Gaylord Entertainment is cutting 350 jobs

Sad to hear the news but this will affect Nashville and also affect all locations of the company. I'm assuming this also seals the coffin on the expansion of the Opryland Hotel for a while longer.

Read about the layoffs in the Nashville Business Journal.

Hard Rock Cafe in Nashville to spend millions on renovations

Hard Rock Cafe is planning an estimated $4 million renovation of its downtown Nashville restaurant, turning its second floor into a music venue for live shows or parties.

There is a nice story about this in the Nashville Business Journal.

Hastings Architecture draws up plans for new green division

Hastings Architecture Associates has designs to cash in on the green movement.

The Nashville-based company is creating GreenStudio to help companies incorporate environmentally sustainable building principals. The division also will help designers, engineers, builders and others implement green practices in all areas of their business.

“We’re not solely focused on architecture and design,” says Mike Leonard, who is heading up GreenStudio. “This division will allow us to go with the flow.”

Hastings, the fifth largest architecture firm in Nashville with about 35 employees, plans to start the GreenStudio with two employees, but hopes to expand.

Visit Nashville Business Journal for more news about Nashville business.

Investors form $5.2M fund to help start-ups

Local angel investors are pooling their money through Nashville Capital Network to create a $5.2 million fund for entrepreneurs said to be the first of its kind in Tennessee.

Sid Chambless, executive director of Nashville Capital Network, says the fund allows the 50-plus investors in his group, who have individually invested $10 million in 13 early stage companies, to pool their money into a fund that will capitalize an additional 10 to 12 start-up businesses.

Visit the Nashville Business Journal for more.

Gibson Acquires St. John's Newfoundland acoustic guitar-maker

Nashville-based Gibson Guitar has purchased Garrison Guitars, a company based in St. John's Newfoundland, Canada.

The acquisition will further Gibson's expansion in the acoustic guitar market and allow it to offer a new series of Gibson brand acoustic guitars aimed at the mid-range price point, the company says in a news release. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

The new guitar series will be introduced at the Summer NAMM convention in Austin, Texas.


Read the entire story in the Nashville Business Journal

Former Mandrell mansion on the block for $14 million

The former residence of country music diva Barbara Mandrell and her family is on the market for $14 million.

The 27,000-square-foot Fontanel Mansion was once the largest log home in America. It is located in on 130 acres in Whites Creek, a rural area of Davidson County.

The 18-room home was designed by local architect Seab Tuck of Tuck-Hinton Architects. It has six bedrooms, an indoor pool and spa, a media and exercise room, an indoor pistol range, a 2,500- square-foot great room and a formal dining room accommodating more than 20 guests.

Two additional guesthouses on the property are also included in the sale.

Read more about the house in the Nashville Business Journal

Sweatie City?

I'm not sure if we should be proud of this one or not. We have been at the top of so many lists and we love them all but hey it does get hot and steamy here in Nashville.

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Nashville has made yet another list, but this time it's probably not a statistic that's going to be touted by the Chamber of Commerce.

The city is 37th on the "Sweatiest City in America" list published yearly by Old Spice.

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Read the full story in the Nashville Business Journal

Travelers Say $3.50 a Gallon is the Limit

Nashville Business Journal - May 29, 2007

A new survey shows that while Americans remain positive about summer travel, if the price of gasoline rises to $3.50 a gallon, they would reconsider.

The travelhorizons survey of 1,500 Americans, co-authored by the Travel Industry Association and Yesawich Pepperdine Brown & Russell, examined the impact of escalating gasoline prices on travel.

Other data indicates leisure travelers will likely take slightly more trips this summer....for the rest of the story, click here

150 from Nashville visiting Baltimore, D.C. on study mission

Nearly 150 local business and community leaders left on a trip to Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Sunday on a joint leadership and study mission.

"There is a real value in making these trips to see what other cities are doing," said Ron Samuels, vice chairman of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and visit co-leader in a news release.

"When we take into account the best practice of other cities and incorporate them into the Nashville area, these visits become a community development tool. This is because tangible results are impacted and produced, such as the development of the downtown Nashville Public Library and the Schermerhorn Symphony Center."


Visit the Nashville Business Journal for the rest of the story

The Barbershop Harmony Society Relocates to Nashville

The Barbershop Harmony Society's relocation from an old Kroger building in Kenosha, Wis. to a new multimillion dollar headquarters in Nashville is a lesson in just how much the Music City brand name can spark dreams of wider fame and respect.

The group, which has an annual budget of $6 million, a staff of 30-plus and 30,000 members from Georgia to Finland to Uganda, is moving to town this summer with the goal of revolutionizing the way the world thinks about barbershop singing.


Nashville Business Journal has the complete story.

Rick & Bubba to hit airwaves again on NewsRadio 1510

NewsRadio 1510 is bringing syndicated, Christian morning radio duo Rick & Bubba back to the airwaves after a two-year local absence for the pair.

The daily show will begin being broadcast from 5 to 8 a.m. Monday, May 21 and will precede local political analyst Steve Gill.

Rick Burgess and Bubba Bussey attract listeners with discussions, guests and debates.

"I really look forward to welcoming Rick & Bubba to the WLAC family," said WLAC Program Director Tom Peace in a release. "They embrace God, family and country."

"I know the WLAC audience will love their southern style," Peace added. "They are warm, friendly and you won't have to worry about the kids listening to them."


This story is from the Nashville Business Journal