The Nashville Fire Department responds to a fire at the Nashville Public Library's downtown parking garage, June 10, 2025
It’s been an entire year since flames engulfed the Nashville Public Library's downtown parking garage in an early-morning fire, which originated in a storage space containing flammable gas containers. While the main library reopened at the end of March, the garage remains closed with a partial reopening eyed for this year.
At 1:22 a.m. on June 10, 2025, Nashville Fire Department crews were dispatched to the scene of the fire at 615 Church St. While no injuries were reported, the seven-story garage suffered significant damage as a result of the fire, including spalling, cracking, crazing and discoloration of the concrete as well as warping and discoloration to the steel.
The fire caused a ramp connecting the fourth and fifth floors to collapse and led to additional damage to the floors above. Due to these factors, officials with the Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure have said they expect a partial demolition and reconstruction of the garage’s top four floors.
As of January, several vehicles — some of which were damaged beyond operability — have been essentially stuck in the parking garage due to the ramp collapse. NDOT officials could not immediately confirm with Scene sister publication the Nashville Post whether any vehicles continue to be trapped in the garage, which remains closed to the public.
NDOT spokesperson Cortnye Stone tells the Post that the lower three levels of the parking garage could reopen later this year, though no specific timeline was given.
“Over the past year, NDOT has participated in several processes in the aftermath of the library garage fire, including but not limited to structural assessments, fire cause investigations and legal and insurance claims,” Stone says in an emailed statement.
“The department is actively working on an interim solution to restore parking in up to three levels of the garage this calendar year, and in the meantime, is still determining the long-term plan for the site.”
NDOT officials say top floors of seven-story structure could see reconstruction; library reopening date not finalized
This comes after NDOT officials first said in January that the lower levels of the garage could “soon” reopen.
Since the garage’s closure, approximately 140 library employees have been parking in a separate garage located on Fourth Avenue. The library has been paying the Nashville Downtown Partnership for a shuttle service to transport employees to and from the library. With Metro budget talks underway, the library has requested $135,000 for the upcoming fiscal year to continue paying for the shuttle service.
An investigation found that an electrical failure was likely the cause of the fire, though no official determination has been made. The fire started in a fourth-floor storage room of the garage — a space in which flammable gas containers were discovered. The storage space was used by Block by Block, a subcontractor of the Nashville Downtown Partnership. The NDP is a private entity that operates the garage through a contract with Metro.
Travelers hits Nashville Downtown Partnership with lawsuit for damages, claiming negligence, breach of contract
Metro Nashville’s insurance company, Travelers, recently filed a $10 million lawsuit against the Nashville Downtown Partnership, Block by Block and SMS Holdings Corporation related to the fire. The suit alleges negligence, gross negligence and breach of contract by the Downtown Partnership and says that, as a result of the fire, Travelers will make insurance payments in excess of $10 million to Metro. The suit claims that the Nashville Downtown Partnership "changed the use of the property from a parking garage to a storage yard ... constructing an impermissible combustible storage shed within the property."
The suit also alleges negligence and gross negligence by Block by Block, which it says constructed the storage shed where combustible materials were stored. The complaint also says the company allowed employees to smoke on the property.
The library fire has led to increased distrust in the operations Nashville Downtown Partnership, which faced scrutiny from both the public and local government officials last year amid the Metro Council’s decision to expand downtown’s Central Business Improvement District. The CBID operates via an extra tax, which funds cleaning, safety patrols and other programming managed by the partnership. Last week, the council rejected the CBID’s annual budget proposal, with some citing concerns related to the Nashville Downtown Partnership’s operations.
This article was first published by our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
