Blocks D and E.

Northwestern Mutual Real Estate crafted the original vision for redeveloping this mostly vacant site, in the shadow of the Tennessee State Capitol, into a thriving, vibrant and dynamic mixed-use community. The firm gradually built up its holdings in Capitol View, acquiring 32 acres from two dozen different entities over a six-year period before bringing in the Nashville office of Boyle Investment Co. to develop the site.

With Boyle as the master developer, several different corporate owners, multiple design firms and more than 60 subcontractors are working on the project. When completed, Capitol View will consist of 1.1 million square feet of office space, 130,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 650 multifamily residences, more than 200 hotel rooms and a new urban park that will connect to Nashville’s Greenways trail system. The sheer size and scope of the Capitol View project required a complex master planning effort.

To successfully deliver Boyle’s mixed-use vision, the master plan needed to be flexible yet cohesive. Jeff Haynes, a principal in Boyle’s Nashville office, enlisted Cooper Carry to help Boyle realize its goal of revitalizing this part of the city. At the outset of the project, Boyle sold 10 of the 32 acres to HCA Healthcare, Nashville’s second-largest employer, which recognized the value of locating three of its subsidiary companies in a walkable urban environment. Boyle also attracted another local company, LifeWay Christian Resources, to anchor the north end of the project with its new headquarters office building on an approximately 2.7-acre block.

The Planning Process

Boyle Investment Co. tasked Cooper Carry’s Center for Urban Design with navigating the various needs of multiple property owners, developers and designers while creating a unified master plan. At the onset of the project, Cooper Carry took Capitol View’s developers, corporate owners and designers to the Washington, D.C., region to investigate lessons learned at similar types of projects. The group toured National Harbor, Bethesda Row, Rockville Town Center, Mosaic, CityVista, City Center DC, Constitution Square, The Yards and other developments. They discussed how these projects incorporated elements such as ground-floor retail space, street design, architectural continuity and public space programming.

That initial trip allowed the group to share a common experience, and helped everyone visualize potential opportunities and pitfalls to consider during the master planning process. It also provided an opportunity for Cooper Carry to sharpen its understanding of its partners’ objectives and goals, which has been invaluable throughout the project.

As the master plan evolved, the urban design team crafted design guidelines through a consensus-building process regarding a wide range of project goals and elements, including activating street edges, streetscape design continuity, building massing, pedestrian and vehicular access, and districtwide wayfinding. These efforts set the stage for a master plan that provides flexibility for each corporate user inside a cohesive urban district with an activated public realm.

The master plan embraces the gritty, rugged nature of the site, connecting it to adjacent repurposed brick warehouses and embracing its proximity to elevated freight rail lines. It aims to create an energized Main Street activated by shops and restaurants. This rebuilt portion of 11th Avenue north of Charlotte Avenue is only one block from the extension of Nashville’s Gulch Greenway trail, which links various parks and historic neighborhoods.

The master plan also incorporates a new 2.5-acre urban park that Boyle will develop over a sewer easement between two elevated CSX rail lines at the northeastern edge of the site. The park will be a central part of the project’s bike and pedestrian network. A series of once-forgotten tunnels running underneath the CSX lines will connect the park to the rest of Capitol View. Boyle is working with the city of Nashville to complete the park in 2018.

One of these tunnel connections aligns with Nelson Merry Street, which is the designated “festival street” that runs through the heart of Capitol View. Nelson Merry can be closed to vehicular traffic for festivals, concerts and other pedestrian-oriented events that will extend into the park from the rest of the development.

Development Begins

The final master plan encompasses six blocks (A-F) and the aforementioned urban park, as well as a seventh block that will be developed by others.

Block A. The first block to be delivered includes the 430,000-square-foot, 17-story HCA Tower, which opened in October 2016 and serves as the corporate headquarters for Sarah Cannon Research Institute, Parallon Business Solutions and HealthTrust, all subsidiary companies of HCA Healthcare. The building also includes 84,000 square feet of shared dining and conference space and more than 26,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. This building has helped establish an aesthetic benchmark for Capitol View.

