Restaurant Spaces

17th + Grand, soon to be home to Nashville’s first High Point Coffee location

The restaurant biz in Music City has been anything but dull of late. During covid, savvy fast-casual operators did quite well, accommodating people who were cooped up and wanting easy meal solutions and a quick break from their own surroundings. For sit-down dining, however, it was a different story, and some good restaurants sadly went under. Then came high inflation. And labor struggles. No one ever claimed the restaurant business was easy, and that’s been painfully apparent these last several years.

And yet, new concepts continue to enter the market. And previous success stories continue to expand. No one ever said that life was gonna be easy, but where there’s a will—and a handful of really good recipes—there’s a way.

The greatest challenge for restaurateurs these days is rising expenses. Even in outlying areas such as Bellevue and Donelson, the monthly passthroughs alone are in the thousands at triple-net properties (which the majority now are). Base rents have gone up considerably in recent years as well. As reported in our last post, the Greater Nashville average retail rent is $28 per SF, but at midtown and downtown properties, the asking rents are from the mid $30s to low $40s per SF, and recently we received confirmation that there are actual, not asking, rents being collected in the 12 South neighborhood that are above $100 per foot.

Grandpa Bar at Apex Marathon Village

All of that stated, unlike a couple years ago, there are a fair number of second-gen restaurant properties now available for lease. To be exact, 26 came up during a recent Costar search (filter: retail; secondary type, restaurant), and we know of at least a couple that for whatever reason weren’t included in this list. Therefore, you have to figure that market forces will kick in sooner or later, especially at some of the older and early-emerging properties, and for the patient, there will be deals.

The following is a quick recap of some Nashville area-based restaurant closings, news stories, and openings/expansions during the latter part of 2023 and the kickoff to 2024. If you are in the restaurant business and Chandler James Retail Team at Lee & Associates can be of help, please see our info on our Contact page.

Closings:

• McCabe Pub on Murphy Road is shutting its doors after being in business for over 40 years. Nashville’s Dean family owns the property, and according to the Nashville Post, Avison Young will market and list it for lease, but at the time of writing, there is still no information on Costar.

• East Nashville vegetarian favorite Wild Cow closed its doors at the end of December, after a 14-year run. As reported in the Nashville Business Journal, rising rent and food costs were cited by the restaurant as the primary reasons.

• Josephine’s in 12South, led by renowned chef Andrew Little for ten years, ended its run just before Christmas.

• Lee and Melissa Broadwell closed their Germantown location, Taylor Street Coffee & Tea, after six years to focus on a new venture, The Flower Kitchen, in Franklin.

• Franklin-based A. Marshall Hospitality is closing two of their restaurants, Americana Taphouse and Burger Dandy. According to Nashville Business Journal, A. Marshall Hospitality “is one of the largest restaurant groups in Nashville . . . with nine locations as of August.”

• Celebrity chef Maneet Chauhan is closing her North Gulch restaurant Tansuo, a Morph Hospitality concept, citing ongoing losses since the pandemic.

News:

• Music City’s beloved Arnold’s Country Kitchen: The restaurant closed after a decades-long run, and the building went under contract. Then, that sale fell through, and Arnold’s reopened earlier this month—but only temporarily. According to owner Khalil Arnold, they are actively searching for a new home. Stay tuned.

• Nashville hot chicken chain Party Fowl filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on January 9. In addition to the headwinds that all other restaurants in high-rent areas are facing, the Post and NBJ report that the two most recent Party Fowl openings, farther away from the other four in Chattanooga and Destin, have struggled thus far.

Openings/Expansions:

• An investment group that includes Crazy Gnome Brewery owner Grayson Miller has purchased a second East Nashville property for a larger facility, according to reports in the Post and NBJ. This one, located at 1005 W. Kirkland Avenue, will be large enough to begin canning. Miller says that the soonest work would begin on this facility would be late 2024. This property sits on almost a full acre of land. In mid 2024, Miller also plans to open a cidery in Nashville. Reported by William Williams in the Post, “Miller will operate Cyanide Cider at 410 Woodbine St., which sits one block west of Nolensville Road in the heart of the Woodbine commercial district.”

• Amaranth Hospitality Group (Butchertown) has opened a new concept, this time in Wedgewood-Houston, called Mercado. The food is “coastal Mexican,” and it prominently features a raw bar. According to Costar, Mercado by Butchertown occupies a whopping 13,423 SF.

• Those Slim and Huskey’s guys keep growing and expanding with a new location at The Factory at Franklin. And Holladay Properties has been very busy at the large, adaptive resuse development signing restaurants. Other notables coming to the Factory are Etch’s second location (5,000 SF), a new Hattie B’s Hot Chicken, and an Edley’s Bar-B-Que.

• CJRT client Grandpa Bar opened in Q4 of last year and has taken off like a coffee-and-cocktail-fueled rocket. Mike Rosenthal’s first F&B concept in the market is offering innovative drinks and regular live events such as songwriter showcases and comedy nights at Apex Marathon Village. Look for more F&B retail to move into this growing neighborhood as additional mixed-use developments go up.

• High Point Coffee, based out of Oxford, MS, is putting down roots in Music City. Another Chandler James client, High Point will be opening their first store on the ground floor of 17th + Grand in the first half of 2024 and plan to open more Nashville area locations later on. There’s also one space still available on the retail floor of this beautiful, class A office building on Music Row, and they are holding out for a nice sit-down restaurant there.

• Make A Play Hospitality is singlehandedly trying to create a vibrant, entertainment district in Hillsboro Village. According to NBJ, “the owners of Supper Club on Belcourt and Bungalow10,  will open its third Hillsboro Village hospitality project next month.” Speakeasy style Jar Cocktail Club on Wedgewood will be a full-fledged dance club with fog machines, strobe lights, and the whole nine yards, set to close at three AM on Fridays and Saturdays. Party on, Nashville!