Post by Coasterdude5 on Jul 24, 2006 17:10:16 GMT -5
As you might know, I'm a huge Opryland USA fan (Opryland is a park in Nashville that closed late 1997, it was my first big park, so it's special to me-they closed it to build a discount mall)
Monday, 07/24/06
Church declines to sell land to Gaylord
Proposed deal stirs development rumors
By ANDY HUMBLES
and RYAN UNDERWOOD
Staff Writers
Two Rivers Baptist Church has turned down an offer from Gaylord Entertainment Co. to purchase a strip of land on the church's 51-acre lot adjacent to land the company owns.
The proposed deal to buy 16 acres on the northern portion of the Two Rivers property has set tongues wagging among churchgoers and residents in the area about whether the offer points to some larger development plans that Gaylord may have in mind.
The company owns roughly 105 acres bordering the strip of land it proposed buying from the church. And the area's Metro councilman, J.B. Loring, said he'd talked to Gaylord officials about potential plans to build some sort of year-round amusement park or attraction on the land across from the company's current hotel and convention center, between Briley Parkway and Pennington Bend Road.
Still, Loring does not think Gaylord's latest overture to purchase the church land signals a pending development announcement. "It's just good business planning," he said.
The Rev. Jerry Sutton, Two Rivers pastor, said the church decided not to sell because a sizable part of his congregation was resistant to Gaylord's proposed deal. There also was concern about the future relationship with the surrounding community if the church sold to Gaylord.
"It seems they are planning a big project," Sutton said. However, he said, Gaylord officials told him that the church land would "strictly be for parking."
He said Gaylord told him that it had a "backup plan" if the church did not sell.
Gaylord is remaining silent on the matter, saying it has no comment on either the proposed purchase from Two Rivers or any larger plans for its land — which is actually made up of two parcels, one zoned for commercial use, the other for residential. The residential parcel, at 2750 Pennington Bend Road, was the site originally planned for Bass Pro Shops in 1997 before Gaylord officials settled on its current Opry Mills location.
Other property owners in the area also have been approached about selling land near Gaylord's 105 acres.
ReBecca Bogle said Brentwood-based Coldwell Banker Barnes had been hired by an anonymous party several months ago in an attempt to purchase several plots owned by a family whose property abuts Gaylord's land. Bogle, a real estate agent who said she does not know of any plans for Gaylord's 105 acres, left the purchase offer on the table with various members of the family, though she is no longer actively working the deal.
Bob Rogers, a consultant on national attraction projects based in Burbank, Calif., said that while he knew of nothing in the works for Gaylord's Opryland location, some sort of year-round attraction — as opposed to a traditional theme park — would be a "natural fit" for Nashville.
"It's not the attractions that are profitable per se," he said. "It's the business that it drives — everything from restaurants to accommodations — that makes it profitable."
Gaylord closed Opryland USA theme park in winter 1997, replacing it later with Opry Mills mall. Gaylord officials have since said that closing the theme park hurt the number of tourists coming to Nashville and staying in its Opryland Hotel (now called Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center).
While rumors of some new attraction-type development have been swirling in the area for years, Gaylord Chairman and CEO Colin Reed piqued local interest when he responded to an analyst's question about a proposed Nashville convention center during a quarterly conference call in May.
"We have more than a passing interest in this whole debate," Reed said, referring to the question of whether a new downtown convention center would take away from Gaylord's own convention business.
"But I don't want to get into our specific thinking about this because we're looking at some things that we don't want to discuss publicly at this stage."
Records from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office also indicate that Gaylord filed trademark applications on "Opryland" and "Opryland U.S.A." in September 2005. Both filings said that the trademark could be used in relation to "amusement park services; entertainment services, namely concerts, live music, and theatrical, stage, and live performances."
A Gaylord spokesman would not comment on these filings. However, many companies trademark a wide range of names and products that never come to fruition.
