Getahn Ward

The Tennessean

Live Nation has long sought a downtown Nashville location for its House of Blues restaurant and blues club concept.

On Nov. 15, the Metro Historic Zoning Commission will vote on proposed revisions to design guidelines that could affect the allowable height.

An 18-story building with a House of Blues,and a high-end hotel is on the drawing board for downtown Nashville across from the riverfront.

The building planned at 105 and 107 First Ave. S., which is currently a parking lot behind Acme Feed & Seed restaurant, also will have office space for Live Nation, which owns House of Blues.

On Nov. 15 the Metro Historic Zoning Commission will vote on proposed revisions to design guidelines, including signage and lighting standards, for the Broadway historic overlay district, which will determine maximum height of the planned building.

"Based on the development patterns we see, I think the proposal accommodates conversion of a surface parking lot into development that will balance Nashville's growth with a historic corridor," downtown Metro Councilman Freddie O'Connell said. "It doesn't put undue pressure on the pedestrian experience either on Broadway or First."

Live Nation has long sought a downtown Nashville location for its House of Blues restaurant and blues club concept. The Beverly Hills, Calif.-based live entertainment company once considered space at the former Nashville Convention Center site, where the Fifth + Broadway project is underway.

Live Nation is already a major player on Nashville's entertainment scene. The company operates the Metro-owned Ascend Amphitheater and the privately owned Carl Black Chevy Woods Amphitheater at Fontanel, handles bookings for downtown's Nashville Municipal Auditorium and is majority owner of the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival.

Live Nation, which has about 30 employees and its national country and local booking divisions in an Edgehill Village office, isn't the only live entertainment company pursing an expansion here.

Los Angeles-based rival AEG plans a 4,000-capacity indoor music venue along with a 600- to 700-capacity live entertainment club and an 850-seat Regal Cinemas theater complex as part of the Nashville Yards commercial and residential project underway on the 15-acre former LifeWay campus on Broadway.

Live Nation's pursuit of the Nashville House of Blues comes as live performances and music events have become a major part of the revenue stream for artists and the music industry. "We need to do what we can to encourage any business that helps artists get into those live venues," Metro Planning Department Executive Director Doug Sloan said.

Sloan saw potential project designs for the roughly 0.43-acre parking lot a block south of Broadway, which the principals in MJM Architects control under a ground lease with a trust linked to the family of local businessman Lester L. Turner Jr.

Conversations between the people behind the project and Metro planners have included how the building is going to attach to the adjacent John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge and its planned maximum height in relationship to the other nearby buildings. The proposed 18-story height would be for a small portion of the footprint.

"We're excited with how it addresses the top of the bridge by opening the building up to the ramp as it goes up to the Seigenthaler Bridge and it addresses the lower portion where the park is below the bridge," Sloan said about one design. "That works well with the design that we saw for the development planned on the other side of the bridge."

By "the other side of the bridge," Sloan was referring to the $350 million project for the property where Market Street Apartments sit at 150 Second Ave. S.

Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Northern Capital Investments and The Congress Group of Boston have proposed a pair of 40-story towers with condos, apartments, a five-star luxury hotel, dining and public parking.

Leaseholders for the parking lot behind Acme Feed & Seed have mentioned talks of their own with high-end, five-star hotel brands, but the hotel envisioned as part of the project planned on that First Avenue site would have a boutique flavor.

The proposed project site is one of two parcels at the southern edge of the Broadway historic overlay district for which a revision to the allowable height is being considered.

Tennessean music business writer Nate Rau contributed to this report. Reach Getahn Ward at 615-726-5968 and on Twitter @getahn.