Once again, and despite promises, the convention center is headed to bust the budget

"This project is not going over budget."

--Convention Center Authority's Holly McCall (Sep 30, 2010 Tennessean)

At stake is whether the convention center project can remain on budget amid increasing litigation over land prices. The Convention Center Authority has spent $52 million out of its budgeted $57 million for land acquisition. But four property owners have contested the city's estimated value of their land, and those cases won't go to court until 2011.

--Reporter Nate Rau (Oct 13, 2010 Tennessean)

01/07/2011 CLARIFICATION: Nate Rau replied to me today on Twitter that the $52 million he mentioned above in the October 2010 article included a projected purchase of one of the four properties headed for court in 2011. Hence, his above observation "But four property owners have contested ..." is inaccurate and confusing given the sentence preceding. While four are going to court this year, one of those (which was decided this week) was already figured into the expense by Rau in October. The reporter also tweeted that he expects the remaining three to come in under budget.

I will continue to follow Music City Center construction expenditures.