There's a capital city out there with a major university, a lot of hospitals and corporate offices, low cost of living, a good hockey team, distribution centers out the ying-yang, friendly people and half a dozen Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams scoop shops.

Sounds like Columbus, right?

It's not. For the answer, point your car southwest, drive 380 miles and you'll arrive in Nashville.

It's so similar to Ohio's capital city that some of Columbus' expansion-minded companies have the Tennessee city in their sights.

"I would call Nashville like my second city," said Jeni Britton Bauer, founder of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams. "Nashville is really special and they have really latched on to us."

The company opened its first store outside of Ohio in Nashville in 2012, and it followed with five more stores, making Nashville Jeni's second-largest market.

When Jeni's opened a shop in the popular Hillsboro neighborhood in 2015, more than 1,000 people showed up.

Donatos also has expanded there. It opened its first Tennessee location in Nashville last year and followed with a second one soon after. The Columbus-based company has franchisees planning more in the coming years.

There might not have been 1,000 people at the Donatos' grand opening opening, but one famous former central Ohioan was — Kirk Herbstreit, the ESPN analyst and former Ohio State University quarterback who now lives in Nashville.

"He is such a big fan," said Tom Pendrey, Donatos chief operating officer. "There are a lot of people like him down there. We knew we had a built-in fan base. It's been everything we can imagine and even more."

Donatos and Jeni's are not alone in Nashville.

Columbus developer Pizzuti is building a 300-room boutique hotel there, one that will carry its brand, The Joseph. The first is in the Short North.

Cameron Mitchell Restaurants is scouting locations for its Ocean Prime concept. Rise Brands, the owner of Pins Mechanical and 16-Bit Bar+Arcade, is taking both concepts to Nashville next year.

There's good reason for all of that interest, said Malcolm Getz, associate professor of economics at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

"We have a widely diversified economy and it's a lively place for young professionals," he said.

"We're happy to have them."

Not only does Nashville resemble Columbus in many ways, it's also long been the center of the universe for country music.

It is also growing at a clip that would make any Midwest city blush.

Since 2010, the Nashville area has added about 300,000 people, three times the population growth in the Columbus area, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. The two metro areas are of similar size, with Columbus being about 2 million people and Nashville a little more than 1.8 million.

Income growth in Nashville has also been sharp, climbing from No. 73 nationally in 2005 to No. 53 in 2015. During the same period of time, Columbus inched from No. 89 to No. 87.

"Nashville has excellent fundamentals," said Austin Benedict, a market expert and retail real estate broker for CBRE's Nashville office. "The No. 1 driver, though, is young talent. People want to live in Nashville and so they want to work in Nashville and that will continue to feed growth."

Nashville has also used government incentives to attract or retain big companies such Bridgestone, Nissan and health-care giant HCA.

"The city has put money into attracting headquarters, something like half a billion dollars," Getz said. "That's been a bit controversial and some wonder if we have overextended."

Troy Allen, Rise Brand's chief entertainment officer, has been scouting the city for years. He loves the energy, the various neighborhoods, the creative vibe of the place.

"Everybody is talking about (Nashville)," Allen said. "Everytime I go down there, I am amazed at how quick the development is happening."

Benedict sees a lot of outside groups trying to get in on the boom in Nashville. Companies like it because the cost of living is low, Tennessee doesn't have a state income tax and there are good universities churning out educated workers who want to stay in the area, he said.

Mostly, traffic between the two cities is headed south. A few companies such as O'Charley's and J. Alexander's, based in Nashville, have locations in central Ohio, and a smaller country bar concept, Tequila Cowboy, opened a location on Polaris Parkway.

More Columbus companies could make the trip south.

City Barbeque is one. The company has not shied away from growth in markets such as North Carolina, where barbeque is sacred. City opened a store in Atlanta earlier this month. Rick Malir, City's founder, knows Nashville well. His wife is from Tennessee.

"I love Nashville," he said in a recent interview. "I just love the city. There's good barbeque there. It's on our radar."

jmalone@dispatch.com

@j_d_malone