“As we began our search for office space for HCA subsidiaries Sarah Cannon and Parallon, we were drawn to the Capitol View site because of the location,” says Nick Paul, vice president of real estate for HCA Healthcare. “After conversations with Boyle and Northwestern Mutual, we knew we had found the right site and the right development partners because we share a common vision for Capitol View.”

Boyle’s early conversations with HCA executives centered on design models that would maximize activity on the street through an abundance of ground-floor options, from convenient lunch destinations and upscale dinner venues to creative office space, vibrant hotel lobbies and restaurants, plus patio spots featuring cocktails and live music.

The urban design team emphasized the importance of creating a flexible market-based retail strategy focusing active uses on 11th Avenue and Nelson Merry Street. The ownership team of Nashville’s popular M.L. Rose Craft Beer and Burgers cited the energy and unique magnetic draw of Capitol View in their decision to open a new location at the HCA Tower in fall 2017. The 2,000-plus HCA employees in Block A have helped kick-start an 18- to 24-hour environment at Capitol View.

Block C. After purchasing this block, Christian publisher LifeWay Christian Resources retained Boyle to develop a nine-story, 250,000-square-foot office building to house more than 1,000 workers. The building, which delivered in November 2017, features additional ground-floor retail space including a bookstore.

“The location advantage has been very beneficial for our business,” says Amy Thompson, director of corporate relations at LifeWay. “Capitol View is a place people want to come to, and has allowed us to attract and retain top talent from across metro Nashville.”

“We are fortunate to have two iconic Nashville corporations choose Capitol View for their long-term business headquarters,” adds Henry Lange, regional director for Northwestern Mutual Real Estate in Atlanta. “It’s a unique opportunity to create something that will be a special place for Nashville well into the future.”

Block D. This $115 million mixed-use complex, set directly across from the HCA Tower, will be completed in fall 2018. It will feature 378 luxury apartments, many with views of the state capitol, as well as amenities that include a recording studio, a wine room and a golf simulator. The apartments will be set atop 60,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space along 11th Avenue, 40,000 square feet of second-floor loft-style offices and a 1,000-space parking garage.

The retail and office spaces will line a three-level parking deck embedded within the block, with four levels of wood-framed apartments set above the podium level of the deck. The vertically integrated blueprint for this block will also eventually accommodate a 26,000-square-foot grocery store, an important amenity for both Capitol View residents and commuters coming from downtown Nashville.

The Future

The master plan also calls for a 10-story office tower, to be developed by Boyle on Block E, that will become the new corporate headquarters for Nashville-based health care information technology company HealthStream. Block E is scheduled to deliver in spring 2019, with 24,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and a 1,200-space garage, along with a 169-room Hampton Inn & Suites housed in a separate building that will wrap around the garage.

Construction has not yet begun on Block B, owned by HCA Healthcare, which lies between the HCA Tower on Block A and the LifeWay headquarters on Block C. The plan for this block includes a parking garage and future office expansion opportunities for HCA. Block F, which sits to the north of Capitol View’s urban park, will contain approximately 200 additional residential units.

A seventh block, located north of Block E and east of the LifeWay building, is being developed by Terwilliger Pappas. Now under construction, Solis North Gulch will contain 271 residential units and is expected to be completed in spring 2018.

Lessons Learned

Capitol View offers valuable lessons on creating mixed-use destinations that suit the requirements of each use within vertically stacked structures. HCA, for example, required conference space in its tower on Block A. Designers set the conference facilities above ground-floor retail space along 11th Avenue to add vertical massing along the street while reserving the street level for more active uses.

Block D also accommodates ground-floor retail space on 11th Avenue, with single-loaded creative office space set between the retail space and the residential levels above. Carefully accommodating shared vertical circulation while meeting the egress requirements of multiple users with the least amount of impact on the leasable retail area was a key challenge in both Blocks A and D. The master plan identified key locations, such as the intersection of 11th Avenue and Nelson Merry Street, for more active uses and located complementary uses, like office and residential, to take advantage of shared vertical circulation and shared parking arrangements.

Locating shared service areas between uses minimized their footprints and enabled planners to capitalize on the advantages of integrated uses. This approach frees up more leasable area and provides more flexibility in the creation of a meaningful, activated public realm that can be enjoyed by a wide range of residents, office workers and visitors, both on a day-to-day basis and during special events.

