Nashville Post

Additional images and a name have been released related to the future public greenspace for which work remains underway at Capitol View.

In addition, the space will be called Frankie Pierce Park, named for the late and influential African-American suffrage movement leader Juno Frankie Pierce.

Pierce Park will open in the spring as part of the 32-acre mixed-use urban district that anchors the intersection of Dr. M.L.K. Jr. Boulevard and 11th Avenue North.

The park is a result of a public–private partnership with Metro Nashville to finance a greenspace for the city and its residents.

The Capitol View site is being developed by Northwestern Mutual, Boyle Investment Co. and Northwood Ravin.

Frankie Pierce Park is jointly funded, and the Capitol View ownership/development team will handle landscaping maintenance once complete. The developer and Metro will also collaborate in the expansion of the greenway system, which will connect the Gulch to the biggest greenspace in the area.

The 2.5-acre park, located within 1,500 feet of the state Capitol and the planned future home of Amazon, will be open to the public and offer sand volleyball courts, a playground, a dog park and a yoga lawn. The park is also a trail head for the Gulch Greenway, completing a link in the system and connecting Capitol View to a system of over 190 miles of biking and running trails throughout Davidson County.

Pierce served on committees for the Red Cross, YMCA and YWCA, founded the Nashville Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs and the Tennessee Vocational School for Colored Girls, and addressed the state suffrage convention at the state capitol in 1920. Many of her social services endeavors directly benefited the residents who lived in the Capitol View neighborhood during her lifetime, the release notes.

“The addition of an amenity-rich park at Capitol View is important for our residents, employees of commercial tenants and guests and also benefits the greater community in the immediate area,” Phil Fawcett, partner in Boyle’s Nashville office, said in the release. “The partnership with the Metro Parks and Recreation Department has been a critical component in bringing a much needed greenspace to this area of downtown, and we’re proud to honor Frankie Pierce, who was such an influential Nashville leader, in its naming.”

Nashville Business Journal

Everything about the new apartments within the $750 million Capitol View development in downtown Nashville attests to the arms race that has consumed developers as they jockey for renters.

You’ll find, in no particular order: a wine cellar, poker room, songwriters’ room, golf simulator, yoga studio, a “zen courtyard,” a turf volleyball court and a saltwater swimming pool. There will be CrossFit equipment, Peloton exercise bikes and a resistance pool (basically, a treadmill for swimming). Oh, and don’t forget the forthcoming Publix in the ground floor of the building, plus restaurants such as noted Memphis chain Central BBQ.

The apartments are the latest piece to debut in the Capitol View development, which also includes a 17-story office building for subsidiaries of HCA Healthcare Inc. (NYSE: HCA) and the headquarters of LifeWay Christian Resources. Nashville tech company HealthStream Inc. (Nasdaq: HSTM) is moving its headquarters into a neighboring office building that is part of the project.

Charlotte-based developer Northwood Ravin created the apartments in partnership with Boyle Investment Co. Boyle is overseeing the entire Capitol View project alongside financial backer Northwestern Mutual Real Estate.

At a time when the supply of urban apartments is still outpacing demand, it’s not surprising that new projects such as Capitol View are bursting with amenities — while also dangling incentives in front of prospective renters, such as a month or two of free rent.

Almost 100 of the 378 apartments are leased thus far. A couple relocating from Los Angeles was talking with a leasing agent when the Nashville Business Journal arrived for a recent afternoon tour of the complex.

“We’re heading up the leaderboard. I like our prospects,” said Jeff Furman, a vice president of development at Northwood Ravin. “When you look at the unit options and the amenities, I think we offer a pretty compelling package. We were obviously offering some initial incentives, but now they’re burning off.”

Business Williamson

Franklin Mayor Ken Moore joined Hilton Franklin Cool Springs General Manager Gerald Loughran, members of the Williamson County Chamber of Commerce, local business owners, and Hilton and Chartwell Hospitality staff, for the official ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new hotel on Thursday, November 1.

The first full-service hotel built in the area in almost a decade, the Hilton has been open to guests for about a month.

