The Barbershop Harmony Society is getting ready to say goodbye to its longtime downtown Nashville home, a distinctive three-story, 37,000-square-foot headquarters just a block off Broadway. The national nonprofit says staff, its music library, and its archives will move, with leaders planning to use the proceeds to support barbershop singing for decades.
As reported by the Nashville Business Journal, the society’s building at 110 Seventh Avenue North is under contract to sell to a local developer, with the parties aiming to close by the end of the year. The reporting frames the decision as a response to aggressive redevelopment pressure all around the block.
In a post on the Barbershop Harmony Society’s website, the nonprofit said the sale would “benefit barbershop singers for decades to come” and that proceeds will be invested to maximize its mission. The society noted it bought the property in 2006 for roughly $1.45 million and reiterated that the building totals about 37,000 square feet, figures included in its announcement on the organization’s site.
What Developers Have Pitched
ConnectCRE reports that an affiliate of Sanders Carter, the development arm of Pinnacle Construction, has floated plans for a more-than-200-room hotel on the site, a tower that could reach past 30 stories while keeping the building’s barber-pole facade. Under that concept, most of the current structure would come down, with the facade restored and folded into the new high-rise project.
Why The Timing Makes Sense
Developers are not circling by chance. Downtown Nashville continues to draw big hospitality and mixed-use proposals even as office values shift, which is keeping demand high for well-located parcels. The Real Deal has spotlighted major projects that keep hotel rooms and luxury condos in the pipeline, and the Business Journal has pointed to record-setting downtown deals and new towers rising around the city’s block.
What The Society Says Comes Next
The society says it plans to stay in the Nashville area and hunt for a smaller, more efficient office for staff, while taking extra care with its music library and archives during any move. In its announcement, the organization stressed that the sale is a strategic move rather than a distress signal and that, handled correctly, the transaction could underwrite programming and scholarships for years. That message is laid out in the society’s statement on its site.
With the building under contract, closing, design review, and permitting will dictate the schedule and ultimately the shape of whatever replaces the society’s headquarters. Developers’ plan to preserve the facade, which reports say is part of the proposal, could ease some preservation worries, but the specifics are still tied to financing and approvals, and will come into focus as formal filings move ahead.
