In Nashville, a debate ensues over an eco-friendly hotel and condominium project that may change the character of a funky downtown commercial strip that dates from the 1940s.
Nashville's Planning Commission approved the project despite a contrary recommendation by the commission's staff reviewers. The proposed development will "demolish most of a block of buildings on Broadway and replace them with a complex including a Westin hotel tower and has the city pondering the future of its nostalgic main street, with its boot-and-hat stores, Dixieland flavor and country kitsch so retro it never lost its hipness in the first place."
The 19-story hotel would tower over two- and three-story commercial buildings that make this a funky downtown strip of mom-and-pop stores. Patrick McIntyre Jr., executive director of the Tennessee Preservation Trust, says, "The main thing is it sets a terrible precedent that would open the door for any number of projects like this, and eventually what's left of our historic downtown would be destroyed."
Read the full story: Project Brings Disharmony to Music City
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