Calgary vs Nashville: HQ vs SHED
On paper Calgary and Nashville share many similarities. Both are inland, river cities, next to major parks and mountains and have a metro population of about 1.5 million. Perhaps most importantly both also have international signature brands - Nashville as the home of country and western music and Calgary as the home of the Calgary Stampede.
Assuming the City Centre is the heart and soul of a city, I thought it might be interesting to see how the two City Centres compare with each other.
A view of the Nashville skyline from our luxury Omni Hotel suite.
A view of Calgary skyline from the N3 condo rooftop patio with the new Central Library in the foreground.
Like Calgary Nashville has a major railway line running through its City Centre. This coal train is the equivalent to Calgary's bitumen trains.
Main Street Animation
Lower Broadway, Nashville’s signature street is animated from 10am to 3am 365 days of the year with free live music being offered in 25+ honky tonk bars. In comparison, Calgary’s Stephen Avenue is busy mostly over weekday lunch hours when thousands of office workers head out for a bite to eat (25+ upscale restaurants) or a relaxing walk.
While Stephen Avenue is a conservative upscale restaurant row, Lower Broadway is loud, fun-loving gritty urban playground which every weekend is invaded by dozens of Bachelorette Parties.
Advantage: Nashville
Nashville's main street is animated all day long, but really comes alive at night - every night not just on weekends.
While Nashville's City Centre is undergoing a massive makeover, lower Broadway is still an eclectic collection of gritty buildings from yesteryears.
Calgary's Stephen Avenue comes alive in the summer at noon hour and all day during Stampede but for most of the year it is very subdued, especially on weekends when the office towers are empty. It is unique in that it is a pedestrian mall by day but has one-way traffic at night. It connects the Olympic Plaza Cultural District with a national historic district and Calgary's Financial District.
The 300 block of Stephen Avenue has been called centre ice for Calgary's CBD with its 200 floors of corporate offices in six office towers.
Retail
Nashville has nothing to match The Core, Calgary’s urban retail mecca, nor does it have a signature department store like The Bay. It is also missing the office tower retail offerings of a Bankers Hall, Bow Valley Square or Scotia Centre.
Nashville has nothing close to the pedestrian experience offered by Calgary’s 17th Avenue, 11th Avenue, 4th Street, Atlantic Avenue, 10th Street and Kensington Road.
Advantage Calgary
Nashville has nothing to match Calgary's three block long Core shopping centre in the middle of its downtown.
Calgary's 17th Avenue is just one of several pedestrian streets in its downtown.
Calgary's Kensington Village has two pedestrian streets with a mix of retail and restaurants that appeal to both students at Alberta College of Art & Design and Southern Alberta Institute of Technology as well as oil & gas, medical and university professionals.
Nashville has several guitar and music stores located in its City Centre, perhaps the most iconic is Gruhn Guitars. Guitar shops are to Nashville what bike shops are to Calgary.
What Nashville does have is a plethora of cowboy boot stores like French's Shoes & Boots.
The Sutler is just one of many popular weekend brunch spots in Nashville along emerging 8th Ave South district.
Cultural Centres
I was shocked at how busy Nashville’s museums and art galleries were even during the week. Perhaps this is not surprising as Nashville attracted 13.9 million visitors in 2016 vs. Calgary’s 7.2 million. While on paper Nashville’s new Country Music Hall of Fame and Calgary’s National Music Centre are on par, Calgary lacks the likes of the Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline and Musicians Hall of Fame Museums. They also have an African American Music Museum under construction.
Calgary’s Glenbow would be on par with the Frist Art Gallery (located in Nashville’s Art Deco fromer Post Office) and Tennessee State Museum. Nashville also has the Ryman Theatre the original home of the Grande Old Opry, which today offers daily tours and headliner performances in the evening. Calgary’s Palace Theatre pales in comparison as a tourist attraction/cultural icon.
Both cities have a performing arts centre, symphony hall and central libraries that are more or less on par with each other.
Advantage: Nashville
Nashville's Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum is the heart and soul of its downtown. It is busy seven days a week.
Nashville has several music museums and two Hall of Fames. The Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum was particularly enlightening as it told the story of the studio musicians who are the backbone of the Nashville music industry.
Nashville boast a lovely art deco public art gallery.
Nashville's Ryman Auditorium is the mother church of the city's music industry.
Calgary's National Music Centre is part of a growing east side cultural community that includes the new Central Library, DJD Dance Centre and Youth Campus at Stampede Park.
Hotels/Convention Centre
Calgary has nothing to compare to Nashville’s 800 room Omni Hotel, a luxury urban resort attached to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Our executive suite offered a postcard view of the downtown. It was a true urban oasis.
Nashville also has two heritage hotels compared to Calgary’s one. And we were gobsmacked by the professionally curated contemporary art exhibition at the 21c Museum Hotel.
Nashville’s new mega convention centre makes Calgary Telus Convention Centre look second class. Even if when you add in the BMO Centre, Nashville’s Convention and Trade Show facilities far surpass Calgary’s.
Advantage: Nashville
The Music City Convention Centre is massive, however, the streets devoid of any vitality most of the time.
The lobby of Nashville's Union Station Hotel (yes, it is a converted historical railway station) is impressive.
Nashville's 1908 Hermitage Hotel is a reminder of the elegance and grandeur of the past. Calgary's equivalent would be the 1914 Fairmont Palliser Hotel
Recreation/River/Parks
Nashville has nothing to match Calgary’s river pathways with its plethora of walkers, runners and cyclists 365 days of the year. Nor does it have anything to match Calgary’s recreational facilities - Eau Claire Y, Repsol Sports Centre or Shaw Millenium Park.
I also didn’t encounter anything in Nashville that compares to Calgary’s island parks or Memorial Park.