However, the crowd at the ribbon cutting was as impressed with the show put on outside the hotel as its contemporary style and soothing interiors. The ribbon-cutting and tour for local business executives was scheduled just in time for Tennessee’s fall leaves to showcase the views from the Hilton’s expansive terraces and outdoor spaces, which includes the area’s only roof-level patio.

The 244-room hotel, at 601 Corporate Centre Drive in the Meridian Cool Springs development, is fresh competition to the nearby Marriott and Embassy Suites hotels, catering more to smaller events than its neighbors. Offering 6,236 square feet of flexible meeting space, the Hilton Franklin Cool Springs also offers an additional 3,000 square feet of outdoor terraces.

In contrast, the Marriott’s Cool Springs Conference Center, built in partnership with the city and Williamson County in 1999 and recently renovated, boasts 29,000 square feet, with 300 guest rooms. The Embassy Suites Nashville South-Cool Springs, also owned by Hilton, features 250 guest rooms and 16,000 square feet of event space, including a 10,000 square foot ballroom.

The new Hilton is equipped with six corner suites, some with private outdoor terraces, available on the executive level. A full-service restaurant with available private dining also caters to local businesses and their guests.

Nashville Post

First Advantage will open retail branch, operations center in early 2019

First Advantage Bank will relocate its lone Davidson County branch to Capitol View from the West End corridor.

A February 2019 opening is eyed, with the bank to take space in the mixed-use building home to The Residences at Capitol View and to be home to a Publix. Earl Bradley, CEO of the Clarksville-based banking company, emailed the Post that the move to the North Gulch will allow First Advantage to be more attractive to potential hires and to offer customers and employees the convenience of indoor parking.

“We are excited to continue to be part of the Nashville community as our business grows,” Bradley said. “We will have a retail presence (about 1,300 square feet) on Charlotte Avenue to accommodate the growing demand of our deposit products as well as a 14,000-square-foot banking operations center that will include commercial lending, SBA lending, mortgage lending, treasury management, private banking and investments.”

Nashville-based ASD is handling the interior design work for the retail space, with Harvest Construction Co., also a local company, serving as general contractor. (The above photo shows the northwest corner of the building at 11th Avenue and Nelson Merry Street. First Advantage will operate its retail space near the southwest corner of the structure and fronting Charlotte.)

First Advantage, which is not disclosing the cost to make the move and to get operational in the North Gulch building, has operated since 2012 at One American Center on West End Avenue at 31st Avenue North. That has been the company’s only Davidson County location.

Boyle Nashville and Northwood Ravin are co-developing Capitol View.

“Nashville doesn’t have another downtown urban development like Capitol View, and we’re proud to have established financial institutions like First Advantage Bank open their doors in our district,” said Thomas McDaniel, of Boyle. “Our tenants are an important part of cultivating a truly integrated downtown community at Capitol View, and the addition of First Advantage Bank as both a corporate office and retail tenant will be a great asset to the area.”

The looming relocation from West End Avenue comes as SunTrust Bank plans to cease operations on the street.

On the banking and Capitol View themes, Pinnacle operates a branch within the 1110 Charlotte building home to HCA divisions Parallon and Sarah Cannon Research Institute and located across 11th from the future First Advantage space.

First Advantage Bank operates eight full-service banking centers in Clarksville, Nashville and Williamson County and a specialized lending office in Knoxville. The entity is a wholly owned subsidiary of publicly traded First Advantage Bancorp (Ticker: FABK).

The Tennessean

Home buyers who are among the very first to live in a new neighborhood often purchase their home on the promise of things to come. Amenities such as clubhouses, pools and parks are typically not among the first things to be built in a new community, but are added when there are enough homeowners to enjoy them.

Boyle Investment Company, the developers of Berry Farms in Franklin, announced to its homeowners and commercial tenants this week the opening of multiple amenities that have been in the works for some time.

Adam Ballash, development manager for Boyle, said the Boyle team has been working for about a year to build new amenity packages including community garden beds, a playground, junior Olympic-size swimming pool and a party barn.

