'Music City Studios,' 47-Acre 'Creative Campus' Planned For Hendersonville, TN

Artist rendering of Music City Studios (Photo: Music City Studios)

MUSIC CITY STUDIOS has announced the potential upcoming development a 47-acre "creative campus," which, if approved by local government, is set to break ground this NOVEMBER in HENDERSONVILLE, TN, near NASHVILLE. The media campus will feature soundstages and space for film and television productions, along with concert tour rehearsals and other digital ventures, according to local media reports.

The team behind the planned complex is set to propose its plans next week at the HENDERSONVILLE Board of Mayor and Alderman meeting. Construction is planned to be complete by MARCH of 2023.

HENDERSONVILLE, which is about 17 miles from NASHVILLE , has been home to many Country music luminaries. The project's team chose the city because of its local economy, progressive leadership, proximity to the NASHVILLE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT and its history in entertainment and creative arts.

“We’ve been the home of JOHNNY CASH, CONWAY TWITTY, TAYLOR SWIFT, THE OAK RIDGE BOYS, RICKY SKAGGS,” HENDERSONVILLE Mayor JAMIE CLARY told THE TENNESSEAN. “And this isn't just about music, it's about entertainment. And HENDERSONVILLE is the perfect fit. It’s the most appropriate place for a facility that provides entertainment, digitally or live.”

According to project leaders, MUSIC CITY STUDIOS is fully funded, and over 60 of the planned facilities have been preleased. The team projects that this creative campus development will produce more than 800 jobs in the next five years.

MONOLITH STUDIOS, a full-service virtual production and content creation studio specializing in LED technology, will be the new campus' main tenant and partner. Other tenants will be announced through the start of 2022.

That LED tech will be housed in one 150,000 square foot building with multiple sound stages, while a second will be provide a 50,000 square foot rehearsal space for the "top 100 acts,” MONOLITH CEO JOSH FURLOW told THE TENNESSEAN.

NASHVILLE-native and industry veteran DAVID BUTTREY has been tapped to oversee MUSIC CITY STUDIOS. His experience includes producing the TORTUGA and AFROPUNK music festivals, among many other large-scale events.

“Even a Country artist may have as many rigging points in their lighting production as a globally recognized DJ now,” BUTTREY told THE TENNESSEAN. “All genres are competing for that large scale, really innovative show design, which has created new complexities that have never existed in the touring market before. And the infrastructure has just never really caught up to service those newly complex productions. So, there's been a pressure of, ‘Okay, where can we practice putting all this stuff together?’ A lot of it is new technology. A lot of it has automation components to it, and things that really should be rehearsed. And this [campus] will provide an end-to-end solution, soup to nuts for people in the global touring space, as well as the film and the metaverse space.”

« see more Net News