Plans were unveiled for a $40 million music, entertainment and dining complex in the Murfreesboro Gateway.
The 25,000-square-foot Sunset Music Colosseum on the River will be located on an 18.2-acre city-owned parcel located on the southeast corner of Medical Center Parkway and Gateway Boulevard.
Mayor Shane McFarland and J.W. Roth, chairman of Notes Live Inc, an aggressive new player in live music space, detailed the project Thursday afternoon at City Hall.
“Providing final agreements are approved by council, the amphitheater will be a public-private partnership adding a significant amenity to the area and elevating Murfreesboro in the Nashville music scene,” McFarland explained.
Demographic for the venue will be middle-aged patrons who have a love for good food and drinks, comfortable event accommodations, classic rock and country, and live entertainment, Roth said.
Project details
The flagship point of the project is Sunset Amphitheater, a 4,500-seat venue that will host large touring acts on a live music entertainment campus — groups like Lynyrd Skynyrd and .38 Special, two of Roth’s favorite bands. Amenities include 32 firepit suites alongside stadium-style seating and casual lawn seating.
The proposed plan also includes Bourbon Brothers Smokehouse & Tavern, which will offer upscale casual dining.
The full-service restaurant will be about 10,000-12,000 square feet with a breakfast, lunch and dinner menu, an indoor bar, a tasting room with more than 100 rare bourbons, a 7,000-square-foot outdoor patio with a space for cigar smokers as well as a music patio.
An adjoining Boot Barn Hall will hold up to 1,400 people indoors. It will be modeled after Notes Live’s Boot Barn Hall in Colorado Springs, which has become one of Colorado’s premiere music venues after opening in February 2019.
Under the same roof is the 16,000-square-foot Boot Barn Hall, which will have indoor theater seating and a second-floor VIP section to accommodate around, 1,400 patrons. Half of the events will be concerts and the other half will play host to corporate and community events.
“My wife doesn’t want to stand in a concert the entire time, she doesn’t want to stand in line for the bathroom and she doesn’t want to walk 7 miles from the parking lot. And she’s not going to a place where the tables are sticky and you could possibly lose a tooth,” Roth joked.
Together, the venues are expected to hire 200 full and part-time employees. Notes Live expects to see more than 600,000 patrons per year across Bourbon Brothers, Boot Barn Hall and the 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 brought for Murfreesboro City Council approval.
Notes Live identified Murfreesboro is an attractive high-growth area, located along major corridors near the Music City with positive age and income demographics.
“This potential public-private partnership announcement definitely fits our long-term vision for the City. Murfreesboro civic leaders have long set sights on an amphitheater within the city as part of park development including a tentative design on the same property,” said City Manager Craig Tindall.
Murfreesboro is the third live music development for the emerging Notes Live Inc. live entertainment company, 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.
Additional venues are under way in mid-sized markets with growing populations, including Gainesville, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, as well as plans to expand into Florida, and North Texas.
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The government for several years has offered the 18 acres for sale as a headquarter site to attract higher-paying jobs. The property sits between Medical Center Parkway and the city’s Stones River Golf Course.
The city’s land is also across the street from the Fountains at Gateway development with offices, restaurants, stores and entertainment, including seasonal outdoor ice skating. A city consultant in 2020 ranked both properties among the top five Murfreesboro areas for economic development.
The city’s property is also close to Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital and many medical offices.
Reach reporter Scott Broden with news tips and questions by emailing him at sbroden@dnj.com. Follow him on Twitter @ScottBroden. Reach reporter Nancy DeGennaro at degennaro@dnj.com.
