We believe that the Music City Center should be the most efficient, pleasant, prestigious, and useful convention center in its class--but we also believe that it should be designed in such a way that it contributes to the city's economy and urban fabric in addition to, and regardless of, the convention market. The site chosen by our city's leadership features a dramatic slope, and this means that it would be possible and economical to sink the main hall into the land, giving it a public face on one side of the site (5th Avenue) and keeping it underground for the rest. We believe that this would be an ideal solution, as it would make the hall's roof accessible to pedestrians as a series of majestic public plazas. These public spaces should in turn should be framed by mixed-use residential and retail buildings that will enliven their edges as well as surrounding streets.

An underground hall would not decimate the street grid as a street level or above-grade Big Box might, and we believe that this is crucial to the well-being of SoBro. The two streets that traverse the site (6th and 7th Avenues) would be converted into pedestrian thoroughfares, and the possibilities for their uses are limitless: imagine casual strolling and outdoor dining, with strings of cheerful lights strewn above each street.

Some of the features of the Music City Center--namely the ballrooms and theater--could be made accessible to the public via a courtyard connecting them to the Main Plaza. Nashvillians might find a downtown theater and great, glass-enclosed ballrooms useful, even if they were only available for public use when conventions were not in town. An elevator kiosk serving the hall and loading dock below could double as a bandstand, providing a meaningful platform for the rich pagent of civic life. We believe this facility should be world-class on all counts.