Connectivity is one of Capitol View’s strongest selling points. The project forms a new gateway into downtown Nashville via Charlotte Avenue, and its strategic location offers immediate access to surrounding communities, including The Gulch, Vanderbilt University, Germantown, New Salem and East Nashville. Residents and visitors can walk or bike from Capitol View to the Nashville Sounds’ new baseball stadium and other nearby downtown hotspots.

“We needed easy access for our employees, access to retail, access to restaurants and different ways for [employees] to get to work, including biking options for our millennials,” says Eddie Pearson, chief operating officer of HealthStream, regarding the company’s decision to relocate its corporate headquarters to Capitol View.

Boyle Development Co. is fulfilling a promise to city officials by extending the existing Greenways for Nashville trail along the eastern edge of the development. The Greenways trail extension will connect Capitol View to nearby Bicentennial Mall, along with more than 26 miles of biking, walking and running trails throughout greater Nashville. Capitol View also has multiple vehicular access points, including two interstate exits for commuters driving in from the suburbs.

The Response

Since the opening of Capitol View’s first phase in 2016, the community has embraced the project. City leaders continue to emphasize the vital role the development plays in the evolution of Nashville, one of the Sun Belt’s fastest-growing cities. Both the former and current mayor have noted that Capitol View delivers long overdue connectivity to the area and have welcomed the economic boom brought by Northwestern Mutual, whose vision and initial investment nearly a decade earlier made the dramatic transformation possible.

The project is also setting a new industry standard for the redevelopment of brownfield sites into thriving mixed-use communities, as cities across North America continue to seek ways to breathe new life into underutilized districts and accommodate the influx of people back to the urban core.

“What attracted us initially [to Nashville] was that it had good strong economic fundamentals,” says Northwestern Mutual’s Lange. “It’s not a boom-and-bust kind of market. In partnership with Boyle, we found we could achieve good, steady returns in comfortable, bite-sized pieces. … Probably just as important is the fact that there is a very strong functional government that is very pro-business. We invest in a lot of markets, and we don’t see that everywhere. When you’re here, you take that element for granted.”

Capitol View was named NAIOP Nashville’s 2017 Development of the Year.

Originally Published in the NAIOP Development Magazine

By: Kyle Reis, Cooper Carry

Memphis Daily News

March 25, 2018

Boyle Investment Co. celebrated its 85th anniversary with a luncheon on Friday, March 23, for its 113 employees on the top floor of its new Class A office building at 949 S. Shady Grove Road.

That new office building also marks the complete build-out of the Ridgeway Center, a 204-acre mixed-use development launched in the early 1970s in East Memphis.

Boyle is one of Memphis’ oldest real estate development, sales, leasing and management firms.

The two largest mixed-use developments of Boyle’s are Ridgeway Center and Schilling Farms, which as been under development in Collierville for 20 years as of 2018.

The 443-acre Schilling Farms community features newly completed projects such as a 50,000-square-foot ‘Class A’ office building, the second phase of The Carrington multifamily project, and a 9,000-square-foot retail center. Schilling Farms has become a popular site for corporate headquarters in recent years – it is home to Helena Chemical Corp. and Mueller Industries Inc. is constructing its new corporate headquarters there.

Boyle made its first foray outside the Memphis market in 2001, opening an office in Nashville, where it has grown from two employees to 30. Boyle Nashville LLC and their joint venture partners have acquired, developed and manage more than 3.2 million square feet of commercial space, and have more than 532,000 square feet of commercial space under construction.

Since its founding in 1933, Boyle remains family owned with the third generation now involved in management. The company is led by Henry Morgan, co-chairman, and Paul Boyle, president. Other family members include Bayard Boyle Jr., co-chairman, and executive vice presidents Henry Morgan Jr. and Bayard Morgan.

Boyle also has 31 employees who have been with the company for more than 20 years, including Mark Halperin (45 years), Joel Fulmer (46 years) and Russell E. Bloodworth Jr. (49 years).

