AHT Plans $400M Revamp of Nashville Convention Center

By Keith Loria, Contributing Editor

Renaissance Nashville

Ashford Hospitality Trust Inc. has acquired the Nashville Convention, the Renaissance Nashville hotel’s conference facility, from the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County and is planning a $400 million redevelopment of the space.

Plans for the new mixed-use project include a 26-story, 385,000-square-foot Class A office tower, 235,000 square feet of high-end retail, dining and entertainment (including the National Museum for African American Music), a 34-story residential building containing over 350 rental units and more than 2,000 parking spaces.

“We are excited about the impact this new project will have on Downtown Nashville and in particular our Renaissance property,” Douglas Kessler, Ashford Trust’s president & CEO, said in a prepared release. “Being adjacent to the 5th & Broadway development will create several new demand generators for our hotel, while also providing our guests with direct access to many new quality dining and entertainment options in dynamic downtown Nashville.”

Ashford Hospitality Trust has also agreed to acquire a permanent fee interest in the reconfigured conference facility from the developers of the project. This will allow them to operate all spaces currently used by the hotel in the existing center, under the current 99-year lease term as well as the additional meeting space that is under a 30-year lease period. 

In all, Renaissance Nashville has nearly 13,000 square feet of meeting space that is owned fee simple and about 48,000 square feet of meeting space that is subject to ground leases. The redevelopment will up that total to about 75,000 square feet. Ashford Hospitality Trust plans to spend approximately $20 million to renovate the new meeting space.

“This new redevelopment provided us with a great opportunity to not only establish a long-term ownership solution for our meeting space but also to upgrade and ultimately expand the size and functionality of the space,” Kessler said. “It was a win-win for everyone involved and the Renaissance is now positioned for further success in this vibrant and growing market.”

Ashford Hospitality has also refinanced a mortgage loan with an existing outstanding balance totaling approximately $103 million. The loan is interest-only with a five-year term and provides for a floating interest rate of LIBOR + 3.00 percent.