So Nashville has been picked up for a full season. While I leave entertainment reporting to my pal Brad Schmitt, the show, along with a number of other developments, must have Chamber of Commerce President Ralph Schulz, Mayor Karl Dean, his director of Economic and Community Development, Matt Wiltshire, along with Butch Spyridon, overcome with giddiness.
It has been reported that the show has mixed reviews and that the ratings are up and down. But mixed reviews mean there are good reviews, and the ratings, while down on occasion, are up as well. Now ABC has agreed to sink millions into the remainder of the season.
I feel the show is well-written, accurate and its production could not be better. No matter what, it showcases the city in a positive and beautiful manner.
If the aforementioned group had produced the show themselves, it would not have been a better representation. So, what does this have to do with real estate? Everything. It’s a one hour, nationally televised commercial.
There are those who live for the city to die. It was startling when I first witnessed it, and has become increasingly prevalent as the city enjoys its successes.
This group cannot tolerate success from anyone anywhere, and some have set their sights on the city. They hate the Titans and Predators, loathe the Music City Center and cannot understand why there would be a Schermerhorn Symphony Hall or a larger Country Music Hall of Fame. Last week must have killed them.
Along with Nashville’s good news, both Cy Young Winners were from the area. Both of them. Nashville’s R.A. Dickey, an alum of Montgomery Bell Academy and the University of Tennessee, won as a member of the New York Mets in the National League. David Price, a Vandy alum from Murfreesboro, won for the American League, where he pitches for the Tampa Bay Rays. Even Whitey Ford and Sandy Koufax, a couple of New Yorkers with remarkable careers, never won the award the same year.
They have parades in some cities for the winners. We’re going to need a bigger parade route.
Here’s a good trivia question, and no charge for this one. It gets baseball junkies every time. What major league pitcher won the most games and never received the Cy Young award? Tune in next week for the answer.
Brandt Snedeker won of the FedEx Cup, golf’s Super Bowl, Vanderbilt’s Tim Corbin is emerging as perhaps the best college baseball coach of all time and James Franklin has taken Vanderbilt to bowl games in each of his two seasons.
The city is in the news, people are paying attention and real estate is flourishing while other markets suffer. I guess we can’t take credit for the low interest rates – unless Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has roots here.
Listing of the week
1358 Page Rd
The listing of the week is the home of Rayna James and Teddy Conrad of Nashville.
Rayna is the middle-aged country music artist who is waging music biz war on Juliette Barnes, the former teen star now vying both for her position atop the charts and for the affections of Deacon Clayborne, Rayna’s guitar player, former lover and recovering drug addict.
In real life, the property is the home of Sylvia Roberts, the real-life queen of country philanthropy, and is listed for sale for a mere fraction of the expense of producing one television show.
Listed by real estate star Steve Fridrich, the house boasts a cast worthy of its own television show with guitarist turned builder Will Andrews as the contractor and a design by Mark Harrison, architect of the stars. The interiors were designed by Mary Spalding, and the group deserves an Emmy, or at least an Emma blast.
With 20,868 square feet, the taxes on the house are $85,070, but look for those to be reduced if Rayna’s husband Teddy Conrad is elected mayor. He’s a bit shifty, and this publication is not endorsing him.
It offers six bedrooms, eight full baths and three half baths among its 24 rooms. It is situated on six wooded acres where deer, foxes, turkeys, rabbits, the occasional coyote, and bobcats wander, and the hawks soar and the owls dart among the magnificent trees.
The home has hosted more stars than a CMA Awards show, as Ms. Roberts has been generous over the years in her support of numerous charities and non-profits and has opened her home and poured the finest wines and most delectable culinary fare in the region.
While a $19.5 million price tag is extraordinary, it is extravagant and certainly a familiar number to those familiar with Hollywood or Los Angeles real estate. Not to mention, the real Alan Jackson’s home sold for $28 million in 2010, and the market has improved since that time, so the $19.5 million is a steal.
All it would take is for Teddy to be exposed for his prior financial misdeeds, the house to go into foreclosure, Juliette to record one of Deacon’s songs and make it an international hit. Then Juliette would attend the foreclosure auction on the courthouse steps – in the spring of course when the lawn is in full luster with fountains spraying – in order to buy the home of the woman she is dethroning.
The kind-hearted Deacon would bid against her to save the house of his one true love. Alas, there’s always Trump, rearing his ugly hair, and outbidding the music folks in a stirring cameo, then giving the home to Mitt Romney.
Richard Courtney is a partner with Christianson, Patterson, Courtney and Associates and can be reached at [email protected].