MEMPHIS, Tenn., March 23, 2018 – This year marks the 85^th anniversary of Boyle Investment Company, one of Memphis’ oldest real estate development, sales, leasing and management firms.  To celebrate, the company is hosting a luncheon on March 23 for its 113 employees on the top floor of its new ‘Class A’ office building at 949 S. Shady Grove.

The 85th anniversary marks the achievement of significant milestones at two of Boyle’s largest projects in the Memphis region: Ridgeway Center and Schilling Farms.  In the fourth quarter of 2017, Boyle celebrated the grand opening of 949 Shady Grove, a new ‘Class A’ office building on the last remaining site in Ridgeway Center office park, marking final completion of the 204-acre mixed-use development launched in the early 1970s in East Memphis.  Also, this year marks the 20^th anniversary of Boyle’s 443-acre Schilling Farms community in Collierville, where newly completed projects include a 50,000-square-foot ‘Class A’ office building, the second phase of The Carrington multi-family project, and a 9,000-square-foot retail center.

Boyle also celebrates significant milestones in the Nashville region, where in 2001 the company opened an office which has grown from two employees to 30 employees today. Under the direction of Phil Fawcett and Jeff Haynes, Boyle Nashville, LLC and their joint venture partners have acquired, developed and manage more than 3.2 million square feet of commercial space, and have more than 532,000 square feet of commercial space under construction.  Large-scale projects in Nashville include Capitol View, which will offer 1.1 million square feet of ‘Class A’ office space, 130,000 square feet of specialty retail/restaurant space, 378 luxury apartments, a Hampton Inn & Suites, a 2.5 acre urban activity park, and a jogging/biking trail connected to Nashville’s greenway system.  The last two years have brought explosive growth at Berry Farms in Franklin, with four major headquarters announcements at the 600-acre mixed-use project, which also includes a town center and a variety of residential communities.  Construction is underway on McEwen Northside, a 45-acre development in Cool Springs that offers fully integrated office, retail, residential and green spaces.  Boyle’s Nashville office is located at the company’s own 60-acre Meridian Cool Springs development, which offers more than 900,000 square feet of office and 90,000 square feet of retail space.

Since its founding in 1933, Boyle remains family owned with the third generation now involved in management. The company is led by Henry Morgan, Co-Chairman, and Paul Boyle, President. Other family members include Bayard Boyle, Jr., Co-Chairman, and Executive Vice Presidents Henry Morgan, Jr. and Bayard Morgan.

One of the company’s greatest assets is its “deep bench” of experts – longtime employees who have stayed with the company for years. Boyle has 31 employees who have been with the company for more than 20 years.  Their expertise and long-term involvement with the company have been a great plus.  Three non-family members have been with the company for more than 40 years:  Mark Halperin, 45 years; Joel Fulmer, 46 years; and Russell E. Bloodworth, Jr., 49 years.

Over the years, Boyle has made a profound impact on the city of Memphis.  A Boyle family ancestor, John Overton, founded Memphis in 1819 in partnership with Andrew Jackson.  In the early 1900s, Edward Boyle developed stately Belvedere Boulevard in Midtown.   Boyle Investment Company was founded in 1933 by three of Edward Boyle’s sons – Snowden, Charles and J. Bayard, Sr.   The 1960s saw the development of River Oaks and Farmington. In the 1970s, Boyle paved the way for the city’s growth eastward with one of Memphis’ first office parks, Ridgeway Center, which today offers more than 2 million square feet of space.  In the 1980s, Boyle began development of Humphreys Center, which has become East Memphis’ bustling medical/office center.  The 1990s saw the development of even more ambitious projects such as the 443-acre Schilling Farms community in Collierville.  The company also developed numerous retail centers in the Memphis area during this period, including Regalia, Shops of Humphreys Center, Shops of Forest Hill, and Gallina Centro, as well as Preston Shepard Place and Southwest Crossing in Texas.   Boyle Nashville, LLC was formed in 2001 and has grown to be the largest developer in the region.  Boyle Insurance Agency, headed by Cindi Gresham, continues to thrive and offers both commercial and personal lines of insurance.

