Longtime Elliston Place watering hole The Corner Bar will close in late March after a 20-year run.
The closing is due in large part to a future tower that Nashville-based Giarratana has planned for the site. The development will require the razing of the building at 2200 Elliston Place in which The Corner Bar operates.
Owned by Sekvan Mohammed and his family, The Corner Bar is one of the only dive bars operational in the general Midtown area and the only such business remaining on the city’s Rock Block. It is open 365 days a year from 3 p.m. to 3 a.m.
The Corner Bar opened in 2004, with Mohammed having overseen the business. Mohammed says the last day of operation is expected to be March 23.
Mixed-use building would replace Elliston Place structure housing Corner Bar
Mohammed tells Scene sister publication the Nashville Post he has enjoyed a quality working relationship with his landlord, Cooke/Wilson Properties.
Mohammed also notes his general manager, Torre Wyatt, has been with The Corner Bar since it the business opened 20 years ago. In addition, Danyelle Ferrigno has been employed for 14 years.
Originally from Kurdistan and having once spent four years in a refugee tent camp, Mohammed (who arrived in Nashville in 1992 and later worked as an interpreter for the U.S. military) says he is looking for a new location for The Corner Bar and would prefer to stay in the Midtown area.
Cooke/Wilson Properties could not be reached for comment regarding the status of the building’s other tenants, which include Michelangelo’s Pizza, and a date when the building will be demolished.
Old-school bars that once operated in the general Midtown area and have closed since the 1990s include The Gold Rush, Hurry Back and South Street.
Gold Rush — the legendary Elliston Place dive bar in which countless locals have bathed in cigarette smoke while quaffing beer — has closed.
As the Post reported in August 2024, the Metro Board of Zoning Appeals approved Giarratana’s request for a special exception from the height setback and height control plane requirements related to the aforementioned proposed tower.
As planned, the building will rise 17 floors and offer a combination of 356 apartment units and ground-level retail and restaurant space. The address is 2200-2204 Elliston Place. In addition, Giarratana is eyeing a five-story (with two levels below grade), 578-space parking garage to supplement the tower, for an adjacent property located at 209 22nd Ave. N.
This article was first published by our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
