A family of companies linked to Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and record producer Shane McAnally will become the new anchor tenant for the former longtime home of Jim Owens Entertainment Inc. on Music Row.
SMACKSongs Publishing and SMACK Management will occupy the 5,000-square-foot first floor at 1110 16th Ave. S. under a long-term lease signed after the office building just changed hands for $1.89 million.
Songwriter rooms, a studio and a media room are planned as part of interior and exterior renovations that Nashville-based Allard Ward Architects designed for the two-story, roughly 7,100 square foot building.
In addition to space the SMACK companies will occupy under the lease with new building owner MB Nashville LLC, 1,860 square feet will be available for lease on the second floor.
MB Nashville, whose registered agent Michael Baum also is SMACK's chief operating officer and McAnally's partner, bought the property from motivational speaker Steve F. Diggs.
Local architectural historian Robbie Jones said the property has historical significance as originally the home of Mrs. Lettie Sweeney, who opened the short-lived Belmont Records in 1953. That music publishing house predated Owen Bradley's Quonset Hut recording studio by a year.
Around 1964, that original house was replaced by a service station and auto repair shop that underwent significant renovations in the 1980s and 1990s into the current office building.
Jim Owen Entertainment has moved from the property at the corner of 16th and Edgehill to 63 Music Square East. That company, which is known for country music radio and TV productions, is producer of the "Crook & Chase Top 40 Countdown" radio show and retained branding of The Nashville Network.
Dane Bryant, a broker with Lura Bainbridge Real Estate, represented Diggs in selling the property. Broker Jason Keckley of Great South Real Estate & Development represented buyer MB Nashville.
Reach Getahn Ward at 615-726-5968 and on Twitter @getahn.