Noble Investment Group has broken ground on the Element by Westin Nashville. The West End hotel will be the brand’s debut in Nashville and will open in 2020. The upscale, lifestyle hotel will be a part of the 19-acre mixed-use development oneC1TY at Charlotte Avenue and 28th Avenue North.

The Element will be LEED certified and will feature 175 guestrooms and suites, an outdoor terrace with an infinity pool, and street-level retail and dining. oneC1TY Nashville will ultimately include more than 1 million square feet of Class A office space, 100,000 square feet of retail, and 600 multifamily units.

Element by Westin is part of Marriott International.

Omni tops U.S. list of hotels for meetings

Three Nashville hotels have been named to Cvent’s annual list of Top 10 Meeting Hotels in the U.S.

Omni Nashville Hotel ranked No. 1, with Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center at No. 5 and Renaissance Nashville Hotel at No. 6.

The Renaissance earned a spot in the Top 10 for the first time.

Cvent, a market-leading meetings, events and hospitality technology provider, compiled the list by analyzing meeting and event booking activity through the Cvent Supplier Network. The list ranks hotels based on group business performance according to various criteria, including total requests for proposals and conversion rate.

Conrad Nashville to open at Broadwest

Propst Development, Chartwell Hospitality LLC and Hilton will build Conrad Nashville, a 237-room Conrad Hotels & Resorts hotel that, when it opens in 2021, will anchor one of the two towers at Broadwest, a $540 million, urban mixed-use community that also will include Class AA office space, upscale retail offerings and high-end condominiums.

Broadwest takes up a full city block at 1600 West End Avenue at the Broadway-West End split.

Conrad Nashville will be co-owned by Propst, a real estate and development company based in Huntsville with projects across the Southeast, and Chartwell Hospitality LLC, an integrated hotel operations and development company based in Franklin. Chartwell Hospitality will operate the hotel.

“As the third-ever franchised luxury property by Hilton, Conrad Nashville will set a new standard for luxury in our region, and we look forward to welcoming travelers from around the globe to experience Nashville’s world-class hospitality,” says Rob Schaedle, founder and managing partner of Chartwell Hospitality.

Chartwell has significant experience building high-quality hotels across the country and has 26 Hilton products in its portfolio, including eight in the Nashville area.

Father Ryan names first athletic hall of fame class

Father Ryan High School has announced the inaugural class of the Athletic Hall of Fame, 34 athletes, six coaches, seven teams and three contributors whose accomplishments showcase the legacy of the historic school’s successful athletic programs.

The athletes and leaders represent classes from 1929 to 1999 and were selected from more than 350 nominations submitted by the community since the Athletic Hall of Fame was announced last fall. They will be formally inducted Aug. 29 during the school’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony on the campus, with a special introduction at the home football opener Aug. 30.

Inductees are:

Athletes

Tommy Bateman ’75 – football, wrestling

Joe “Flip” Bates ’56 – football, track

Thomas “Tricky” Beehan ’29 – basketball

Willie Brown ’65 – basketball

Tony Carletello ’89 – football, wrestling

Joseph “Ich” Curley ’43 – baseball, basketball, football

James “Boots” Donnelly ’61 – baseball, basketball, football

John “Bubba” Donnelly ’69 – football, wrestling

Katie (Carter) Douglas ’99 – basketball, volleyball

Peter Ferreira ’83 – Swimming

Bob Forster ’75 – football

Willie Geny ’32 – basketball, football

Lou Graham ’56 – basketball, Golf

Jim Hagey ’46 – baseball, basketball, football, Tennis

Donna Harris ’89 – basketball, Soccer

Karen Harris ’74 – basketball

Kim (Caughron) Hulse ’90 – basketball, softball, volleyball

Paula (Holloran) Kennedy ’75 – basketball

Eva Lemeh ’79 – basketball, track, volleyball

Billy Lynch ’64 – baseball, basketball, football

Lindsey (Lynch) Magness ’95 – basketball, softball, volleyball

Kate (Maffei) McGuinness ’94 – basketball, volleyball

Jim Mondelli ’64 – baseball, basketball, football

Mike Mondelli ’64 – baseball, basketball, football

Kurt Page ’81 – baseball, basketball, football

Bob Reese ’42 – basketball, Tennis

Bernie Rohling ’40 – football

Brooke Siebel ’97 – softball

Joe Stamps ’78 – baseball, basketball, football

Joe Sullivan ’50 – basketball, football

David Thoni ’83 – wrestling

Thomas “Yogi” Walsh ’67 – football, wrestling

Chris Wilson ’78 – football, track, wrestling

Mike Wright ’75 – baseball, basketball, football

Teams

1963-64 boys basketball, the first integrated sports team in Nashville

1969 wrestling, the first state wrestling champions from Nashville

1974 state champion football team

1988 state champion wrestling team (Duals)

