Hotel and Condo Tower is the Latest Addition to a Nashville Skyline on the Rise

151 First Avenue will stand among several new high-rises in Nashville.

07 May 2019 | Nashville, United States

Work is underway at SoBro’s 151 site (i.e., South of Broadway at 151 First Avenue) to become one of downtown Nashville’s four largest skyscrapers. The 40-story tower will contain a five-star hotel and condos.

In addition, the project involves a second, slightly shorter tower with apartments, plus retail and restaurant space—consuming the entire city block in SoBro. An adjacent pedestrian bridge spans the Cumberland River at 151 First Avenue South. The site formerly housed one of downtown’s earliest apartment buildings, the three-story Market Street Apartments, and paved parking lots.

Featured Buildings

Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences

CTBUH Member Companies
(showing member level)

HOK, Inc.

RWDI

KONE

Magnusson Klemencic Associates

Solomon Cordwell Buenz

Cosentini Associates

The megadevelopment will inject another skyline-defining project into Nashville amid a fury of construction.

“The city has seen an expanding real estate market due to its celebrated national profile, growing economy and surging population growth (including downtown, whose population is up 60 percent in five years).”

The city has seen an expanding real estate market due to its celebrated national profile, growing economy and surging population growth (including downtown, whose population is up 60 percent in five years).

At $325 million, the development would be the fifth-largest proposed or underway in the county. The project also drives home the reality that SoBro is the epicenter of Nashville’s real estate boom—and Demonbreun Street is the most important street in the city right now. Other new developments include a 25-story office building under construction by developers Hines and C.B. Ragland, a 32-story apartment tower by Nashville developer Tony Giarratana, and the forthcoming headquarters for Bridgestone Americas, one of Middle Tennessee’s biggest employers.

The ringleader of the SoBro project is Tom Pohlman, of Northern Capital Investments. The company, based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has been active for 20 years and focused mostly on Midwest projects. Others involved include Boston-based developer The Congress Group.

Designed by Chicago-based Solomon Cordwell Buenz, the project will include a 250-room hotel, and close to 420 condos and apartments.

“Our Chicago architect has designed a lot of buildings like this, which allow us to get away from a shorter, stockier building and instead do a taller, sleeker design that adds to the skyline,” Pohlman said. “This makes so much more sense. We are blocking much less of people’s views—it would be minimal for people in Pinnacle.”

At 40 stories, the project would become one of the four tallest buildings downtown. The city’s signature AT&T Tower (“Batman Building”) is the king, with its twin spires reaching 617 feet (188 meters) into the sky. Next comes Giarratana’s 524-foot (160-meter) -tall 505 skyscraper on Church Street, set to contain 550 residential units. The Fifth Third Center, and Bridgestone’s headquarters, also rank right up there.

For more on this story go to Nashville Business Journal.