A Nashville development company’s effort to acquire the Gulch property last home to Arnold's Country Kitchen has been scrapped — with the property now back on the market for sale.
As the Scene's sister publication the Nashville Post reported in January, SomeraRoad was planning to acquire the three-parcel site, the main address for which is 605 Eighth Ave. S. in the Gulch. Sources said at the time the property was under contract (read here).
However, multiple sources now say SomeraRoad was unable to finalize the sale, and on Thursday Kahlil Arnold told the Post the transaction will not materialize.
"There is no deal in place now," he says. "Arnold’s was not finished with our building and wanted to say another goodbye. Our building is a living entity and we are grateful for the support of our customers."
The property is now being listed for sale by Avison Young's Lisa Maki, Henry Trost and Mike Jacobs.
"We are actively marketing the property," Maki says, adding that the timing related to what is a challenging real estate market was one reason that the deal did not materialize. "This is a great opportunity for a developer looking at Nashville."
Officials with SomeraRoad, which is undertaking the multi-building, mixed-use Paseo South Gulch development across the street from the ex-Arnold’s site, declined to comment.
Arnold's will temporarily reopen Thanksgiving week (read here), with its owners now noting a return to full operations is possible.
A mainstay for about 40 years within the city's meat-and-three community, Arnold's closed in January.
Arnold says he is looking at other sites for a concept that could take cues from Arnold's. He did not say what might become of the existing property.
"At some point in the near future, and after the Thanksgiving week, Arnold’s will be reopening in the same location for at least a small period of time to say our final goodbye from this location," he says, adding the downtime allowed the family to spend time with Jack Arnold (Kahlil's father), who died Sept. 4 (read here).
Rose Arnold (Kahlil's mother) owns the 0.47-acre property via Arnold Real Properties LLC, having paid $921,780 for it in October 2012, according to Metro records. As the Post previously reported, and citing similar deals, Arnold could land at least $7.3 million for her property — thus representing approximately eight times the figure for which the family paid for it about a decade ago.
As the Post reported in January, Rose Arnold referenced general weariness of operating a restaurant business for 40 years and property taxes that continued to create a financial burden as reasons for closing. She told the Scene she and Kahlil "wanted the chance to exit on our terms” and were not pressured to sell.
SomeraRoad owns one property, with an address of 631 Eighth Ave. S., located on the west side of Eighth Avenue from the CSX railroad bridge on the north to Division Street on the south. As noted, North Point owns a segment of that stretch, with other individual owners seemingly standing pat for now, according to sources.
To the immediate south of the Arnold's property is the building home to Carter Vintage Guitars. Christie and Walter Carter own that property, having paid $717,435 for it in 2012 via an associated entity, Metro records note. SomeraRoad owns the adjacent property (a surface parking lot), for which it paid $3.5 million in April 2022.
To the immediate north of the Arnold's property sits a building home to Nashville Boot Co. Shreeve Properties, based in Nicholasville, Ky., owns that property, having paid $227,500 for it in 2001 according to Metro records.
Paseo South Gulch is unfolding on the east side of the Eighth Avenue stretch, with construction of mixed-use building Prima nearing completion.
This article was first published by our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