“When we first opened up the residential sections at Berry Farms in 2009, we completed a small pool called The Plunge, but we had always planned on having a second pool,” Ballash said. “The subdivision has passed the capacity for that first pool, so we are finishing up the second one now.”

He said the new pool is a junior Olympic length that has been set up to have the ability to host a swim team and other community events for the residents.

Also opening this fall is a new playground beside the pool with swings and slides delivered in a clever way that pays homage to the feel of the Berry Farms community with one of the towers designed to look like the old grain silos that are located around the grounds.

“Behind the pool, we have a sports lawn area where we built equipment holders that we plan to fill up with balls and Frisbees for any of our residents who want to go out there and play,” he said. “We have plans to install a couple of grills as well.”

On the northernmost side of Berry Farms, adjacent to Rural Plains, the land’s original homestead, is a community garden with plans for an additional 5 acres dedicated to passive open space. “In that zone, we will have some formal garden and event areas where residents could set up tents on the lawn,” Ballash said.

The community garden consists of 50 raised garden beds that are for lease on a first-come, first-served basis.

Ballash said once gardens get up and growing, there are plans to have a company work alongside the residents to coach them through growing seasons.

“Ultimately, we would love to host some community gatherings and farm-to-table dinners to celebrate the harvest,” he said.

The last amenity in this phase of development is a party barn that Ballash described as a smaller version of the barn at Homestead Manor in Thompson’s Station. The open-air barn will be designed to host community events and is expected to be completed in the next 60 to 90 days.

“If you look around Williamson County, there are some very successful residential communities,” Ballash said. “At The Grove, golf is the focus. Westhaven has golf and a great swim club, but one of the things we want to promote at Berry Farms is the mixed-use lifestyle where people can walk to work and walk to the grocery store and to dinner and have a drink. Above and beyond just a pool or playground, we are really hoping some of these amenities continue to emphasize Berry Farms as a special community where there really are a lot of services and amenities.”

Business Williamson

The Tennessee IMPACT Conference, hosted by the U.S. Green Building Council Tennessee , will hold an awards luncheon during the conference that, among others, will recognize the new headquarters of The Lee Company in Franklin “for pushing the envelope of green design in a (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) New Construction project.”

Tennessee IMPACT will be held Oct. 11, 2018, at the Wellspire Center, located at 907 Gleaves St., Nashville, Tenn., 37203. It is USGBC’s largest conference held in the state, and an expected 100 attendees from the building design, construction and sustainability fields will come together to share strategies for continuing the push toward sustainable construction in the state. Education sessions, networking opportunities and prominent keynote speakers in the field of green building will give attendees actionable best practices to utilize in their own sustainability ventures.

An awards luncheon during the conference will honor the extraordinary  building projects that are contributing to a greener built environment in Tennessee.

Individuals also will be honored.

Cory Duggin of TLC Engineering in Brentwood will be honored with a Green Leader, Volunteer award for this ongoing support of USGBC’s mission.

New to the event this year is a Women in Green Leadership Breakfast prior to the conference. This morning session will provide a platform for women in sustainability and green building fields to share their stories and learn from one another’s experiences.

The Lee Company project, in the Berry Farms development at the south edge of Franklin, was recognized for such features as maximizing onsite open space, minimizing light pollution, using water-efficient landscaping, optimizing energy performance, using low-emitting materials, and taking advantage of views.

Other winners are:

• Tennessee Environments: https://boyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Boyle-Report-Map-05-13-14-2014-revised.jpg Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute, LEED Gold, for a LEED project dedicated to the conservation of Tennessee’s landscape and climate.
• Community Champion: Metro Nashville Public Schools, for pursuing LEED certifications in support of USGBC’s vision of green buildings for all.
• Exceptional Leadership: , LEED Platinum, for demonstrating high levels of leadership in all facets of sustainable design.
• Green Leader, Organization:, for their ongoing support of USGBC’s mission in Tennessee.
• Green Leader, Volunteer: Krissy Buck Flickinger, Looney Ricks Kiss, and Cory Duggin, TLC Engineering, for their ongoing support of USGBC’s mission in Tennessee.