By Bill Harless,
July 25, 2005

Construction workers will soon be sweating it out at the intersection of Division Street and Twelfth Avenue South in The Gulch, raising out of the ground an 18-story residential and retail tower, ICON, that will be a landmark for a new quarter of downtown Nashville.

ICON, which will cost about $100 million to develop, will feature 18,000-20,000 square feet of retail shops on its first floor and about 400 dwelling units above.

Four stories of residential units will rise above the retail space and wrap around a six-story, above-ground parking garage. Atop the parking garage there will be a 12-story, residential tower.

ICON is being developed by a partnership of Bristol Development Group and Marketstreet Equities Group, owner of Nashville Urban Venture LLC, the company chosen by the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency (MDHA) as master redeveloper of The Gulch.

Residents in the “urban, loft-style” homes will have unobstructed views of the downtown skyline and the Cumberland River.

The walls of the homes in the central tower will be made entirely of glass. The floors and ceilings will be made of cement, according to Joe Barker, a partner — along with Steve Turner and Jay Turner — of Marketstreet Equities Group.

Ashlyn Hines, a principal of Bristol Development Group, said a plaza with a fitness center, swimming pool and other amenities for residents will rest at the top of the garage on the portion not taken by the tower.

She said she hopes demolition of the BellSouth truck maintenance facility at the northeast corner of the intersection of the site will begin within 30-45 days. Construction would begin in January 2006, and developers hope for completion by the late fall of 2007.

Atlanta-based The Preston Partnership LLC is the project’s architect, and Choate Construction Company, also based in Atlanta, will be the contractor.

“We want it to be extremely beautiful … but we want it to be something that people can go and buy,” Barker said. “These are not being designed as luxury condominiums or luxury apartments at all. These are wonderful, urban residential units.”

“… There will be a variety of unit styles and styles. It will hit a number of price points,” Barker said.

No price tag has been placed on the residence yet. According to an agreement with MDHA, a portion of the dwellings will be affordable housing units.

The 400 dwellings will augment the existing 80 residential units — at the Mercury View Lofts and the Laurel House Apartments — that have been built in The Gulch, a 38-acre section of land on the western fringe of downtown, since Metro’s and Nashville Urban Venture’s redevelopment project there began in 2000.

The Gulch is “already a hotspot” of urban life in Nashville, Hines said. “What has been missing is a critical mass of housing.”

“We’ve tested the market, so to speak, and now this is the first big project we’re going to do,” Barker said.

The ICON land is already zoned to support the development, but a portion of the project must still be approved by the Metro Board of Zoning Appeals.