“Our grandfather, Bayard Boyle, Sr., and his two brothers initially focused their efforts on buying land and developing residential subdivisions and shopping centers,” says Paul Boyle, President. “He had a remarkable ability to identify and acquire properties in areas that would soon become major growth corridors.  Today, we still stick to these same principals of careful research and planning, whether it’s a residential subdivision, a shopping center, or an office building that we are developing.”

While the company focuses a great amount of resources in the office and retail sectors of the commercial real estate market, the company also is known for its high-end residential communities including River Oaks, The Cloisters, Chartwell, Green Shadows, Blue Heron, the Gardens of Southwind, Golfwalk at Southwind, Riveredge, Bedford Plantation, and Spring Creek Ranch just to name a few.  Boyle is currently active in the Germantown market with development of The Pinnacle of Germantown and Allelon, and is moving forward with additional phases at Spring Creek Ranch in the Collierville Reserve and Twin Lakes of Piperton.

“We’ve built a strong company because the family, from the beginning, has been committed to developing for long-term value,” says Henry Morgan, Co-Chairman.  “We operate on the belief that properties are long-term investments that should be carefully planned, built, and maintained.  With all of our activity in Memphis and Nashville, we think the future looks mighty bright.”

One of Greater Nashville’s largest hotel developers plans to start construction this summer on a hotel that will be part of a $270 million mixed-use development in Franklin’s Cool Springs commercial hub.

Franklin-based Chartwell Hospitality will own and operate a 150-room SpringHill Suites, which is a flag of Marriott International Inc. (Nasdaq: MAR). The project accounts for all of the hotel rooms planned as part of the Northside McEwen development, which is also set to contain about 750,000 square feet of office space, about 100,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, and 580 residential units. As seen on our Williamson Watch map, the Northside McEwen development is one of the biggest projects happening in what is the fastest-growing county in Tennessee — a county that led the nation in job growth during the bulk of 2015 and 2016.

The SpringHill Suites is part of a flurry of hotel activity in Franklin. The city approved permits for five hotels last year totaling almost 700 rooms, almost six times the rooms approved in 2016. Chartwell, one of the longest-tenured hotel developers in the region, is also going through a growth spurt of its own. The company owns and operates eight area hotels and is under construction on four more: one in downtown Nashville, two in Green Hills and a full-service Hilton in Franklin.

Once the SpringHill Suites is open, Chartwell will officially own more than 2,000 hotel rooms in the region — nearly double its existing portfolio. Chartwell owns properties in 12 states and has about 1,400 employees.

Franklin Synergy Bank (NYSE: FSB) is providing a construction loan, said Rob Schaedle, managing partner of Chartwell. The company has hired McMurry Construction Co. Inc. to build the SpringHill Suites. McMurray also is the builder on Chartwell’s dual-hotel project in Green Hills and the Hampton Inn & Suites that Chartwell is developing within the Capitol View development at 1100 Charlotte Ave.

Site plans show the hotel located at the main entrance into the Northside McEwen development, fronting McEwen Drive and the to-be-extended Aspen Grove Drive. Northside McEwen is spearheaded by the Franklin office of Boyle Investment Co. and North Carolina-based Northwood Ravin.

Chartwell and Boyle have paired up on a number of occasions, including the Capitol View project and also the Franklin Hilton, in which Chartwell bought land from Boyle located between two of Boyle’s office buildings.

Originally Published in the Nashville Business Journal

By Adam Sichko

The team behind the 10-story Hampton Inn & Suites hotel project underway in Capitol View has released a new image of the building and applied for a key permit related to the effort.

Franklin-based Chartwell Hospitality is undertaking the hotel project (pictured) with Columbus, Ohio-based investment firm Rockbridge. The two entities partnered to develop the SoBro-based Hilton Garden Inn located at Third Avenue South and Korean Veterans Boulevard.

Construction of the Hampton (click on the above image to see the previous rendering) began in late 2017, with an opening expected in the summer of 2019.

Memphis-based Bounds & Gillespie Architects is the architect.

The aforementioned permit is for water and sewer work.

Boyle Investment Co. is overseeing the overall development of Capitol View.

The 168-room hotel building will be located at the southeast corner of the intersection of 11th Avenue and LifeWay Plaza and will share Block E of the Capitol View site with Boyle’s under-construction multi-tenant 10-story office building that will house HealthStream’s new corporate headquarters when it opens in early 2019.

Originally Published in the Nashville Post

By Staff Reports

Franklin’s newest hotel will open Wednesday in Berry Farms.

The Hilton Hampton Inn & Suites, the global mid-priced hotel chain, has four-stories and 124 rooms and will officially open for business and reservations.

Off Interstate 65 at Peytonsville Road (Goose Creek Bypass) interchange, it is located at 7101 Berry Farms Crossing.

“At Hampton Inn & Suites Berry Farms, guests will have everything they need to ensure a great experience and a memorable stay,” said Christy Howlett, general manager. “We strive to offer consistent and quality accommodations with value-added amenities.”

Unique offerings of the new hotel include beautifully appointed public areas that are spacious and inviting, to use for work or simply enjoying some quiet time. In addition, it has an outdoor pool, grilling gazebo, green space and firepit.

Owned by Chartwell Hospitality and developed by Boyle Investment Company, Hampton by Hilton offers guests amenities such as free hot breakfast featuring delicious waffles and seasonal offerings, or On the Run™ Breakfast Bags for the on-the-go traveler. Additionally, it offers complimentary Wi-Fi, 24-hour business center and JumpStart Fitness Center. Each guestroom includes HDTV, free in-room movie channels and coffeemaker.

Hampton Inn & Suites Berry Farms, is part of Hilton Honors, the award-winning guest-loyalty program for Hilton’s 14 distinct hotel brands. Hilton Honors members who book directly through preferred Hilton channels save time and money and gain instant access to the benefits they care about most, such as an exclusive member discount, free Wi-Fi and a flexible payment slider that allows members to choose nearly any combination of Points and money to book a stay. Members can also redeem their Points for free nights, to gain access to unique events through the Hilton Honors auction platform or to make purchases with at Amazon.com with Amazon Shop with Points.

For more information or to make reservations, visit or call 615-599-3700

Originally Published in Williamson Source

By Zach Harmuth

At the construction site on Corporate Centre Drive just north of Cool Springs Boulevard, workers and those who came to celebrate the opening of Franklin’s new Hilton Hotel craned their necks towards the soft blue sky, clapping as an American flag unfurled from atop the skeletal building.

“In this building, the last structural element is concrete,” said Michael Rankin, president and CEO of the project’s Nashville-based contractor Crain Construction. “It’s kind of challenging to pour concrete and have everyone watch that as the celebratory milestone,” he continued, before inviting guests who had donned hard-hats to watch the flag descend from the top floor.

Construction began on the hotel, a full-service, eight-story Hilton with 244 rooms, in early March, and it is slated to open next summer. Will Schaedle, the vice president of acquisitions and mergers for Chartwell Hospitality, a hotel development and management group based in Franklin, is the developer.

Matt Largen, the president and chief executive officer of Williamson, Inc., spoke to the gathering inside what would become the hotel lobby. He spoke about the hotel’s benefit to local businesses, citing a recent chamber study which found that 75 percent of hotel room nights are driven by the corporate business community in Williamson County.

“We see a lot of companies, because their corporation is based out of here, like Nissan, Community Health System, Trench Supply Company, that fuels demand for hotel rooms,” Largen said, “because they’ll have sales meetings, they’ll have vendor conferences, and they’ll have people travel in to get to their headquarters. I do know there’s a direct tie between the kind of companies here and the demand they have for hotel room nights and meeting space.”

Matt Maxey, the public relations manager of the Williamson County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said tourism numbers continue to increase each year. Last year, the county saw a 9.4 percent increase in visitors at 1.43 million, and a 4 percent increase in economic impact at $427 million. “In comparison to other counties, that’s staggering,” Maxey said.

Though Maxey said the county did not have data on the reason for visits, he agreed with Largen: “Based on our hotel occupancies, during the week, we have a very strong business market.”

Largen said there are currently two full-service hotels in Franklin, the Marriott and the Embassy Suites, both a stone’s throw from the new Hilton.

As the city expands, Largen said one thing is sure: “You will see more hotels in the future in Williamson County.”

