The executive subcommittee of the State Building Commission on Thursday approved a temporary lease for Elon Musk’s The Boring Company to use a downtown parking lot. The lot will be used for purposes related to the recently announced Music City Loop project to create a tunnel from the airport to downtown Nashville.
The two-year lease allows The Boring Company to utilize the state-owned 0.8-acre lot at 637 Rosa L. Parks Blvd. to manage construction operations and create a site where a tunnel-boring machine can be launched — all at no cost.
Elon Musk's Boring Company plans to create the 10-mile Music City Loop with no funding from taxpayers
Tennessee Department of General Services Commissioner Jeff Holmes says the lot is underutilized and typically about 30 percent full. Others argue, however, that the lot is a popular spot used by local musicians, Metro employees and people attending government meetings at the Capitol.
The lease requires The Boring Company to restore the lot to its current condition once the project is complete, and allows the state to terminate the lease if the tunnel project does not progress.
Before the commission approved the lease on Thursday, the Tennessee Department of General Services granted the company a license to set up a fence around the property. Holmes said the fence was put in place to protect the public from geological expiration and small boring holes that have already been made.
Democratic state lawmakers and Nashville residents attended Thursday morning’s commission meeting to oppose the tunnel project. Common concerns include the unknown environmental impact and potential for flooding or collapse. Others criticized the privatization of transportation, noting that Nashvillians voted for the “Choose How You Move” public transit initiative last year.
State Rep. Justin Jones speaks before the State Building Commission, July 31, 2025
“It is shameful and it is disrespectful that you all have made this decision without us,” said state Sen. Charlane Oliver (D-Nashville), addressing the commission. “Anything about us, without us, is not for us. And Nashville is not for sale, especially for billionaires who want to buy and exploit our community.”
State legislators repeatedly argued that leasing parcels of Nashville land without community input or consultation with local elected officials is excessive government overreach. State Sen. Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville) called it “living in a totalitarian state” at a press conference after the meeting. Campbell referenced recent comments by Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation — the same group that proposed conservative agenda outline Project 2025 — and said it is an additional means of weakening Nashville’s authority.
“When we have cities like Austin or Nashville or other capital cities whose local government is not representative of the will of the people, decharter them and establish them as state municipal districts,” Roberts said at a gathering of the American Legislative Exchange Council just a few weeks ago.
A surface parking lot on Rosa L. Parks Boulevard that is being leased to Elon Musk's The Boring Company
The Boring Company project comes as the state attempts to cut Nashville’s Metro Council in half and uproot the city’s control over the airport authority.
Metro councilmembers have also said they were not consulted about the tunnel project and have echoed concerns from state Democrats that the process has been secretive and corrupt.
Protesters attend a meeting of the State Building Commission, July 31, 2025
“My voice and my colleague’s voices were not present at the table when backroom deals were done with billionaires,” At-Large Councilmember Delishia Porterfield said.
The Boring Company has faced multiple work safety violations in relation to its work on a similar underground tunnel system in Las Vegas, where workers were injured by chemical burns. Another Musk-owned company, xAI, has been under scrutiny for one of its data centers' contribution to air pollution in Memphis.
