A Sports Illustrated Resort Is Coming To Music Row In Nashville

Another murder on Music Row…

A Sports Illustrated resort is coming to Nashville this year, and will be opening in spring 2026 on 16th Avenue, home to the city’s iconic Music Row.

The project was announced last year as a venture between Travel + Leisure and Sports Hospitality Ventures, LLC, an expansion of the chain of resorts that opened their first location in the Dominican Republic in 2022 and announced plans to expand to Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 2023. (Construction on that location still hasn’t started).

According to Travel + Leisure COO Geoff Richards, Nashville was chosen as the next “lucky” city to get a resort based on the city’s profile in both the sports and entertainment worlds:

“Nashville is a city where the thrill of game day and the energy of live entertainment go hand in hand. With this new resort, sports enthusiasts can enjoy that same excitement at a resort built specifically for them, offering a place where game day culture meets iconic sports storytelling.”

The resort will be opening at 1600 McGavock Street, formerly home to Placemakr Music Row, which offered apartments and an extended stay hotel. The location is just off Broadway, near Buddy Killen Circle (home of the statue of the naked people), and steps away from bars on Demonbreun Street like Tin Roof and Tailgate Brewery.

According to the company, the resort will “reflect the brand’s celebration of athletic achievement, competitive spirit, and fan connection while embracing what makes Nashville a destination unlike any other” with amenities like a resort-style pool, a quick-service restaurant, and a Sports Illustrated fitness center.

The resort will operate as a vacation ownership property featuring studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom suites, with each unit featuring a full kitchen and in-unit laundry. (So basically, it’s like a condo that you rent when you to go the beach).

Unfortunately, the resort is just another symbol of the eroding of Nashville culture in favor of chain brands looking to capitalize on the city’s explosive popularity as a tourist destination. Of course the current space isn’t exactly a historic site in Nashville, but it seems like bringing in a chain resort so close to the historic 16th Avenue is just another step in the slow encroachment of the Nashville’s tourist culture into the heart of what made Music City in the first place.

It’s a slow creep that’s sped up significantly in recent years, with historic record studios and buildings on Music Row being replaced by condos and hotels, further blurring the lines between “authentic” Nashville and the caricature of the city that’s marketed to the outside world.

I know at this point I’m the old guy yelling at the new kids to get off of his lawn, but it’s hard not to be sad when you see the “touristy” parts of Nashville invading the rest of the city.

Downtown Nashville is already full of massive bars emblazoned with the names of artists but owned by giant hospitality corporations, undeniably successful with packed crowds but completely devoid of personality. And it seems like pretty soon, the rest of the city will inevitably look the same way.