Downtown Nashville’s venerable The Arcade is slated for a small honky-tonk to open in early 2025 and to be operated by the team known for its various local neighborhood bars, including East Nashville’s Pearl Diver.
To be called Buddy’s, the hospitality business will operate from about 900 square feet of space within the 1902-opened structure.
Jamie White (the guitarist for Nashville’s The Pink Spiders), Corey Ladd, Shaun Folad and Micah Copeland will own Buddy,’s which is being billed as a “tiny-tonk.”
In addition to Pearl Diver, White and the other three business partners variously own Lucky’s 3 Star, GoodTimes Full Service, Tiger Bar and Roy’s Tavern.
Buddy Spicher in an undated photo
White says Buddy’s will cater to musicians, service industry workers, locals and tourists who “appreciate Nashville’s history.” The bar will offer a curated playlist of classic country tunes, with Nashville residents to receive a discount on purchases. Buddy’s is not expected to offer live music.
The name Buddy’s honors 86-year-old fiddle master Buddy Spicher, Ladd’s grandfather.
“Buddy’s will pay tribute not only to him but also to the countless musicians who have shaped Nashville's renowned music scene over the years,” White says, noting Spicher has collaborated with Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Charlie Daniels, Bob Dylan, Patsy Cline, Conway Twitty, Pam Tillis, Roy Orbison and George Jones, among others.
White says Buddy's will be distinctive in that it will be a Nashville honky-tonk named after an instrumentalist rather than a singer.
Through a pandemic and a change in ownership, shopkeepers in the iconic downtown shopping mall continue to hang on
“Our goal is to shine a light on the musicians who form the backbone of the music we hold dear,” he says.
The ownership team is not disclosing either the cost to get operational or terms of its lease.
An entity that includes local real estate industry veteran Rob Lowe and New York City-based Linfield Capital owns The Arcade, having paid $28 million for the building in April 2021.
The Arcade offers an address of 65 Arcade Alley. Spanning Fourth and Fifth avenues north and modeled after an Italian arcade, it was Nashville's first “shopping center,” having replaced what was called Overton Alley as the city’s retail commerce epicenter.
Elliott Kyle, a broker with Nashville-based Equitable Property Company, represented the two parties in the lease transaction.
This article was first published by our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
