Rehearsal Hub Opens This Fall At Rock Nashville

Rock Nashville, a 55-acre live entertainment rehearsal and production campus 10 miles from downtown Music City, is slated to open in late 2025 with industry-leading rehearsal, production and vendor support in one central location.

Reported to cost $52 million and developed through a partnership between Rock Lititz and Merus, with Soundcheck Studios serving as an anchor tenant, Rock Nashville provides the city’s touring industry a convenient and centralized live entertainment hub.

“We’ve certainly been studying the Nashville market for a very long time,” says Andrea Shirk, CEO and President of Rock Lititz and Rock Nashville. “So, when we opened Rock Lititz and introduce the first real purpose-built production facility in the U.S. we learned a lot – while reshaping the industry and rethinking rehearsal spaces.”

The Rock Lititz location in Lititz, Pennsylvania, reached capacity twice, making it time to look for a second studio location as industry demand continued to rise.

“We filled a need that no one even realized was there,” continues Shirk. “And so, as we started to create more demand for that type of space, the industry has is continued to get more technical, shows are getting more complex and the need for longer rehearsals and more services during rehearsals continues to increase.”

The Nashville location meets touring professionals where they live and the type of services they need from Rock Nashville tenants including Tait, Gallagher Staging, Clair Global, Alcorn Cases, Rock It Cargo and Soundcheck Studios.

“We recognize there are a lot of people that call Nashville home or think of Nashville as a destination,” continues Shirk. “And we see the Nashville market maturing, expanding and going global. And to be honest, 30 percent of our rehearsals last year [in Pennsylvania] were Nashville-based artists.”

Shirk said they intended to have a facility in Nashville for a long time. Beyond offering state-of-the-art infrastructure, Rock Nashville is expected to attract new companies, create jobs and support the economic growth of Nashville’s music and live entertainment sectors.

The campus will employ approximately 50 local staff members, while an additional 500 employees from partner vendors, such as Clair, Gallagher and Rock It, will be based on-site daily. Additionally, between 200 and 400 temporary local workers, including labor crews, runners and seamstresses, will contribute to day-to-day operations, alongside another 200 to 400 touring crew members working across the 15 studios.

“It’s nice to build something where you are able to fully soundproof it, really think about the acoustics and really design it, understanding how clients operate in the space, and making sure that at the core and soul of everything we do, we’re thinking about how to make the clients’ lives easier,” adds Shirk.

Features of Rock Nashville include:

• Large-Scale Rehearsal Facilities – Two arena/amphitheater-sized spaces designed to accommodate full-scale tour rehearsals.
  
• Production Studios – 13 state-of-the-art band and production studios of varying sizes, for rising and established artists.
  
• Industry Vendor Hub – Space for more than 30 companies specializing in audio, lighting, transportation, special effects and crew support, along with a variety of lifestyle services, including a cafe, barbershop, spa, medical concierge and more.
  
• Community and Collaboration – Amenities including backline rental, artist relations offices and shared resources intended to foster a collaborative creative ecosystem.

With its strategic location in the Whites Creek neighborhood in North Nashville and a design focused on innovation, Rock Nashville will provide artists and crews with the tools they need to take their creative vision to the stage.

With today’s evolving technology needs, RF frequency was a priority.  

“You can imagine that all these bands and acts are out there and they’re all using wireless gear and have a ton of RF overlap,” explains Shirk. “So, even though it’s kind of technical and geeky, we often have a lot of time coordination issues where people are running gear at the same time. So, we put in a full RF shielding solution in place.”

Rock Nashville has also taken into consideration artist and crew comfort with catering, contemporary artist dressing rooms and production office spaces.

“So just being really purposeful and thoughtful about the efficiency of the rehearsal and the ease and comfort of the team,” explains Shirk. “We’ve been very intentional about creating a community and designing it in such a way that artists and their teams have full privacy, should they desire, but also have the ability to mix and interact if they desire that.”

Rock Nashville features several community spaces and shared cafeterias, but they also provide private restrooms, catering and fully enclosed spaces.

Beyond the amenities, Shirk likes the atmosphere of community at Rock Nashville.

“I think watching them interact and like running into their friends, it’s still my favorite thing,” says Shirk. “It’s so fun to just watch old friends reunite and remember, like family you know? It’s really special. We want to be a home, not just for those who’ve chosen to have an office there, or to rehearse there. It’s a place for the whole, broader Nashville community.”

Studio One is the largest space on the 55-acre campus at 26,445 square feet (215 X 123 feet). The ceiling grid can accommodate 900,000 pounds (450 tons). There is a production office, multiple tour offices, a conference room with seating for 10, dressing rooms and a dining area with seating for up to 50 and a kitchen.

“For Nashville, they’ve never had a large rehearsal facility space,” continues Shirk. “They’ve had the annex, which is sort of an extension of the Bridgestone [Arena]. So, having them walk into the stadium/arena level rehearsal space for the first time – and just seeing the size and scope and scale of that – is really exciting.”

Studio Two is 12,177 square feet (123 X 99 feet) with an overhead grid that can accommodate up to 500,00 pounds (250 tons). Future plans include a program dubbed, Rock Nashville Community, which will include training, education, networking and opportunities to gather with other industry professionals.

“We want this to feel like a destination for everyone within the Nashville community and really beyond whether you have a physical space on campus or you just use it for meetings or networking or opportunities to connect with the broader industry,” says Shirk.