URBAN LAND INSTITUTE NASHVILLE HONORS NINE PROJECTS WITH FIRST ANNUAL EXCELLENCE IN DEVELOPMENT AWARDS

May 20, 2009

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Urban Land Institute’s Nashville District Council honored nine local development projects with Excellence in Development Awards last night.

The winning projects were recognized for innovation in land use and design, design excellence, contribution to the community, reflection of the regional or neighborhood character, public/private partnership, environmental sensitivity and financial viability.

The winners are:

Belmont Lofts: This artistic and creative multi-family project merges preservation with contemporary design all with financial success. It picks up cues from the existing architecture in the historic neighborhood it sits in and adds an urbane essence.
Development team: Manuel Zeitlin Architects, Belmont Building Company LLC, Belmont Lofts LLC
Edgehill Village: This mixed-use neighborhood destination, which was transformed from a laundry industry, is a good example of adaptive reuse that offers economic development opportunities to its neighborhood and particularly to women.
Development team: Steve Ashbury & Wade Elam Sr. (Villa Properties Joint Venture), Commercial Industrial Real Estate Association, Harvest Construction Company
Hill Center – Green Hills: The Hill Center is progressive in its responsible environmental choices, with discreetly placed parking garages, rainwater harvesting, bioswales in the surface parking, and white cool roofs. Their parking meter proceeds go to the neighboring YMCA, a ‘Good Neighbor’ feature of their public-private partnership.
Development Team: H.G. Hill Realty Company, RTKL, Hoar Construction, Barge Cauthen & Associates Inc., Hawkins Partners Inc., Southeast Venture, RPM Transportation Consultants, Gorney Realty
ICON in the Gulch: This development is part of the first neighborhood in the south to receive LEED-ND, including access to mass transit. A few of the things that set ICON apart is its sensitive design to the street, public-private partnerships, and environmentally-friendly design.
Development team: MarketStreet Enterprises, Bristol Development Group LLC, KA Architecture, Littlejohn Engineering Associates, Village Real Estate, Ortale Kelley Herbert & Crawford, Moore Design Group
Noah Liff Opera Center: The green focus of this building began with the decision to reuse its original warehouse structure. It creates a new investment in its neighborhood, while developing a growing pride for the local non-profit institution, The Nashville Opera.
Development team: Nashville Opera, Nashville Opera Board, Earl Swensson Associates Inc., D.F. Chase Construction Inc., Civil Site Design Group, KSi/Structural Engineers Inc., I.C. Thomasson Associates Inc., Hodgson & Douglas LLC
Schermerhorn Symphony Center: This world-class facility placed Nashville on the map. It’s welcoming and monumental design will become a landmark in a district of the city on the verge of major redevelopment.
Development team: Nashville Symphony, Legacy Project Resources, David M. Schwarz/Architectural Services Inc., American Constructors Inc, Barge Waggoner Sumner and Cannon, KSi Structural Engineers Inc., I.C. Thomasson Associates Inc, Earl Swensson Associates Inc., Hastings Architecture Associates, Akustiks
Summer Street Lofts: Urban infill, mixed-use project with outstanding environmental considerations in materials and design, as well as progressive economics offering condo office space makes this project a sensitive transition from the fringes of downtown into a historic residential neighborhood.
Development team: Germantown Partners LLC, Dryden Abernathy / Architecture Design LLC, Baron + Dowdle Construction Inc., Lose & Associates Inc., EMC Structural Engineers, Power Management
The Commons, Vanderbilt University: This project has a focus of sustainability with its inclusion of multi-modal transportation opportunities, pervious paving, reflective roofs, green interior design choices, and recycled demolition and construction waste. A new, green gathering place on a historic campus.
Development team: Vanderbilt University, Street Dixon Rick Architecture PLC, Barge Cauthen & Associates
W. O. Smith Nashville Community Music: This reinvestment in a deteriorated, disinvested neighborhood met a community need in the best possible way. Its sustainability is evident with the reuse of its original tire warehouse and service bay structure and its many public-private partnerships.
Development team: W.O. Smith Nashville Community Music School, BAUER ASKEW Architecture, American Constructors Inc., Barge Cauthen & Associates, Structural Design Group, Peterson & Associates, Michael Cronin Acoustic Construction

The Urban Land Institute (ULI) www.uli.org is a nonprofit research and education organization supported by its members worldwide. The ULI Nashville District Council’s priority is to serve as a convener and collaborator, providing a forum for exchange of ideas and education about best practices in land use for Middle Tennessee’s public, private, educational and nonprofit real estate and land-use community. It has a diverse membership of 200 professionals including architects, engineers, developers, Realtors®, public officials, academicians and attorneys. The winners are: