General Manager's Corner

Fall 2012
By: Tim Hestle

The Nashville Connection

Nashville is known for being the Music City. Every June, the Country Music Association puts on the four-day CMA Music Festival. While this is always an amazing event, this past summer Nashville became famous for something else: sports. The stars aligned for one of the most amazing summers in history for the mid-state.

First, Dario Franchitti won his third Indianapolis 500. The Scottish born racecar driver now makes his home south of Nashville in Leipers Fork, Tennessee, with his wife, actress Ashley Judd.

Another remarkable accomplishment was Brian Baker, a former Hillwood High School tennis standout. He made it to the second round of the French Open and the fourth round of the prestigious Wimbledon Tennis Tournament in London, England this summer.

Brandt Snedeker, a native Nashvillian, has several ties to the area. He attended high school at Montgomery Bell Academy, college at Vanderbilt University and grew up playing the  Nashville Municipal golf courses. The outstanding professional golfer pulled off an incredible feat by winning the 2012 FedEx Cup and the $10,000,000 prize money that comes with it. The following week, he was chosen to represent the United States as a captain's pick in the Ryder Cup golf tournament.

Finally, the Goodlettsville All-Stars, a team made up of 12-year-olds, won the Little League Baseball Southeastern Regional Championship. The team, from just north of Nashville, made a miraculous comeback to win the Little League National Championship after blowing a 15-5 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. This earned them the opportunity to play in the Little League Baseball World Series. Even though they came up a little short when they played Japan in the championship game, these local kids had great success as they made it to the world stage.

I watched all of these events on television with the exception of the race which I was lucky enough to attend in person. Each of these accomplishments is exceptional on their own, but what is astonishing to me is how all these unrelated events share the same hometown connection.

Speaking of connections, the Nashville District Energy System is now connected to the Music City Center, which is the largest customer building on the system. The Music City Center began receiving chilled water in April and steam in July. These services are currently being used on a temporary basis by the Convention Center contractor for the finishing stages of construction. The building is scheduled to open in the spring of 2013 and services will be furnished on a permanent basis at that time.

Another connection we are excited about is the Nashville Hyatt Place Hotel. Construction activities began in October on the DES service connections to this building. This 13 story, all suite, 255 room hotel is expected to open in December of next year.

What do music, sports and district energy have in common? The Nashville connection.