The historic Morris Memorial Building, previously eyed for purchase by Metro, is now under contract for sale to a developer who wants to convert the structure into a boutique hotel.
An LLC affiliated with Nashville-based hotel development company Imagine Hospitality is under contract to acquire the building, a source with knowledge of the deal told Scene sister publication the Nashville Post. Kal Patel, executive vice president of Imagine Hospitality, declined to comment.
The building, located at 330 Dr. Martin L. King Jr. Blvd., is designated on the National Register of Historic Places and is billed as the only building left in downtown Nashville originally associated with the Historic Black Business District. It was built on land where Black people were once sold into slavery.
Still, there are no historical protections for the building, which in 2016 landed on Historic Nashville Inc.’s Nashville Nine — an annual list of buildings endangered by demolition, neglect or development. HNI board president Brian Mansfield says he is cautiously optimistic about the news and still learning about the specifics.
“I’m encouraged to see people are paying attention to that property and recognizing its historic significance in this community, as opposed to letting it sit there underutilized without really knowing what to do with it the way that it has been for the last several years,” Mansfield says. “We’re more concerned about preserving the integrity of the property than we are about the specific use or specific business that goes in there.”
Metro has made multiple previous attempts to purchase the building. The National Baptist Convention, which has owned the building since it was built in 1922, offered to sell the building to Metro for $6 million in June. An NBC representative could not be reached for comment.
Councilmembers in June voted 13-24 against a budget amendment to fund the purchase, with some councilmembers concerned about the source of the money designated for the acquisition.
Former Mayor John Cooper was working on acquiring the building, but a top adviser focused on the effort, Fabian Bedne, told the incoming Freddie O’Connell mayoral administration the acquisition was stalled due to costly repairs needed to occupy the building.
“Mayor Cooper presented us with the challenge of finding ways to preserve the building,” Bedne wrote in a transition memo obtained by the Post. “To address this, we visited the site and conducted a thorough review, which made it evident that several constraints hinder its practical utilization.”
Bedne wrote that the building contains asbestos and other contaminants, with the estimated costs for remediation believed to be more than what the building is worth. He also wrote remodeling to bring the building up to code would “likely require a significant addition” but despite those challenges he was “exploring alternative solutions” for opportunities.
The source who told the Post about the expected sale also said there is no asbestos in the building.
O’Connell told WPLN's This Is Nashville on Thursday afternoon that the purchase price could be anywhere from $4 million to $10 million and said there are more than $25 million in repairs needed. He also said he would be interested in a public-private partnership and that Metro could acquire the building, but there would need to be a plan to restore it.
O’Connell was one of the 13 council votes for adopting the budget amendment to purchase the Morris building in June. The mayor said his office had not been contacted by anyone about the sale.
Newly elected District 19 Metro Councilmember Jacob Kupin, whose district includes the building, says he has been in contact with the developer, who he said expressed interest in working together with the city.
“This may be an opportunity for a private developer and the city to work together to create a project that more quickly and affordably gets this building to a place where it can once again tell its story,” Kupin says.
The councilmember said people within Metro continue to discuss purchasing the Morris Building but that a partnership might be the best option now.
When Metro decided not to purchase the Morris, Breonus Mitchell, senior pastor at Nashville’s Mount Gilead Missionary Baptist Church, said on behalf of the NBC that a new mayor coming into office could revive the $6 million deal with Metro. But Mitchell also said the group remained open to other buyers, as the religious organization has been talking about selling the building since 2015 or 2016.
Imagine Hospitality is undertaking and has completed multiple Nashville-area projects including three in MetroCenter and a boutique hotel near Nashville International Airport.
This article was first published by our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
