1010 Church Street to define Nashville’s skyline

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — It’s set to be the tallest building in the state but that’s not the only record 1010 Church Street is expected to break. Developer Tony Giarratana sat down with News 2’s Nikki Burdine to hear about the plans.

For Giarratana, it’s hard to choose a favorite project; that’s like picking a favorite kid. But if he had to, it would be the 505. “It’s hard for me not to have a special place my heart about 505,” he said.

Giarratana’s one regret about the building though, was that it wasn’t tall enough. “The 505 was originally approved for 60 stories. Many people may not know that, but it was approved for 60 stories. But when I went out to get capital, the capital was of the opinion that Nashville wasn’t mature enough, that it wasn’t ready for a 60 story building.”

Tony Giarratana secures funding for TN’s tallest skyscraper, set to be complete in 2027

So, Giarratana took 15 stories off the plans. “I think taller is better. Hopefully, it will probably happen after I retire, but hopefully the city will embrace tall buildings because I think that is our future.”

That’s his motto — taller is better — at least when it comes to his work. Which is where is new favorite project comes into play: 1010 Church Street. It will be bigger, and in Giarratana’s eyes, better than the 505.

“The 505 was incredibly successful, 178 condos on top of 350 apartments on top of 500 parking spaces,” said Giarratana. “So keep that in mind, now 1010 is 140 condos on top of 360 apartments on top of 500 parking spaces. And we even had room to add 121 parking spaces for the new downtown YMCA that we’re building.”

This project is his redemption story for what the 505 could have been; his ‘I told you so.’ “The 1010 is in every way, a kind of an improvement on 505,” he says.

It will be the tallest building in the state at 750 feet tall. It’s been a long time in the works, since 2020. It’s setting records in many ways, including the financing. “If you asked 100 professionals around the world, could we do this in Nashville, Tennessee right now?; 100 would say no, but we decided to go ahead and do it anyway,” said Giarratana.

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And he did. In early April, they closed on $232.3 million dollars in construction financing. That number makes it the fourth largest such loan in the country this year. “It’s big for us but it’s really big for the city of Nashville, as well. And it underscores what the world thinks of us. They see it’s not just us believing in us, the world now sees that Nashville has a lot going on a lot going for it,” said Giarratana.

He also said 1010 Church is the building that will define Nashville’s skyline, even more so than the Batman Building. But don’t expect any spires at the top of this one. “No, no, I like nice, clean architecture. I don’t like appendages and things like that. I just let the let the building’s architecture be elegant, graceful,” he said of 1010’s design. “The façade is like pleated across, it has a crown at the top, kind of an ornamentation at the top, a tiara, if you will, but this building is going to sparkle.”

The main attraction will be the world-class YMCA facility. “The footprint is only 8000 square feet but it has two levels down, five levels up. It is magnificent,” said Giarratana.

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“Over the years, I began to think that a building of 750 feet was my ‘Moby Dick,'” said Giarratana. “And that someday I’m going to be wrapped up in harpoon cables and rolling around in the ocean at my demise, but we’re finally getting to do it. And I think the city and the state will be very proud of this building.”

Demolition and excavation are now complete. The new YMCA will open up at the end of 2024 and 1010 will open in 2027.

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