Saint Thomas Starts $110 M Expansion

By Eliza Theiss, Associate Editor

Determined to remain a state-of-the-art healthcare facility, Saint Thomas Hospital has not only announced plans to modernize the healthcare center, but already broke ground on a new structure.

Scheduled to be completed in early 2017, and with a total cost of $110 million, Saint Thomas’ modernization plans aim to upgrade patient-centered care by enhancing patient access and enhancing critical care and surgical services. Construction is set to take place in stages so as not to interfere with patient care.

Among the work planned at the healthcare facility is the construction of a new patient tower, which recently broke ground. The new structure will rise at the back of the campus, next to the visitor’s parking and will house services such as patient admission and pre-admission testing, essentially moving the hospital’s front door to the back of the medical campus. Other important upgrades include the renovation and expansion of 44 critical care rooms. At their current size, critical rooms have a footprint of 195 square feet. Following the expansion this will increase to 275 square feet, allowing for increased patient comfort. Some of the hospital’s operating rooms will also receive a boost in size, and 13 of the 28 operating theaters at Saint Thomas will be augmented to 520 square feet each, making them better suited for orthopedic procedures.

“This investment will make it easier for our patients to navigate within the hospital and will ensure we continue to be a leader in caring for adults in our community,” said Dawn Rudolph, president and CEO of Saint Thomas Hospital. “We want to make sure Saint Thomas Hospital remains a state-of-the-art facility for years to come,” she added.

According to the Nashville Business Journal’s coverage of the story, the new tower will total 155,000 square feet, while the total surface to be renovated within the existing facility is approximately 73,000 square feet.

Freeman White is serving as architect on the project with Turner Construction as construction manager.

Saint Thomas Hospital is a member of the faith-based, non-profit Saint Thomas Health regional healthcare system. The hospital features 541 beds, 40 of which are critical care beds, 90 special care and 140 telemetry beds.

Rendering courtesy of Saint Thomas Health

Local Firm to Receive Award for Restoration of Senior Housing Community

By Eliza Theiss, Associate Editor

Memphis, TN-based Alco Management, Inc. a leading operator of affordable housing, will soon be honored by The National Affordable Housing Management Association (NAHMA) for the turnaround of Riverwood Tower Apartments, a senior living community located in suburban Nashville. Alco’s turnaround of the property is being honored at the Community of Quality Awards March 24-26 in Washington, DC.

“It’s quite an accomplishment to be named a National Community of Quality Award winner,” said NAHMA Executive Director Kris Cook. “The process is competitive and takes into account not just a property’s structure and appearance, but the quality of its management and staff, finances, compliance scores, and other factors.” Riverwood Tower Apartments is the winner of the Outstanding Turnaround of a Troubled Property category.

Formerly known as Madison View Towers, the 33-year-old senior living community located In Nashville’s Madison suburb was purchased by Alco in 2005. At the time, the 117-unit distressed property had an occupancy rate of 76 percent. Following the purchase, Alco renamed the property and in 2006 embarked on rehabilitating the asset. Upgrades include energy-efficiency measures such as water-saving kitchen and bathroom fixtures and appliances, energy efficient windows, new HVAC units, and a new fire alarm and nurse call system, along with a new electronic entry and security camera system, and the expansion of the property’s sprinkler system. Madison View Towers was also given an interior design makeover with reimagined common areas, as well as new flooring, carpeting and a paint job. The community’s parking lot was also redesigned to provide additional accessible parking. The grounds were landscaped. Alco also hired extra management staff.

Following the rebranding and repositioning of the property, Alco turned operations at Madison View Towers cash flow positive and brought occupancy to 100 percent within two years.

Photo courtesy of Alco Management, Inc. via Enhanced Online News

$60M Condo and $80M Apartment Projects Stir Up Nashville

By Eliza Theiss, Associate Editor

Thanks to favorable market conditions, developer LaRawn Scaife Rhea’s 34-unit luxury condominium project The Manning at Belle Meade could soon restart development. According to the Nashville Business Journal, the $60 million project planned for Woodmont Boulevard has been getting attention from potential financing partners. If financing is secured, the project, which was supposed to break ground in January 2008, will start construction by the end of 2013 and units will be put on the market once again.  The Manning condos were originally priced between $950,000 and $5.5 million with about 50 percent of units sold by the time construction halted.

Some of the features planned at the 10-story luxury project included private wine storage, a formal grand salon, extensive walking areas and estate gardens, full-time staff, concierge service, personal trainer service, personal shopping service and pet care service. Units were to range between 1,800 and 6,000 square feet and boast balconies and terraces. According to the Nashville Business Journal, the project’s amplitude has not been curtailed.

LaRawn Scaife Rhea and husband Richard have also developed upper-high-end projects in the US and the Caribbean.

In other multifamily luxury news, Metro Nashville has released a construction permit for foundation work on developer Ray Hensler’ $80 million luxury apartment project, which means things are going smoothly for the highly anticipated development. According to the Nashville Business Journal, the still unnamed $23 million Gulch apartment high-rise, the first one in Music City in over a decade, is set to break ground before the year is out and work will be completed in the second or third quarter of 2014.

