The NHL's lockout is now well into its first week and at least two franchises — Florida and Ottawa — have announced staff cuts to offset the loss in revenue if actual games are canceled.

Multiple sources told NashvillePost.com that employees at Bridgestone Arena — including those employed by the team, as well as its arena management arm, Powers — were told in a staff meeting that the work stoppage would not result in layoffs here.

That information was confirmed by Predators President and COO Sean Henry.

During the lost season of 2004-05, the Predators had massive layoffs. Only two NHL teams weathered that work stoppage without layoffs: the Tampa Bay Lightning — where Henry was COO — and the Dallas Stars — where CEO Jeff Cogen was president.

This week's City Paper showcases a number of the ideas that have been submitted to the Nashville Civic Design Center's competition to envision an overhauled East Bank downtown. Designers were asked to incorporate outdoor exercise elements and sports venues into a mixed-use environment.

Seventeen submissions were picked as finalists, from which three winners will be chosen. They will be made public later this week. In the meantime, here are some of the concepts that caught our eye.

Bidding for downtown’s Regions Center will conclude today, with the most current offering for the skyscraper at $7.5 million.

Bidding via auction.com started Monday at $6 million for the 602,000-square-foot, 28-story building, which opened in 1973.

The Nashville office of Cassidy Turley is helping handle the sales process for Regions Center owner LNR Partners, which is based in Miami Beach, Fla.

Auction.com Commercial’s Erin Andrew and Crews Johnston III and Perry Gooch, Cassidy Turley senior managing director and vice president respectively, are co-coordinating the effort.

“There certainly have been over 100 groups who have showed interest, but we won’t know until [Wednesday] how many of those will have been active and reasonable bidders,” Johnston said late Tuesday afternoon before adding with a chuckle, “I am the arbiter of what is reasonable.”

Two of the highest-profile electronic music DJs have pulled together a two-day festival that will hit Nashville's riverfront in late October. Tickets go on sale here on Tuesday.

The site for the festival is one of unparalleled awesomeness, taking place on the waterfront of downtown Nashville. Artists will perform in front of the scenic river and skyline, and several private events will ensue post-festival, both at an undisclosed terrestrial location and on a river boat.