How Japanese design and Texas culture is influencing Plano’s upcoming hotel near Toyota HQ

Posted on by Michael Randle

An upcoming grand and unique hotel in Plano has generated significant buzz around how exactly the project will fuse Japanese sophistication with big Texas, Southern-style charm.

The Miyako hotel, located on the south side of Campus at Legacy near Toyota’s North America headquarters, aims to not only cater to Japanese employees visiting the company, but also to a broader public looking for a special and authentic experience. It is expected to deliver in mid 2027. 

Garfield Public-Private LLC was recently announced as the developer for the hotel — five years after the project was first announced. The Dallas-based firm will be responsible for finalizing designs and permits to bring the hotel closer to the construction phase.

Dallas Business Journal

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SomeraRoad reveals vision, new renderings for $1B Nashville Gulch project

Posted on by Michael Randle

SomeraRoad has big plans for Nashville — and the firm has divulged new details.

The firm, which was founded in New York and since opened a second headquarters in Music City, started with plans for two tower and the revitalization of two historical properties in the Gulch — the antique mall and the Voorhees Building.

Now, it’s first local project, dubbed Paseo South Gulch, is estimated to cost more than $1 billion and has grown in scale to four towers. Nashville Business Journal

Andrew Donchez, head of development at SomeraRoad, sat down with the Business Journal to discuss the company’s Gulch vision, revealing new details and renderings of one of the city’s largest development projects.

Nashville Business Journal

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Williamson County, Tenn. preserves economic development funding, but expectations have changed

Posted on by Michael Randle

Nashville’s suburban headquarters hub will continue funding economic development. But priorities have changed, and even the county Republican Party isn’t happy about it.

On June 10, the Williamson County Commission approved a new one-year contract with Williamson Inc., the county’s economic development arm and chamber of commerce.

The $400,000 arrangement, which accounts for 30% of Williamson Inc.’s annual revenue, sustains a role the organization has played since it came into existence a dozen years ago.

The funding fight served as the latest flash point in a spreading backlash to growth. In the last two years, longstanding six-figure government contracts for economic development went away in Davidson and Sumner counties. For the last few months, Williamson Inc. has faced the same prospect, intensified by a twist: Commissioners had approved $400,000 of economic development funding in the budget, but the county contract had lapsed in mid-2023 and went undetected until now.

Nashville Business Journal

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