Featuring 312 units with some of the largest floor plans in Nashville, rents are expected to range between $1,400 and $3,500 per month. Its luxurious community amenities will include a 2,800-square-foot fitness center, an 82-foot saltwater pool, game room complete with billiards, sky terrace featuring a community kitchen, and hotel-style lobby with round-the-clock concierge and security. A 7,000-square-foot restaurant will also open at the location.

Local firm Hastings Architecture Associates is reportedly lead architect on the project, while JE Dunn Construction Corp. is general contractor.  Ray Hensler’s development partner is Fort Lauderdale-based Stiles Corp. The duo previously developed Sunrise Harbor, the highly-acclaimed $60 million 368-unit Fort Lauderdale luxury apartment project featuring a marina, yacht slips and retail shops.

Photo of Sunrise Harbor courtesy of Sunrise Harbor Apartment’s Facebook page

Chart courtesy of CBRE

First Hotel to Open in Gulch Has $17.5 M Price Tag

By Eliza Theiss, Associate Editor

Details of the first ever hotel to be built in the posh district of The Gulch have surfaced, with the Nashville Business Journal reporting that the property, currently in construction has a development price tag of $17.5 million, just short of $139,000 per unit. The hotel, a future Fairfield Inn & Suits by Marriott is being developed by Chattanooga, TN-based Vision Hospitality with Brentwood, TN-based Biscan Construction as main contractor.

According to a press release the aptly named Fairfield Inn & Suites, Nashville Downtown @ the Gulch will be eight stories tall and feature 126 rooms. The building’s modern design will complement the contemporary Gulch architecture. It will also offer panoramic views of the Nashville skyline. The property, expected to open in the first quarter of 2014, will pursue LEED certification to further integrate itself into the neighborhood—The Gulch has been certified a LEED Green Neighborhood since November 2009.

The hotel will feature amenities such as a 1,500-square-foot meeting room and a rooftop bar, according to the Nashville Business Journal.

Plans to develop the Fairfield Inn & Suites, Nashville Downtown @ the Gulch have been in motion for over a year now. In late 2011 the Nashville Post reported that Vision Hospitality purchased two parcels in The Gulch for $2.3 million. The developer, through its Nashville presence Vision Nashville Gulch LLC, picked up a warehouse from Purcell Development for $1.31 and an adult bookstore from Blue Sky Holdings for a little over $1 million. Both sites are on Division Street, granting the future hotel easy access to Music Row, Music City Center and Downtown Nashville.

Fairfield Inn & Suites, Nashville Downtown @ the Gulch is one of eight hotels either in operation or development by Vision Hospitality. The company’s Tennessee portfolio includes two properties in the Greater Nashville region; the Hyatt Place Nashville Airport and the Hilton Garden Inn Nashville/Franklin/Cool Springs with two additional hotels in development; the Residence Inn and Courtyard by Marriott in Murfreesboro, TN.

Rendering courtesy of Vision Hospitality

West End InterContinental Hotel Will Finally Happen

By Eliza Theiss, Associate Editor

It seems Nashville just can’t get enough of hotels these days. After years of uncertainty, an InterContinental hotel is finally coming to Music City’s West End Summit, the 900,000-square-foot office mega-development helmed by local real estate guru Alek Palmer. The Nashville Business Journal recently quoted the developer as saying the hotel deal is “99.9 percent done.”

The same report also states that the megaproject’s hospitality component will have 230 rooms on 18 floors, and will feature a modern design. The hotel will sit between West End’s two 20-story office towers. The full-service hotel, described as “four-and-a-half stars” is expected to open a couple of months after work on the office towers wraps up in 2015.

Developer Palmer has been trying to bring an InterContinental property to the area for several years now. According to a different Nashville Business Journal report, a slightly larger hotel property, featuring 285 rooms, a 10,750-square-foot ballroom, 18,000 square feet of meeting space, fitness center, spa and several dining venues was announced back in 2006, when West End was rumored to be completed by 2008. In the end, the hotel, along with the entire West End project, got pushed back.

As previously reported here, Alex S. Palmer & Co. will be developing West End Summit in Nashville’s Midtown. The development, one of the biggest in Music City’s history, will create 900,000 square feet of Class A office space, 475,000 square feet of which are already under lease contract to Parallon Business Solutions and Sarah Cannon Research Institute (SCRI), two HCA Holdings Inc. affiliates that will consolidate their operations at 1600 West End. Parallon, which will be taking up 350,000 square feet of office space, will consolidate 750 area jobs at the location, while SCRI will relocate 200 jobs to its 125,000-square-foot lease. With both companies set to increase their workforce by 2017, West End is expected to bring 2,000 jobs to Midtown. A 2,800-car parking garage, high-end retail, signature restaurants and state-of-the-art fitness center will also be created at the site. West End is expected to cost $265 million.

Image courtesy of Alek S. Palmer & Co.

Chart courtesy of Marcus & Millichap