"In my opinion, Gaylord would like to build a year-round theme park," Loring said. "But I'm sure they are looking at any good project that would fit in their long-range plans of hotel and entertainment."
Church declines to sell land to Gaylord
Proposed deal stirs development rumors
By ANDY HUMBLES
and RYAN UNDERWOOD
Staff Writers
Two Rivers Baptist Church has turned down an offer from Gaylord Entertainment Co. to purchase a strip of land on the church's 51-acre lot adjacent to land the company owns.
The proposed deal to buy 16 acres on the northern portion of the Two Rivers property has set tongues wagging among churchgoers and residents in the area about whether the offer points to some larger development plans that Gaylord may have in mind.
The company owns roughly 105 acres bordering the strip of land it proposed buying from the church. And the area's Metro councilman, J.B. Loring, said he'd talked to Gaylord officials about potential plans to build some sort of year-round amusement park or attraction on the land across from the company's current hotel and convention center, between Briley Parkway and Pennington Bend Road.
Still, Loring does not think Gaylord's latest overture to purchase the church land signals a pending development announcement. "It's just good business planning," he said.
The Rev. Jerry Sutton, Two Rivers pastor, said the church decided not to sell because a sizable part of his congregation was resistant to Gaylord's proposed deal. There also was concern about the future relationship with the surrounding community if the church sold to Gaylord.
"It seems they are planning a big project," Sutton said. However, he said, Gaylord officials told him that the church land would "strictly be for parking."
He said Gaylord told him that it had a "backup plan" if the church did not sell.
Gaylord is remaining silent on the matter, saying it has no comment on either the proposed purchase from Two Rivers or any larger plans for its land — which is actually made up of two parcels, one zoned for commercial use, the other for residential. The residential parcel, at 2750 Pennington Bend Road, was the site originally planned for Bass Pro Shops in 1997 before Gaylord officials settled on its current Opry Mills location.
Other property owners in the area also have been approached about selling land near Gaylord's 105 acres.
ReBecca Bogle said Brentwood-based Coldwell Banker Barnes had been hired by an anonymous party several months ago in an attempt to purchase several plots owned by a family whose property abuts Gaylord's land. Bogle, a real estate agent who said she does not know of any plans for Gaylord's 105 acres, left the purchase offer on the table with various members of the family, though she is no longer actively working the deal.
Bob Rogers, a consultant on national attraction projects based in Burbank, Calif., said that while he knew of nothing in the works for Gaylord's Opryland location, some sort of year-round attraction — as opposed to a traditional theme park — would be a "natural fit" for Nashville.
"It's not the attractions that are profitable per se," he said. "It's the business that it drives — everything from restaurants to accommodations — that makes it profitable."
Gaylord closed Opryland USA theme park in winter 1997, replacing it later with Opry Mills mall. Gaylord officials have since said that closing the theme park hurt the number of tourists coming to Nashville and staying in its Opryland Hotel (now called Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center).
While rumors of some new attraction-type development have been swirling in the area for years, Gaylord Chairman and CEO Colin Reed piqued local interest when he responded to an analyst's question about a proposed Nashville convention center during a quarterly conference call in May.
"We have more than a passing interest in this whole debate," Reed said, referring to the question of whether a new downtown convention center would take away from Gaylord's own convention business.
"But I don't want to get into our specific thinking about this because we're looking at some things that we don't want to discuss publicly at this stage."
Records from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office also indicate that Gaylord filed trademark applications on "Opryland" and "Opryland U.S.A." in September 2005. Both filings said that the trademark could be used in relation to "amusement park services; entertainment services, namely concerts, live music, and theatrical, stage, and live performances."
A Gaylord spokesman would not comment on these filings. However, many companies trademark a wide range of names and products that never come to fruition.
"In my opinion, Gaylord would like to build a year-round theme park," Loring said. "But I'm sure they are looking at any good project that would fit in their long-range plans of hotel and entertainment."