McCarter | East Law
Location: 316 West Main Street, Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Project Delivery: Design-Build
Project Scope: Major interior renovations and exterior facelift
310 West Main, a commanding brick building constructed in 1925, has become a local landmark and highly regarded presence in Murfreesboro’s central business district. The expansive 11,800-square-foot space is now a thoroughly renovated building. Improvements, which included both an interior rehabilitation and an exterior facelift, are drawing kudos from the public.
All renovations are full of size surprises and so was this one. A large portion of the roof deck had to be replaced and demolition was extensive and dangerous. Obtaining the necessary building permits required numerous meetings and discussions with City Hall. Budgeting was another challenge—the project was very difficult to estimate because of the unusual and pre-existing conditions.
Despite these obstacles, the supervisory skills of Dow Smith Company Operations Director Gary Grisham kept the project work safe, productive, and on schedule.
“The building was in rough shape and offered many challenges. The building is located on historic Main Street as well and there were several challenges with the City of Murfreesboro that had to be addressed to get to a finished product. However, we were able to work through (and sometimes around) the various challenges. Ultimately we have a finished product that is first-class and will hopefully be an asset to downtown Murfreesboro.””
Twelve years ago, when Dow Smith’s son was playing football for Smyrna High School, they walked into an opposing team’s weight room and Dow was impressed by the facility and all of the things that were available to that team’s players. But he also had a chip on his shoulder because he didn’t understand why the athletes at Smyrna High didn’t have everything they needed to be successful.