LifeWay's Draper Tower scheduled for implosion Saturday as Nashville redevelopment continues

A recognizable piece of Nashville's skyline, LifeWay's Draper Tower, is scheduled to be imploded Saturday as the city's downtown continues to evolve.

The 12-story building is scheduled to be demolished at 9:30 a.m., according to development representatives. The implosion will include a number of road closures and restricted access around the perimeter of the building for the implosion.

The Draper Tower is within a mixed-use downtown redevelopment known as Nashville Yards that plans residential, office and commercial space projected as "a new gateway to downtown," said Joe Bucher, design principal of Gresham Smith & Partners.

A groundbreaking is also scheduled Saturday for a 23-story, 591-room Hyatt Regency hotel planned for 10th and Broadway where the former LifeWay Christian Store once operated, which is part of Nashville Yards.

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The LifeWay Christian Resources building being demolished will be ultimately be replaced by a 380-unit residential building fronted with new green space, two office buildings with 700,000 square feet of space and approximately 90,000 square feet of retail, Bucher said.

The Draper Tower — named for LifeWay president emeritus James T. Draper Jr. — is one of several buildings that made up a campus purchased by Southwest Value Partners.

Nashville Yards master plan calls for more than four million square feet of new construction and will realign road grids with plans to convert 10th Avenue North within the development to a stacked street with an upper and lower level, Bucher said.

AEG also plans to construct an entertainment district as part of Nashville Yards that will include a music venue, movie theater, boutique hotel and bowling alley, Bucher said.

The sale was completed in November 2015, LifeWay spokesman Aaron Earls said.

All employees were out of the Draper Tower after March 2016, All LifeWay workers have been at its new location in Capitol View since November 2017, Earls said.

Road closures for Saturday's implosion

Saturday’s implosion will involve several downtown street closures: They include:

11th Avenue N., between McGavock and Grundy.

10th Avenue N., between Broadway and Commerce (Friday and Saturday)

9th Avenue N., between Broadway and Church

Broadway between 8th Avenue N., and 12th Avenue N.

Church Street between Rosa L. Parks Blvd., and George L. Davis Blvd.

Commerce Street between 8th Avenue N., and 10th Avenue N. (Friday and Saturday).

Reach Andy Humbles at ahumbles@tennessean.com or 615-726-5939 and on Twitter @ AndyHumbles.