Huge downtown Franklin project lands high-end Hilton

October 14, 2016

Nashville Business Journal
By Adam Sichko

A luxury Hilton Curio hotel will headline a $90 million mixed-use development poised to transform a city block within historic downtown Franklin, home of the region’s longtime corporate headquarters hub.

Construction could start in January on the Harpeth Square development, which would feature the 115-room hotel and 150 apartments designed to be converted into condos. The project also would include almost 15,000 square feet of retail, including a restaurant led by a Michelin-starred chef, as well as a 600-space parking garage that could be used by the public.

Downtown Franklin hasn’t witnessed a project of this magnitude in years. So much of the major activity seen on our Williamson Watch development map is happening in Franklin’s Cool Springs commercial hub, on either side of Interstate 65. The Harpeth Square project, which has been in the works for more than four years, stands out because it would remake the northern entrance into the original 16-block grid that comprises downtown Franklin. It is by far the most ambitious and most controversial of several projects underway there. Downtown does not have a sizable high-end hotel or a great number of apartments and condos, and the Harpeth Square project could deliver both — into what is the seat of one of the most affluent counties in the nation and the one whose population is growing faster than anywhere else in Tennessee.

In announcing the new project details on Friday, the developers said they remain in talks for financing. The developers are “close to our equity,” said Steve Bacon, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Carnton Management Associates. Bacon declined to provide more specifics. Bacon said his group is in talks with three lenders: one for the garage, one for the hotel and one for the residential and retail piece of the project. “We have different bank term sheets and are trying to decide by next week,” Bacon said.

Carnton Management Associates is the parent of Harpeth Associates LLC, which is the entity working on the project. Its chairman and CEO is Rod Heller, and its president is Rick Heller. For this project, Carnton has hired 906 Studio Architects, of Franklin, and Smith Gee Studio, of Nashville. B.L. Harbert International, which is based in Birmingam, Ala., will build the project.