Famed Nashville restaurant entrepreneur Tom Morales, who helped preserve the Loveless Cafe, the historic downtown Woolworth building, and the iconic Acme Feed and Seed on Lower Broadway, says Acme is on the brink of closing because of a staggering property tax increase imposed under Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell.
The original Acme Feed and Seed operated downtown for 56 years before closing in 1999. When Morales saw the building sitting vacant for more than a decade, he decided to bring it back — not as a theme park version of Nashville, but as the real thing.
“My heart was to save the Acme building, which is a postcard of what Nashville once was,” Morales said. “When I saw it had been closed for 15 years, I asked, ‘How can we make it viable? How can we save this unique architecture?’ I was leading with my heart,” Morales told Fox 17.
But now, he says Acme is facing imminent closure thanks to the massive new property tax imposed on Nashville residences and businesses.
“It’s our property tax,” Morales said. “It went from $129,000 a year to $600,000 a year. That’s more than our rent and net profit combined.” That is a nearly half-million-dollar increase in a single year. “We can’t pay it,” Morales said. “It’s punitive.”
Morales told Fox 17 he asked Mayor O’Connell for a meeting to discuss possible relief. He says the mayor did not respond. FOX 17 News asked the mayor directly whether the city would step in.
“It’s not up to me whether he keeps that business open,” Mayor O’Connell said. “The market evolves. New businesses start even as beloved old businesses close.”
Morales has filed an appeal of the tax assessment, but that will not be heard until a year from now. Morales says Acme will not survive that long.
Metro Councilmember Jacob Kupin, who represents downtown Nashville, says he was “appalled” by Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s comments suggesting it’s not up to him whether the iconic Lower Broadway business stays open. Kupin is seeking ways to obtain relief for Acme and others.
The Mayor’s callous attitude towards business is sparking outrage and concern among other businesses on Lower Broadway, a major Nashville tourist destination. “Killing off the honky-tonks and bars on Lower Broadway with the mayor’s dramatic tax increase will devastate Nashville’s draw of country music fans and their dollars to Nashville,” one business owner noted. “Freddie is literally killing the golden goose.”
Steve Gill is editor and publisher of TriStar Daily.
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