Office towers now rise where surface parking once sat, and you are near 5th and Broadway and the adjacent Nashville Yards, among the largest urban redevelopment undertakings in Nashville's history. The 5th and Broadway mixed-use complex opened in phases beginning in 2020 on the site of the former Nashville Convention Center, demolished after the Music City Center replaced it. The project includes retail, office space, apartments, and the National Museum of African American Music, which opened in 2021.
The National Museum of African American Music is the only institution in the country dedicated exclusively to the role of African Americans in creating the genres that define American popular music — gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, soul, hip-hop, and the country and folk traditions that grew from intertwined Black and Appalachian roots. Its location on Broadway, in the heart of Nashville's entertainment district, is a statement about whose music built Music City. Nashville Yards adds office towers to land that was once surface parking, continuing the infill of downtown Nashville's last underutilized blocks.