Broadwest Towers

Nashville, TN

Architect: Cooper Carry
Glazing Sub-Contractors:  Custom Enclosure Solutions & Pioneer Cladding & Glazing Systems, Inc.
Contractor:  Turner Construction & Hoar Construction
Glass Manufacturers: Guardian Glass
Fabricator: Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope

Project Snapshot

Broadwest is a striking mixed-use development located in Nashville, Tennessee. It consists of two towers – a 34-story residential tower and a 21-story office tower – connected by a 125,000 square foot podium featuring a variety of office, retail and restaurant space. The story of its construction, and the role Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope^® played in its execution, is nearly as impressive as the structure itself.

Project Challenges

The developer’s vision required that the construction of the two towers happen concurrently. Given the magnitude of the projects, it selected two general contractors to achieve this, and each GC selected its own glazing contractor. Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope® (OBE) emerged as the ideal fabrication partner for the project by leveraging its broad manufacturing network to not only meet the volume of architectural glass required on time but to do so by innovatively matching specs across two fabrication facilities. OBE supplied glass to the two glazing contractors, ensuring that both towers would achieve an identical aesthetic appearance.

Why OBE Was Selected

The project was of monumental scale, manageable by only a limited number of fabricators. Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope (OBE) played a pivotal role by supplying insulating glass units and monolithic vision glass with the required aesthetics and quality to two different glazing contractors, CES and Pioneer, for this colossal job. OBE successfully fast-tracked fabrication from two facilities, then supplied material to the two glazing contractors to scale a job of a half-million-plus square feet. It took meticulous planning, exceptional coordination, and the highest level of teamwork among OBE, Guardian Glass, Pioneer Cladding & Glazing, and Custom Enclosure Solutions (CES). The result? A LEED Certified landmark near downtown Nashville, TN.

OBE was brought onto the design team early and worked directly with El Paso Glass, the glazing contractor, and the architects to help meet the stringent design requirements.

“Designing curtain wall systems that could withstand the extreme weather conditions while also meeting the stringent requirements of the Living Building Challenge was certainly a large task for everyone involved with the project,” said Erik Martin, President of El Paso Glass. “Lauren and the OBE team were great to work with throughout the process, and after much collaboration, I believe we landed on a design that visitors can enjoy for generations,” he continued.

How OBE Met the Challenge

A Symbol Rises from Troubled Waters
Broadwest stands as a symbol of modern living and architectural excellence in Nashville, Tennessee.
It’s especially remarkable, considering that, as recently as 2019, the four-acre site was identified as a lake on Google Maps. A construction pit dug eight stories deep before the developer ran out of time and money in the early 2000s, filled with water. The “lake” remained until the property was sold to Probst Development in 2018.
Just a few short years later, the site is home to one of the city’s five largest office buildings, as well as a 234-room Hilton Conrad Hotel and 196 luxury condos.

Exceptional Fabrication and Coordination Expertise

Determining OBE’s impact is easy. For the residential tower, OBE fabricated and shipped 7,238 insulating glass units to CES from its Atlanta facility, leveraging warm-edge spacers to achieve the desired thermal performance. For the office tower, OBE supplied over 257,000 square feet of architectural glass of varying requirements, including ultra-clear glass and ceramic enamel frit, from its Wright City, Missouri, facility for Pioneer. The glass was produced to exact standards across both facilities to ensure consistency.

But the OBE contribution went way beyond numbers.

• • OBE played a critical role in bringing the project to fruition, orchestrating the collaborative efforts of one glass manufacturer, two fabricating facilities, and two glaziers for the simultaneous construction of two towers.
  • OBE was able to supply both towers despite their overlapping schedules, coordinate all the glass shipments into the two different fabricating facilities, keep the project on schedule, keep everything within budget, and still meet the architect’s specifications.
  • By incorporating an extruded warm edge spacer and argon gas into the insulating glass units, OBE delivered the desired thermal efficiency. Only a select handful of the most elite fabricators offer that extruded warm edge spacer.
  • Perhaps most importantly, OBE ensured that the product for the two towers was identical and seamless in hue, depth, and color despite being fabricated at two different facilities.

Hitting All the Right Notes in Music City

Broadwest is a towering achievement in every way. The two towers offer stunning features like floor-to-ceiling vision glass, a range of amenities, and the potential convenience of living in one tower and working in the other. By May 2022, all 196 condos had been sold.

The bottom line is that Broadwest stands as a testament to the ability to overcome challenges and deliver a vision that has transformed the Nashville skyline. Further, it puts in bold relief the unrivaled capabilities of OBE, Pioneer, CES, and other partners involved in making this landmark achievement a reality.