Good morning, Nashville. Yesterday marked the groundbreaking for the $250 million Omni hotel project downtown, which is slated for a mid-2013 completion. The hotel will serve the new convention center, providing 21 stories, 800 rooms and 80,000 square feet of event and meeting space in addition to a spa, pool deck and fitness center. It will also be connected to the Country Music Hall of Fame. As a condition of building it, Omni agreed to reserve 200 of the 300 full-time jobs it creates for Davidson County residents.
- Water, wind and fire. Haven’t had enough stormy weather this week? More rain is on the way today, though none of is expected to be severe (or at least not 2-inch hail severe.) And after the rain subsides, things will heat back up into the blazing hot mid-90s into next week.
- Britt’s charges downgraded. Titans wide receiver Kenny Britt had some of his recent charges downgraded, and it’s unlikely he’ll see any jail time. If convicted, he could see up to 3 years probation, up to $1000 fine and probably some other things.
- Bits & pieces. Tennessee’s unemployment increased to 9.7% in May … Kerry Collins’ house is up for sale for a cool $1.6 million, but he’s not moving too far away … Plaintiffs in the Murfreesboro mosque case are working to gain access to city officials’ emails about the construction … Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher are building a home in Williamson County.
Photo by Ricky Tibbs.