Lexington, Ky., is in the throes of a fight over downtown property that will sound familiar to anyone in Nashville who’s been keeping up with the planned Westin Hotel development on Broadway:

With an announcement of a high-rise downtown hotel development expected as early as this week, two groups are keeping a close eye on a strip of historic buildings on the block where the building will rise. One is interested in the buildings because of their architectural and historic significance (some of the buildings date to the 1820s). The other says the block houses one of the city’s few pockets of night life, which they contend will suffer if the buildings go down.

Both groups say they are not opposed to new development on the block, but they want to see it incorporate the historic buildings and support the existing entertainment district.

Supporters of the mixed-use development — shown as a 40-story tower in preliminary plans — say it will bring new life to the heart of downtown, and that it isn’t economically feasible to keep the old buildings on the block.

Look closely: It seemed appropriate irony to me that there is a Rite-Aid in the foreground of the digitally enhanced photo of the Lexington hotel.

It may be too late, but the Lexington developers might turn to The Tennessean’s Chas Sisk for thoughts on how to proceed. I thought it was strange that Sisk mentioned Free-Will Baptist Bible College in his column today but not Charlotte Avenue Church of Christ or the Westin, two recent and high-profile instances of square-offs between developers and preservationists.

Eric and Katie over at Nashville Restaurants have stumbled upon Manny’s House of Pizza in the Arcade downtown. If you’ve ever visited this great little pizza place, you know that this is the closest Nashville gets to having it’s own version of Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi. It pales (fortunately) in comparison with the rigid ordering process required for George or Elaine to come away with a bowl of soup, but it can be a little intense letting Manny and company know what you want for lunch.

House of Pizza isn’t just a figurative hole in the wall. It really does feel like some pizza cave inside of the Arcade in downtown Nashville. It’s also the closest thing we’ve come to an authentic Northeast pizza joint here in the Nashville area. The worn little dining room in back; the cramped way you have to stand over the counter when you order; the back and forth between Manny and his regulars: I am transported back to the Kenmore Square in Boston.

Eric and Katie have also discovered a new all-you-can-eat Southern cooking buffet and a new Mexican restaurant that looks pretty sharp. Those pretzels are not making me thirsty, but all of this talking about food is making me hungry.