Exclusive Q&A With Calvert Street Group's Darden Copeland

Is "Uptown Nashville" a real place? Yes, says Calvert Street Group managing director Darden Copeland, political consultant and now owner of two properties in the area: a 14k SF warehouse and a 19k SF retail property, both on Rosa L. Parks Boulevard. We had a chat with him recently about Uptown.

Bisnow: Why Uptown?

Darden: For one thing, it's a distinct location. The block of Rosa L. Parks Boulevard between Commerce Street and Church Street is one of the city’s highest elevated areas Downtown and has one of the best 360-degree views of Nashville’s hottest areas.

Bisnow: With a distinct history?

Darden: Yes. Before our property held the sporting goods store, it was the site to the Ward Seminary, which was demolished in the late 1800s when the seminary merged with Belmont College. Next door to the old sporting goods store is the Standard at the Smith House (established 1840), the only grand townhouse remaining in Downtown Nashville. This members-only club was named one of the top five private cigar bars in the US.

Bisnow: What's ahead for the neighborhood?

Darden: A great deal. The Lifeway Christian Resources property sold in 2015 and moved to North Gulch this year, leaving San Diego-based Southwest Value Partners, a real estate investment firm, to pay $125M for the Downtown campus and plan a drastic redevelopment.

The 80-year-old Mastrapasqua property at 814 Church St has recently hit the market and holds great promise for future tenants, and after many years, the new $167M federal courthouse has been approved and fully funded by Congress and will be constructed across the street from the Standard, Lifeway and Southwest properties.

Bisnow: What about your properties?

Darden: Nashville Sporting Goods’ owners sold the retail and warehouse buildings in 2015. The building and its warehouse are currently for lease to tenants in restaurant, office and retail sectors. It's space that the area needs, so it ought to do well.