Plans have been unveiled for a $ 40 million music, entertainment and dining complex in Murfreesboro Gateway.
The 25,000-square-foot Sunset Music Colosseum on the river will be located on an 18.2-acre city-owned lot located on the southeast corner of Medical Center Parkway and Gateway Boulevard.
Mayor Shane McFarland and JW Roth, president of Notes Live Inc, an aggressive new actor in the live music space, detailed the project Thursday afternoon at City Hall.
“Provided the final deals are approved by city council, the amphitheater will be a public-private partnership that will add significant amenity to the area and elevate Murfreesboro into the Nashville music scene,” McFarland explained.
The venue’s demographics will be middle-aged customers who enjoy good food and drink, comfortable event accommodations, classic rock and country, and live entertainment, Roth said.
Project details
The flagship of the project is the Sunset Amphitheater, a 4,500-seat venue that will host major traveling shows on an entertainment campus featuring live music, bands such as Lynyrd Skynyrd and .38 Special, two of Roth’s favorite bands. Amenities include 32 firepit suites along with stadium-style seating and casual lawn seating.
The proposed plan also includes the Bourbon Brothers Smokehouse and Tavern, which will offer upscale casual dining.
The full service restaurant will be approximately 10,000-12,000 square feet with a menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner, an indoor bar, a tasting room with more than 100 rare bourbons, a 7,000 square foot outdoor patio with a smoking area of cigars as well as a musical patio.
An adjacent Boot Barn Hall can accommodate up to 1,400 people indoors. It will be modeled after Notes Live’s Boot Barn Hall in Colorado Springs, which became one of Colorado’s premier music venues after opening in February 2019.
Under one roof is the 16,000-square-foot Boot Barn Hall, which will have indoor seating and a VIP section on the second floor to accommodate approximately 1,400 patrons. Half of the events will consist of concerts and the other half will host corporate and community events.
“My wife doesn’t want to be in a concert all the time, she doesn’t want to queue for the bathroom and she doesn’t want to walk 7 miles from the parking lot. And she won’t go to a place where the tables are sticky and you might lose a tooth,” he said. joked Roth.
Together, the locations are expected to employ 200 full-time and part-time employees. Notes Live expects to see more than 600,000 customers annually across Bourbon Brothers, Boot Barn Hall and Sunset on the River.
“We love Murfreesboro and plan to build one of the most luxurious music campuses in the country,” Roth said. “We expect our live streaming and content strategy to make ‘Live from Murfreesboro’ a household name in every living room in America.”
Detailed development
Notes Live INC and City officials have entered into a non-binding Memorandum of Understand and will continue to negotiate binding development agreements that will be submitted for Murfreesboro City Council approval.
Notes Live has identified Murfreesboro is an attractive, high-growth area located along major corridors near the City of Music with positive age and income demographics.
“This potential public-private partnership announcement definitely fits our long-term vision for the city. Civic leaders in Murfreesboro have long been targeting an amphitheater within the city as part of the park development, including a tentative project on the same property, ”said City Manager Craig Tindall.
Murfreesboro is the third live music development for emerging live entertainment company Notes Live Inc., which recently announced the opening of an 8,000-person outdoor amphitheater, The Sunset, in Colorado Springs, on the same campus with Bourbon Brothers Smokehouse and Tavern.
Other locations are underway in mid-sized markets with growing populations, including Gainesville, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, as well as expansion plans in Florida and north Texas.
RCS:Meet 3 finalists competing for the best job at Rutherford County Schools
Christian Academy of Providence:Andy Sheets appointed school principal of Murfreesboro Providence Christian Academy
The government has offered the 18 acres for sale as a headquarters for several years to attract higher-paying jobs. The property is located between the Medical Center Parkway and the town’s Stones River golf course.
The city land is also located across the street from the Fountains at Gateway development with offices, restaurants, shops, and entertainment, including seasonal outdoor ice skating. A city advisor in 2020 ranked both properties in the top five Murfreesboro areas for economic development.
The town property is also close to Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital and many doctors’ offices.
Reach out to reporter Scott Broden with news tips and questions by emailing him at [email protected] Follow him on Twitter @ScottBroden. Reach journalist Nancy DeGennaro at [email protected]