Site preparation and demolition for the new Music City Center started on Monday, February 8, 2010.  The new convention center will sprawl over 1.2 million square feet and have an impressive 350,000 square foot exhibit hall. The building at the corner of 7th Avenue South and Shirley is the first to go.  Getting the project to this point was not an easy road.  A capacity and overflow crowd at the Metro Council meeting broke into crazy loud celebration when Vice Mayor Dianne Neighbors announced the vote.  Then, in early February, a Nashville judge dismissed Tower Investments lawsuit over property on 5th Avenue and Demonbreun.  The entire project will be LEEDS certified, with part of that being a environmental consciousness of reuse and proper disposal of the demolition.

From a residential point of view, the most impacted home buyers, home owners and home sellers will be immediately in the SoBro area (which is the local name for the area SOuth of BROadway).  Residents of Encore will be the closest with a simple stroll past the symphony center.  Howell Park, one of the oldest, condos in this area are right behind the center.  I used to live in Howell Park and was told that “something big” would happen here.  It was over 11 years ago, so I was skeptical.  I love being wrong!  Gulch residents at ICON, Viridian, Mercury Lofts and Velocity will need to make it through the train tracks to get there.  The closest single family residential area is Historic Chestnut Hill.  It’s a very small area, but some precious historic homes are in Chestnut Hill.