Alan Jackson to Open Bar on Nashville’s Lower Broadway

Alan Jackson paid a pretty penny for a piece of property on Nashville's Lower Broadway, and he'll be turning the building into a new bar.

Jackson paid $5.75 million for 421 Broadway -- formerly the Wheel and the Wheel Cigar Bar -- and, later this year, will open AJ's Good Time Bar, named after his 2008 song "Good Time." The country star will add a third-floor bar and a rooftop patio, as well as an elevator, to the establishment.

“I always wanted to own a honky-tonk that plays real country music on Broadway that I could put my name on,” Jackson tells the Tennessean.

That nearly $6 million price tag -- $925 per square foot -- makes Jackson a record holder, too: It's the most anyone's ever paid for a building on Lower Broadway.

"Lower Broadway commands the highest prices because it's simply the bullseye heart of the No. 1 tourist destination in the region," explains Lance Bloom, a senior associate with CBRE in Nashville. "The business that these stores and bars do is staggering."

In addition to AJ's Good Time Bar, Jackson is a partner in Acme Feed & Seed, a bar, restaurant and concert venue also located on Lower Broadway.

Jackson isn't the only country star planning to open a new venue in Music City: In early August, John Rich revealed that he will be opening a Redneck Riviera bar on Lower Broadway. Dierks Bentley also has plans for a location of his Whiskey Row restaurant on Lower Broadway.

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