Coffee and Coconuts
Missi Gallimore, owner
4000 Hughes Crossing suite 120, Franklin, TN 37064
(615) 905-6999
www.facebook.com/CoffeeandCoconutsTN

Say the name Missi Gallimore around Music Row and everyone will know who you are talking about. She and husband/producer Byron Gallimore are the team behind the careers of Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and Keith Urban.

While she has spent her career in search of great songs for some of country’s biggest names, Gallimore also owns three publishing companies, is doing A&R (artist and repertoire) for Urban’s new record and a duets album for Tim and Faith. But amid all of that, she wanted to find a way to include two of her other favorite things in her business life: the beach and coffee.

After years of research, planning and development, in June of this year, Gallimore opened the beachy-themed Coffee and Coconuts in the developing Berry Farms area just south of Franklin. The busy music mogul sat down over a latte to talk about how this side business dream became reality.

How did you come up with the idea to open a coffee shop?

I had been wanting to do something outside of the music industry because everything I do is music. I wanted an outlet and in addition to loving music, I also love coffee and the beach. At first, I wanted to do something in Alys or Rosemary Beach, but the distance made it hard. I was sitting across the street at Tito’s one day and they were finishing building this place and it just popped into my head to do it here.

What made Berry Farms a good location for you?

We live in Thompson’s Station and have been watching this area grow for a while. It’s a little scary, but this is a 600-acre development and there is all kinds of stuff coming here. It’s close to us and we thought it would be a good place to start. With Lee Company, Dave Ramsey, Hampton Inn and businesses like that coming here, it’s definitely going to be great.

The beachy vibe in here is great. How did you decide on the look and feel?

We go to the Exumas with Tim and Faith a lot. They have an island that has a very special place in my heart. I just love the whole white sand, islandy, clean vibe. Every shell in here Faith and I dug up. We spend hours just digging for shells. The pictures on the walls here are of our kids in the Exumas. I just wanted that beachy islandy, vacation kind of feel.

And the pink flamingos in the ladies’ room?

That just randomly happened. Everything in here is taken from something I saw on Pinterest. I saw this wallpaper on Pinterest and I thought “Oh my gosh, I have to find that wallpaper.” We see on Instagram that people take selfies in there with the flamingos.

How did you come up with the name Coffee and Coconuts?

The name came from when I think of coconuts, it makes me think of being on vacation. We serve our coconut water in real coconuts, too!

What was your goal in opening this business?

All Byron and I have done is in the music business. We’ve been talking for a long time about doing a little side thing just to get away from the music business a little bit. We have lived and breathed it for so long. I still love it and I still have a passion for finding songs, but it’s nice to have something else on the side.

Do you end up bringing the music business down here?

Yes. I come here and do business a lot. It’s a little far from Music Row, but some of the song plugger groups I work with come here and we sit back there in the corner and they play me songs. I do it whenever I can.

How do you manage owning this business and being busy on the Row?

I have damn good people helping me. I have an assistant who I rely on a lot, her name is Susie Joyce. I have Spencer Connatser managing this place. Spencer was a French teacher at BGA (Battle Ground Academy). He worked at Starbucks and he knew his coffee. He had been consulting with me through the process. One day I said, “do you want to run this place?” He said, “I thought you’d never ask!” We are learning all of this together. You have got to surround yourself with a great team.

Do you bounce back and forth a lot?

I do. I come in here early in the mornings and I work. I am very hands-on. About 10, I leave and go do my music business stuff. I come back around 3 and I work here and do music business stuff. I stay until we close. That’s how I make it all work.

The coffee must be pretty good to keep you fueled throughout your day?

Yes! I went to every coffee shop in town when I was doing my research before we opened. I stalked them all. I discovered Muletown Coffee out of Columbia. I love those guys. They are all songwriters from Muscle Shoals, so it was a perfect fit for me. I met with Revelator Coffee as well. Austin is also a singer songwriter, so for now we brew those two coffees.

Originally Published in The Tennessean

By Melonee Hurt

Franklin-based Chartwell Hospitality and investment firm Rockbridge of Ohio plan 10-story, 168-room hotel at 11th Avenue and LifeWay Plaza.

