By Adam Ghassemi
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – It's a meticulous job to make sure every square inch of roughly three football fields is perfect.
"It's a lot of grass," one worker said.
It is impressive even before you realize it's on top of the long awaited Music City Center. From Sky5HD, the first of three phases of green roof is nearing completion. When it's all done, it'll have its own micro-climate covered by four-acres of a grass-like plant called "sedum".
Scott McGaughy of Murfreesboro-based Landscape Support Services is responsible for it all. McGaughy says every green square is armed with 11 types of sedum that will control water runoff year round. "If we were to go down and look at the drains right now the roof would still be draining. If you came out here two days later the roof would still be draining," McGaught said.
It works by absorbing and holding water to keep from overwhelming sewers. A side benefit is it insulates the building as well, making it more green.
That's good news for Nashville Mayor Karl Dean.
"You see it from all the interstates and you see it from the upper floors of all the buildings downtown," Dean said on the roof Thursday.
Two major goals during his administration has been building Music City Center and making Nashville the greenest city in the South. "Well it's a good marriage environmental awareness and economic development," said Dean.
The economic part of his plan may already be working with more than 500,000 rooms and a number of conventions already booked through the year 2026. The facility has a deadline to open in April 2013.
"We'll have a million room nights booked, I believe, before the convention center opens," Dean said.
There is more than just functionality to the environmental side it'll also be aesthetically pleasing as well. As the various types of sedum bloom in different seasons, people will be able to watch the rooftop change colors. "They'll be able to look out and see a field that looks like it's white and they'll see a field that looks like it's yellow," McGaught went on to say.
When the three-block footprint is finished it will change the Music City skyline forever by adding a green touch they hope will keep people coming back for years.
"I think it will be one of the most interesting convention centers in all the United States," Dean said.
We're told the sedum won't take very much maintenance because it holds water, like a cactus. That means it won't have to be watered very often even in the Tennessee summers.
Mayor Dean says they hope the facility becomes one of the greenest convention centers in America by earning the Silver LEED certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.
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