Popular locally based Mexican restaurant chain Cinco de Mayo is slated to operate a location in the East Nashville building once home to Mad Donna’s.
The owners of the business have applied for a permit that would allow a rehab of the space. The building has an address of 1313A Woodland St., at the intersection of Woodland and 14th streets.
Considered by many to be one of the most attractive commercial buildings on the city’s east side, the stone building offers an interesting recent history. Built in 1907, it once housed a doctor’s office and pharmacy and, later, a grocery store, according to a 2001 story by the late Scene editor Jim Ridley (read here).
One of the most prominent businesses that filled the space over the years — the restaurant and music spot Radio Cafe — opened in the mid-1990s. That was about the time East Nashville was starting to percolate with home rehabs but before a wave of new restaurants and bars arrived in the early to mid-2000s.
"During the tornado of 1997, when the ravaged community was left for days without power, [Radio Cafe owner Mac] Hill hooked up a generator to his beer cooler and served meals to neighbors for three straight days," Ridley wrote. That business closed in September 2001. (Mac Hill currently operates a newer version of Radio Cafe on Gallatin Pike.)
After an extensive renovation of the Woodland Street space, a new ownership team opened Mad Donna’s in 2008. The restaurant enjoyed a strong run; its Sunday brunch was particularly popular. But it closed without public notice in December 2016, and Wylee’s Cafe & Bar would soon thereafter open in the space.
Bar Rescue personality Jon Taffer and singer Sheryl Crow both were reportedly to have been involved in Wylee’s, and the transition was filmed as part of a reality television series pilot.
But by late February 2017, a mere two months later, Wylee’s closed — and the stately structure has sat empty since.
Cinco de Mayo operates five restaurants in Davidson County and one each in Rutherford and Wilson counties. Owner Carlos Figueroa could not be reached for comment. The Nashville Business Journal reports that Figueroa is eyeing a June opening for the new Cinco on the East Side.
Real Handy Pro LLC will handle the build-out of the space. A Cottontown, Tenn.-based entity owns the property, having acquired it in March 2018 for $1.35 million, according to Metro records. CFC Properties bought the property in 2007 for $500,000. For context, it changed hands in 1993 for $70,000.
East Nashville is home to various Mexican restaurants, including (but not limited to) El Jaliciense, Five Points Cocina Mexican, Las Maracas East and Rosepepper Cantina.
