Corsair’s Bell Pays $6.8M for Warehouse in The Nations

Nashville-based real estate investor, distiller and entrepreneur Darek Bell has paid $6.8 million for an industrial property located near Stocking 51, Silo Bend and the Cumberland River in The Nations.

With an address of 4717 Centennial Blvd., the property (pictured above) spans 6.3 acres and includes a building with 14,000 square feet of office space and 103,000 square feet of warehouse space.

The seller was Continental Machinery Movers Inc., which will remain as a lease back tenant for at least a year, according to Bell. The building is used for CCMI’s office, construction storage and warehousing.

Bell (right), a partner with Bell and Associates Construction and the owner of Wedgewood-Houston-based Corsair Artisan Distillery, said he plans to keep some of the space as warehousing. However, he will renovate part of the building to offer a mix of creative office, residential space, light industrial “maker” space, retail space and a parking garage. The maker space will be used for artisan food production and craft beverage manufacturing, he said.

Bell said the space will allow Corsair to deploy larger stills than it currently uses at its Wedgewood-Houston facility due to the 43-foot-tall ceiling heights. The space will allow for more barrel storage, grain storage, and expand the distillers bottling operations. Corsair currently operates distilleries in Nashville at Marathon Village and Wedgewood-Houston, as well as in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

To recognize the evolving character of the neighborhood, Bell said he plans to work with local artists to add a large mural on the building’s Centennial Boulevard face. He pointed to the Silo Bend mural, located nearby, as an “instant landmark that garnered national attention” as a model of sorts.

Centric Architecture and Kimley Horn will provided architectural and engineering services, respectively. Both are locally based.

CBRE broker Neil Dyer represented Bell in the purchase, with Horrell Co. broker Mike Russell representing the seller.

Continental Machinery Movers, via CPM GP, acquired the property in November 2006 for $2.05 million, according to Metro records.

The property is located two blocks east of Frothy Monkey, Nicky’s Coal Fired and (soon) Southern Grist Brewing in the aforementioned Stocking 51. To the south an on an adjacent parcel sits Village West Apartments.