ROCK STUDIOS: The Rock Nashville campus, shown here in a rendering, will include 13 band and production rehearsal studios. (Courtesy venue)
The home of country music is leaning into rock with the planned opening of Rock Nashville, a creative hub, production facility and rehearsal space from the company that developed Rock Lititz in Lititz, Pennsylvania.
Rock Nashville, which is in the Whites Creek area 10 miles north of downtown, broke ground in April and with a completion date in fall 2025. The project cost is $52 million, according to published reports.
“The advantage to studios in Nashville is to support the artist and production community that resides or works in Nashville, while also supporting the global touring growth happening as the Nashville community continues to grow and expand,” said Andrea Shirk, president and CEO of Rock Lititz, based in Pennsylvania. “Nashville is a close-knit community and the studios will help drive the creativity, efficiency and collaboration that all lead to a better touring experience.”
Rock Nashville will be geared toward tour professionals including production staff, road staff, sound engineers, lighting, video and production assistants, and plans to accommodate the full range of performers from local bands to A-listers. Rehearsal spaces can be scaled to fit venues from clubs to stadiums and accommodate concert tours, festivals, sporting events, halftime shows, theme park entertainment and marketing activations.
Rock Nashville will encompass roughly 40 acres of development on the 55-acre site. The project will include three buildings with a cumulative footprint of just over 514,000 square feet including 15 studios, two of which are purpose-built production rehearsal studios.
Plans are to have five to seven anchor tenants with room for 30 to 35 live event vendors including streaming and TV/film companies. Confirmed tenants include rehearsal space market leader SoundCheck, who will be moving from their current Cowan Street location, and Clair Global, which provides production and audio services.
Having a central hub where production companies can interact and collaborate face-to-face was central to the overall strategy. Rock Lititz anticipates that Rock Nashville will be homebase to 400 employees and an additional 85 employees representing support businesses.
The overall Rock Nashville campus will include 13 band and production rehearsal studios ranging from 600 to 2,100 square feet; a full-sized arena/stadium production rehearsal facility, measuring 200’X125’ + 95’ with a rigging grid at 80’ clear; a full-sized amphitheater/arena rehearsal facility, measuring 125’X100’ + 75’ with a rigging grid at 60’ clear; backline rental; more than 300 lockers; set storage; a café and artist relations offices.
“The amenities in Nashville will be similar to the [Rock] Lititz offerings but with a stronger emphasis on relying on the local hospitality, stronger support for the crews that live there and services aligned to both production and band rehearsals,” Shirk said.
Rock Nashville also has plans to support the surrounding community and develop the next generation of live professionals including education outreach and conferences engaging high school juniors and seniors, college students and young professionals interested in touring support positions.
