ARCHITECT Magazine has ranked Nashville-based Hastings Architecture No. 3 overall in its 2019 Architect 50 ranking.

Each year, ARCHITECT conducts an in-depth survey to produce a ranking of the top 50 architecture firms in the United States based on performance across three categories: Design, business and sustainability. Firms submit a design portfolio and respond to survey questions that consider factors such as revenue, employee benefits, firm diversity, research initiatives, profitability and pro bono work.

In addition to its overall ranking – the firm’s highest ever – Hastings ranked No. 7 in design and No. 10 in business.

The firm’s No. 7 design ranking was based on a featured portfolio of recent work including The Purpose Hotel, a new Fine Arts Building at Christ Presbyterian Academy, Metro Nashville Police Headquarters and Family Safety Center, Smith Springs Community Center and the adaptive reuse of the former Downtown Public Library at 225 Polk Avenue.

VU honors Zeppos with naming, faculty post

Vanderbilt University has announced it is naming one of its newest residential colleges in honor of Chancellor Emeritus Nicholas S. Zeppos. The Nicholas S. Zeppos College – slated to open in 2020 – is under construction at the corner of West End Avenue and 25th Avenue South.

In addition, Interim Chancellor and Provost Susan R. Wente announced a new faculty appointment for Zeppos, who will now be University Distinguished Professor of Law and Political Science. Wente also announced that Zeppos will hold the newly created Cornelius Vanderbilt Chancellor Emeritus Chair.

Zeppos joined the Vanderbilt faculty in 1987 as an assistant professor of law, then spent the next 21 years serving the university in various roles, including professor, associate dean of the law school, associate provost for academic affairs, vice chancellor and provost. In 2007, he began serving as interim chancellor.

Frankie Pierce Park opens in The Gulch

The Gulch’s first park and largest greenspace, Frankie Pierce Park, celebrated its grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday.

A Nashville native, Juno Frankie Pierce sought to improve conditions for African American individuals and women in the area. Pierce was involved with several organizations including the Red Cross, YMCA and YWCA, and founded the Nashville Federation of Colored Women’s Club and the Tennessee Vocational School for Colored Girls. Many of Pierce’s social service efforts directly benefited the residents who lived in the Capitol View district, formerly known as Hell’s Half Acre, during her lifetime.

The 2.5-acre park is located within 1,500 feet of the state Capitol and includes a sand volleyball court, a children’s playground, a dog park and a yoga lawn. Frankie Pierce Park is key to connecting Capitol View to a countywide greenway system of nearly 100 miles of paved trails via The Gulch Greenway extension that runs through the park.

Barge Design Solutions acquires Gould Turner

Barge Design Solutions has acquired Nashville-based Gould Turner Group, bringing together two of Nashville’s most well-established and successful companies.

In the past two years, Barge has experienced nearly 38% growth, adding more than 180 new employees and opening two new offices. Barge’s staff count grows to 470 with the merger.

GTG will retain its name and become a division of Barge. The merger provides GTG with a partner with deep engineering expertise, as well as ancillary services like landscape architecture. It will also receive administrative support in HR, financial management, marketing and other back-office services.

St. Thomas Midtown wins Aeroflow makeover

Aeroflow Breastpumps has selected St. Thomas Midtown as the winner of its second annual Pumping Room Makeover Contest.

The contest, which launched in August 2019 during World Breastfeeding Week, received hundreds of entries from businesses around the country. Saint Thomas Midtown was selected last month as one of five finalists, moving on to receive more than 5,000 votes from the public and ultimately winning the Grand Prize by a landslide.

Nashville General Hospital receives top safety grade

Nashville General Hospital has been nationally recognized for its commitment to quality, patient safety and transparency by The Leapfrog Group.

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is the only hospital rating focused on hospital safety. Grades are assigned to over 2,600 general acute-care hospitals across the country twice a year. By utilizing publicly available hospital data, letter grades A, B, C, D or F are assigned representing a hospital’s overall capacity to keep patients safe from infections, injuries and medical errors.

ICEE Company acquires Louisiana distributor

The ICEE Company has acquired the assets of an ICEE distributor based in Bossier City, Louisiana. The sale was effective Oct. 1 and covers ICEE distribution in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. The distributor had annual sales of approximately $13 million.

In February, the company announced plans to move its headquarters to La Vergne. The company has pledged to invest more than $12.5 million and create hundreds of jobs in Rutherford County.

The ICEE Company began as ICEE of Los Angeles in 1967. Over the next two decades, the company expanded in the western United States and eventually became ICEE USA, which was acquired by J&J Snack Foods in 1987. ICEE has both national and international distribution, selling approximately 500 million ICEE drinks each year.

Southern Nurseries sold to Greenrise Technologies

Southern Nurseries Inc. of Hendersonville has been acquired by Greenrise Technologies, a Boyne Capital portfolio company.

Southern is a manufacturer and supplier of engineered soils to commercial and residential customers located in the Nashville area.

The company has served the specialized soils market in the Central Tennessee Valley since 1983 and provides branded biofiltration soils to contractors through the Holy Cow! Soils brand.

Hermitage Hotel wins Best City Center award

Nashville’s Hermitage Hotel has been named Best City Center Historic Hotel by Historic Hotels of America and Historic Hotels Worldwide.

The Hermitage Hotel was built in 1910 and is located near the State Capitol.

Honors were given in multiple categories ranging from Hotelier of the Year and Hotel Historian of the Year to Best Historic Resort, Historic Hotelier of the Year, Lifetime Achievement and others. The Legendary Family Historic Hoteliers of the Year was given to the Belz Family at The Peabody Memphis, built in 1869.

CPA Consulting Group merges with Marcum

Marcum LLP has announced a merger with CPA Consulting Group PLLC of Nashville.

The firm adds two partners and 15 associates to Marcum’s Nashville office. Cathy Werthan, CPACG president, becomes Marcum’s Nashville office managing partner.

The Nashville firm was a full-service accounting firm providing a full-range of professional, technical, consulting, and business services to individuals and business clients in more than a dozen industries, including real estate; law; architecture, engineering and construction; creative services; and medicine and dentistry, among others. Services encompassed accounting, tax, valuation and financial planning.

Recovery Unplugged opens in Brentwood

Recovery Unplugged is opening a new treatment center in Brentwood.

The facility combines traditional treatment methods like medical detox and counseling with innovative music-based therapies to help clients overcome their substance use disorder. A celebration with Clay Cook of the Zac Brown Band others will be held Nov. 19 at the new center, 255 Wilson Pike Circle.

The Brentwood residential treatment center offers 34 beds for medical detox, comfortable and beautifully appointed client residences, and a VIP suite for those who need extra privacy during their substance use disorder treatment.

Heaven’s Door offers rare 26-year-old whiskey

Nashville-based Heaven’s Door Spirits, which produces a collection of American whiskeys in collaboration with Bob Dylan, is releasing a rare 26-year-old whiskey finished in Japanese Mizunara Oak barrels.

This first release, dubbed Volume 1 of the Bootleg Series, is both a celebration of the creative spirit of Dylan and the craft of fine whiskey. Offered in handmade ceramic bottles featuring one of the singer’s best-known paintings, Train Tracks, this 2019 Edition comes beautifully housed in a uniquely designed and individually numbered collectible leather journal.

The 2019 edition of the Bootleg Series gives nuance to this whiskey through a secondary aging in Mizunara Oak barrels, resulting in a distinctive and supple flavor profile. Bottled with a proof of 111.5, the low rye content of this whiskey’s mashbill allows for the signature flavors from the Mizunara Oak barrels to shine through, with a smooth, long finish.