The company behind one of Music City's most storied buildings wants to build a neighborhood around it. RPM Development Partners has submitted plans for the Chestnut Street Campus, a multi-building mixed-use development in Nashville's Wedgewood-Houston, proposed on behalf of the owners of United Record Pressing, the vinyl plant that has operated on the site for more than 60 years.
The plan reimagines the site's underused surface parking and warehouse space as three new buildings arranged around courtyards and pedestrian plazas, while preserving the historic United Record Pressing building and its famous Motown Suite. Bordered by Martin, Humphreys, and Chestnut Streets, the campus is planned at full buildout for roughly 50 for-sale residences, a 175-key boutique hotel, 60,000 square feet of office, and 25,000 square feet of retail. Notably, the developers say they intend to build on less than half the site, dedicating the remainder to public green space, a meaningful addition in a neighborhood that has densified quickly.
The centerpiece is the hotel. Rising 14 stories at the corner of Martin and Houston Streets, Building A would bring a rooftop pool, outdoor dining, and a signature restaurant, along with what the plans describe as first-of-their-kind downtown views from central Wedgewood-Houston. Its design leans modern, with a narrow glass lobby offering sightlines from Martin Street into the interior courtyard, flanked by two curved facades, restaurant on one side, hotel operations on the other.
The residential and office pieces round out the campus. Fronting Humphreys Street, a nine-story building would hold roughly 50 one-, two-, and three-bedroom homes above a rear retail plaza connecting to adjacent courtyards, stepping up in height with the incline of the street and set over four levels of below-grade parking. On Chestnut Street, a six-story, 60,000-square-foot office building with ground-floor retail, potentially built in mass timber, sits directly across from The Truth, the new Live Nation music venue anchoring AJ Capital's neighboring Wedgewood Village.
Designed by SHoP Architects with Dryden Architecture + Design and civil engineering by Barge Civil Associates, the project requests a rezoning to a specific-plan district to advance. In a statement, United Record Pressing chairman and CEO Mark Michaels and his son and business partner Lucas Michaels framed the plan as stewardship rather than replacement, emphasizing art, design, and open space while continuing to celebrate a building that has been part of the community's fabric for six decades. Final numbers remain subject to the approval process, but the proposal offers a clear glimpse of Wedgewood-Houston's next chapter.