1992 state champion volleyball team

1995 state champion softball team

1998 state champion girls soccer team

Coaches

Louis Catignani ’44 – football

Jinx Cockerham – basketball, volleyball

Bill Derrick ’48 – basketball. Integrated Sports at Father Ryan

James “Boots” Donnelly ’61 – football

Joe Drennan ’57 – wrestling

Leo Long – first head coach: baseball, basketball, football

Contributors

Jim Carell ’54

Rev. Charley Giacosa

Rev. Msgr. James Hitchcock ’39

NMC’s elevator division purchased

The elevator division of Nashville Machine Company has been acquired by thyssenkrupp Elevator.

Formerly the exclusive distributor in the Middle Tennessee area for thyssenkrupp, NMC has 130 employees, all of which will be given the opportunity to join thyssenkrupp.

Nashville Machine Company began servicing and installing elevators nearly 100 years ago.

The Nashville office will be integrated into thyssenkrupp as one of its branches in the Southeast, joining sister locations in Knoxville, Chattanooga and Memphis.

“As one of our most trusted distributors, Nashville Machine Elevator has consistently demonstrated an expertise and commitment to thyssenkrupp and our state-of-the-art products and technology,” says Steve Wedge, interim CEO and CFO of thyssenkrupp Elevator Americas.

“Their strong relationships in the Nashville area coupled with an excellent service, modernization and new installation base makes Nashville Machine and its hard-working employees a perfect fit in the growing thyssenkrupp family.”

Better Collective buys RotoGrinders

Nashville’s Rical LLC, also known as RotoGrinders, has been partially acquired by Better Collective, an international developer of digital platforms for bookmaking information and iGaming communities.

Better Collective has completed an acquisition of 60% of RotoGrinders’ shares for $21 million.

In the period 2022-2024, Better Collective will acquire the remaining 40%. Those shares are held by the company’s three founders and certain key employees.

The three founders will continue managing the daily business of RotoGrinders.

The company owns a strong network of platforms for sports betting and daily fantasy sports in the U.S., including rotogrinders.com, pocketfives.com, sportshandle.com, usbets.com and pennbets.com. In 2018, RotoGrinders generated revenue of more than 8 million and operating earnings of more than 3 million.

RotoGrinders has historically focused on daily fantasy sports, however, with the changing regulation in the U.S. market since 2018, the business focus has increasingly been directed toward affiliation to sports betting and other online gambling.

GM honors Bridgestone as Supplier of the Year

Bridgestone Corporation, including Nashville-based Bridgestone Americas, Inc., was named a GM Supplier of the Year by General Motors.

This is the 17th time and fourth consecutive year Bridgestone has received the award.

“We are honored once again to receive this award as it is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our teammates globally to design best-in-class products that meet and exceed the needs of our customers,” says Shannon Quinn, president, original equipment sales, U.S. and Canada, Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations.

“We have a longstanding partnership with GM and look forward to continuing to work together to deliver future mobility solutions.”

MTSU celebrates brew house opening

Middle Tennessee State University’s fermentation science program recently held an official opening ceremony for its new Hop Springs brew house facility, celebrating with its owners.

Hop Springs includes new analytical and fermentation science labs.

The MTSU degree program, which recently graduated its first class, has gained interest from prospective students from all across the country.

Venue-founder and co-owner Mark Jones, an MTSU School of Agriculture alumnus, and business partner Derrick Morse, opened their venture and partnered with MTSU to provide lab space in the large facility that features soon-to-open Steel Barrel Brewery.

Jones says it is a lab that “can do analysis for companies all across the country. It can collect data. All of our tours will go through the sensory lab. I can find out colors, names of new beers, names of carpet. Whatever it is, we can gather that data, sell that data back to the company requesting the research (and) both of those labs are functioning.’’

Kelly Beam with the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce called the facility “one of the new jewels of the community.’’

In addition to numerous craft beers, customers can purchase a craft root beer and MTSU chocolate milk along with a menu of food items.