Barber?s Nashville Plans Approved
by August 28, 2006 12:00 am 78 views
A recent article in The Tennessean outlined The Barber Group’s rocky road to gaining approval for a nearly 20-story Westin hotel and condominium tower in Nashville’s Lower Broadway Historic District.
A city panel battled over the neighborhood that was described as the “heart and soul” of Nashville and said a hotel and tower could ruin the area’s honky-tonk charm.
After a “cantankerous” two-hour debate on Aug. 15, the Metro Development and Housing Agency’s Design Review Committee voted 7-2 in favor of the hotel. The vote ended months of discussion by the committee that feared the hotel’s height — 201 feet — violated the agency’s own design guidelines and would overwhelm the Lower Broadway Historic District’s string of touristy restaurants, music clubs and retail shops.
The Barber Group Inc. of Springdale and its partner, Denver-based Sage Hospitality Resources, still must resolve a zoning problem involving one side of the building before moving forward with the $100 million project, but gaining the committee’s approval cleared a major hurdle.
Brandon Barber, CEO of the group, recently announced plans to build a 22-story, $100 million Westin hotel in Rogers.