A joint venture entity has paid $4.54 million for two parcels at the Capitol View mixed-use campus in the Gulch with plans to build a 10-story Hampton Inn & Suites hotel.

Franklin-based Chartwell Hospitality and investment firm Rockbridge of Columbus, Ohio, expect to start building the 168-room hotel later this year at the southeast corner of 11th Avenue and LifeWay Plaza. The hotel is targeted to open in summer 2019.

The Hampton Inn & Suites will share Block E at Capitol View with a multi-tenant office building, which Boyle Investment Co. will develop to house local health care information technology company HealthStream’s new corporate headquarters starting in early 2019.

“We have a long-established relationship with Boyle, developing highly successful hotels within their master developments,” Chartwell’s founder and CEO Rob Schaedle said about that development partner for Capitol View property owner Northwestern Mutual. “The Capitol View Hampton Inn & Suites will be our sixth hotel in a Boyle development.”

The new, upscale hotel will feature a glass lobby with high ceilings, 4,000 square feet of meeting space overlooking the Capitol View urban streetscape and a rooftop pool and gym with views of downtown Nashville’s skyline and the historic State Capitol building.

Overall, Capitol View will include more than 1.1 million square feet of Class A office space, 130,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 600 multifamily residential units, two hotels, a 2.5 acre urban activity park and community space. Headquarters of hospital chain HCA’s HealthTrust, Sarah Cannon and Parallon business units are at Capitol View with LifeWay Christian Resources’ new headquarters under construction.

Jeff Haynes, a partner at Boyle, said the developer’s mixed-use developments around Nashville has taught it that the right hotel flag and developer are key to the success of projects. “Nashville is a dynamic city and hotel market, and we are excited to deepen our roots with our third investment downtown,” added Jim Merkel, Rockbridge’s CEO.

Originally Published in The Tennessean

By Getahn Ward

Boyle sells site to Chartwell

Boyle Investment Co. announced Friday it has sold a Capitol View parcel to Chartwell Hospitality and on which the company will develop a 10-story 168-room Hampton Inn & Suites.

Construction is expected to begin late this year with an opening expected in the summer of 2019, according to a release.

The hotel building, to be located at the southeast corner of the intersection of 11th Avenue and LifeWay Plaza, will share Block E of the overall Capitol View site with Boyle’s under-construction multi-tenant office building that will house HealthStream’s new corporate headquarters beginning in early 2019.

The transaction price was not disclosed in a release.

A rendering will soon be released.

In the map, Block E show a small retail fronting 11th and on which work should start soon. The parking garage, like the office tower, is underway.

Franklin-based Chartwell is joint venturing the hotel with Columbus, Ohio-based investment firm Rockbridge. The two entities partner on Chartwell SoBro-based Hilton Garden Inn at Third and Korean Veterans Boulevard.

The hotel, according to the release, will feature “an expansive glass lobby with high ceilings and 4,000 square feet of prominent meeting space, overlooking the dynamic and vibrant Capitol View urban streetscape.” The building will also offer a rooftop swinning pool and fitness gym providing views of the downtown Nashville skyline and historic state capitol building.

“We have a long-established relationship with Boyle, developing highly successful hotels within their master developments,” Rob Schaedle, Chartwell founder and CEO, said in the release. “The Capitol View Hampton Inn & Suites will be our sixth hotel in a Boyle development.”

Jeff Haynes, partner at Boyle Investment said the company spent “three laborious years” searching for the ideal hotel partner

“Our mixed use developments across Middle Tennessee have taught us that the right hotel flag and developer are key ingredients to the success of the project,” Haynes said.

“We are thrilled to partner with Chartwell Hospitality, a top-flight developer and hotel operator,” added Rockbridge CEO Jim Merkel. “Nashville is a dynamic city and hotel market, and we are excited to deepen our roots with our third investment downtown.”

Rockbridge is led by CEO Jim Merkel.

Anchoring the North Gulch, Capitol View will house more than 1.1 million square feet of Class A office space, 130,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 600 multifamily residential units, the hotel and a 2.5-acre “urban activity park” connected to Nashville’s greenway system.

Originally Published in the Nashville Post

By William Williams