Advantage: Calgary
Calgary's recently renovated St. Patrick's Island is lovely family friendly park in the middle of the Bow River.
Nashville has a lovely green beach along the Cumberland River, but it lacks the pathways along the river to link the City Centre to rest of the city.
Calgary's equivalent to Nashville's green beach would be the East Village plaza along the Bow River.
Nashville has nothing to match the love tree-lined City Centre river pathways along both the Bow and Elbow Rivers.
Memorial Park is one of many City Center parks in Calgary.
Calgary's City Centre boast dozens of children's playgrounds. I did't see a single playground in Nashville's City Centre.
Nashville has nothing to match the enhance public spaces of Calgary's City Centre like Olympic Plaza.
Arena/Stadium
Nashville’s 20-year old Bridgestone arena is very much integrated into their downtown – right next to Lower Broadway street animation and across the street from the convention centre. However, the streets around it are devoid of any pedestrian activity except for a few hours before and after game times.
Calgary’s Saddledome arena is on par with the Bridgestone arena in architecture and size. With better programming (food trucks and live bands) and marketing I expect Olympic Way could function like Lower Broadway to create a more animated streetscape on game days.
Nashville’s Nissan stadium, located across the river from Lower Broadway, is surrounded by a huge vacant parking lot except for the eight Sundays when the Titans have a home game. Calgary’s McMahon Stadium, while smaller, functions much the same way being used just a few times a year. At least the parking lot at McMahon Stadium is used for “park and ride” during the week.
Advantage: Tied
The entrance to Nashville's Bridgestone Arena built in 1996 is located right downtown on lower Broadway aka Main Street.
Nashville's Nissan Stadium opened in 1999. It provides a nice vista but it has not been a catalyst for development on the surrounding land.
Calgary's Stampede Park located at the southeast edge of the City Centre is not only the City's fairground but it is also home to the iconic Scotiabank Saddledome and the BMO Centre which hosts major trade shows and conventions.
Architecture/Urban Design
While, Nashville has several new contemporary glass office towers that would be on par with Calgary’s Brookfield Place or 707 Fifth, however they lack the integration with street via plazas, public art and retail.
I encountered nothing in Nashville that match Calgary’s two new iconic pedestrian bridges and the historic Centre Street bridge. Yes, Nashville has a huge historic truss bridge completed in 1909 that spands the Cumberland River and at 960m it is one of the longest in the world, but I rarely saw anybody use it at there is little on the other side of the river except the stadium.
When it come to public plazas, Nashville had two – the Courthouse Square above parkade and the Walk of Fame Park next to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Calgary’s equivalent would be Olympic Plaza, James Short Park and McDougal Centre.
Nashville has no LRT, and their bus service pales in comparison to Calgary.
Advantage: Calgary
Calgary's Jaume Pensa sculpture "Wonderland" sits on the plaza of the 58-storey Bow Tower designed by Sir Norman Foster.
Nashville's Plensa sculpture "Isabella" is located at the Frist Center For The Visual Arts. Perhaps the contrast between these two public artworks best manifest the differences between Nashville and Calgary.
Nashville historic pedestrian bridge links the City Centre to the Nissan Stadium.
Calgary has several pedestrian bridges linking the north and south shores of the Bow River like the Santiago Calatrava design Peace Bridge that is very popular with runners and cyclists.
Both Calgary and Nashville have ubiquitous modern glass facade office towers.
Nashville has nothing to match Calgary's LRT system and our 7th Avenue Transit Corridor.
Urban Living
Like Calgary, Nashville is experiencing an urban living renaissance with dozens of new condo developments in its City Centre. The Gulch is Nashville’s equivalent of Calgary’s East Village – minus the huge investment in public amenities.
Inglewood/Ramsay with its numerous music and bohemian venues parallels East Nashville. Nashville’s upscale trendy 12 South is similar to Calgary’s Britannia. Calgary’s Kensington Village would be on par with 21st Ave S near Vanderbilt and Belmont Universities. Marda Loop would be Calgary’s equivalent to Nashville’s 8th Ave S district.
What Nashville doesn’t have is anything to match Calgary’s vibrant Beltline, Bridgeland or Mission communities.
Advantage: Calgary
Calgary's East Village is in the middle of multi-billion dollar makeover to accommodate 10,000+ residents.
Nashville Gulch district is the equivalent of Calgary's Beltline with a mix of new residential, retail and office development.
Calgary's Beltline community is home to 22,000+ residents and four pedestrian streets - 11th Avenue, 11th Street, First Avenue and 17th Avenue. Nashville has no City Centre community of this size and diversity.
East Nashville is similar to Calgary's Inglewood/Ramsay with a mix of new condos and working-class homes. It has numerous pedestrian hubs, but no contiguous pedestrian streets.
Nashville has nothing to match Calgary's plethora of new high-rise condo buildings.
Nashville has nothing to match Calgary's cafe scene.
Calgary has nothing to match Nashville's live music scene.
Last Word
Calgary and Nashville’s City Centres are as different as night and day, as different as engineers and musicians. Calgary’s has a clean, conservative, corporate sense of place, while Nashville’s is a gritty, party, touristy place.
Calgary’s City Centre is a calm HQ (headquarters) quarter, while Nashville’s is a chaotic SHED (sports, hospitality, entertainment, district). Each has its inherent advantages and disadvantages.
Cities can’t be all things to all people.
Note: An edited version of this blog was published in the Calgary Herald's New Condo section on Nov 11, 2017.
If you like this blog, you will like these links:
Calgary vs Austin vs Portland vs Nashville for Tourist
Calgary vs Seattle: Capturing the tourists' imagination!
Calgary: Off The Beaten Path For Tourists!
Richard White can be reached at rwhiteyyc@gmail.com or follow him on twitter @everydaytourist