Convention Center Debate Continues

The debate for and against the proposed Music City Center is heating up as plans begin to materialize for a new convention facility to be built downtown in SoBro (South of Broadway) and replace our current one.

The Nashville City Paper reports that it's one of the largest building programs in the U.S. right now with a projected cost of $635 million.

I'm actually excited about the prospect, mainly because it seems like it would spur more development in SoBro and maybe bring more life to this developing area, as well as the entire downtown.

I grew up in Indiana and always enjoyed going to the convention center in Indianapolis. They redeveloped it with the huge Circle Center Mall and did a great job of connecting the mall and convention center with parking and other attractions. You could easily walk to everything without even going outside if you wanted to.

Admittedly, I'm quite ignorant when it comes to how profitable these centers are and if it's worth the debt that will result. The comments in the blogosphere are quite fierce on this subject. It's a topic worth debating, but I'll leave the debate to others.

It doesn't sound like they're even at the design phase yet, but a couple local citizen groups have proposed some nice plans that are against the 'big box' type of convention center, but instead a incorporate lots of retail/restaurant/office space in such a way that will be an attraction for those of us locals not attending a convention.

The folks at http://www.mccproject.com/ propose a more pedestrian friendly design that would connect nicely with the other downtown tourist spots like the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. Visit their website and check out all the conceptual pics.

The Music City Center Coalition is another group that is advocating the new development. On their website they make their case for the new Center and how to get it done, along with lots of news releases. Lots of interesting information.

If you ask me, it just seems like the logical next step for a growing city like Nashville, especially considering the amount of tourism we have here. It will be interesting to see what happens as downtown continues through these growing pains and becomes a bigger metropolitan area.

I'll try to stay on top of the news for you!

-Peter

www.NashvilleCityHomes.com