NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — It has been a wet winter in Nashville, but despite the increased rainfall in and around the city, construction projects are still underway, and some of the higher-profile projects, such as the Fairgrounds, are still on track to finish when scheduled.
“We’re turning this around really pretty quickly. We committed to Metro Council to be complete by June 30th so we can get our flea market vendors moved in July, so the folks who are doing the soccer stadium can begin demolition for their project,” Holly McCall, public information officer for The Fairgrounds Nashville, said. “It’s not as complex as some of the projects in Nashville, and I feel like we have an excellent team, I just got off the phone with somebody from our project management office, and we’re currently on track to finish on time.”
The rain is something that those working on projects are paying attention to, and at the Fairgrounds, they hope it doesn’t get any worse, potentially putting the project behind.
“We have had a lot of rain, and that affects everyone in the construction industry,” McCall said. “There are just some tasks that cannot be done when we have this much rain. We cannot pour concrete if it continues to rain very hard, so fortunately we have finished one phase. You can’t do earth moving, you can’t move a lot of wet dirt when it’s raining, so we are on pins and needles to see how much rain we get this week.”
Recently, the Mayor’s Office allocated an additional $5 million to the project to ensure it finishes on time, which came after one vendor dropped out of the project.
“We did have one contractor decide they couldn’t make our assertive schedule and took another project, so we had to go to the number two bidder,” McCall explained.
The new facilities need to be finished before demolition starts on the existing buildings. Once that demolition is able to happen, the Major League Soccer stadium can begin construction, with plans for it to be complete in time for the 2021 MLS season.
