Perhaps we finally know why he snapped up Miranda Lambert’s former business location in his hometown, too!
Just revealed as a joint venture between longtime country crooner Blake Shelton, and the company behind all these great new Ryman Auditorum shows, Ryman Hospitality.
Taking on Nashville one venture at a time, Ryman Hosptiality is one of the better-known names in the Music City entertainment venture business, and they are definitely not holding back when it comes to their partnership with Shelton!
This joint venture has been heralded as the most expensive entertainment project in the area since opening of the massive Bridgestone Arena more than two decades ago.
Together, Shelton and Ryman Hospitality are building a series of bars crafted with a purely ‘Blake Shelton theme’. Called Ole Red, the bar located on lower Broadway in Nashville will be just one part of this new (and huge) venture between the two iconic names.
Planning on spending at least $20 million in renovations, the first location will be the biggest of the two at 26,000 square feet and will hold a full size stage for live bands, a towering mezzanine area overlooking the stage, a full-featured dance floor, retail spaces, and an all-inclusive private event space that can hold about 450 people. On top of it all – literally – they plan on building a rooftop restaurant and cocktail space with a jaw-dropping view of the city’s famed honky tonk district. The building itself was purchased for $6.6 million by Ryman Hospitality and they plan on opening in early 2018.
The name Ole Red has roots in both Ryman’s history and Shelton’s, taking a page from the largely antiquated term used as an homage to the Grande Ole Opry that has been held at the Ryman Auditorium for more than 70 years. Additionally, one of the songs that helped catapult Shelton into a country superstar was his hit cover of a George Jones track, titled “Ol’ Red”.
While the Nashville-area location will likely attract many more visitors to Music City, the second location is one that caught many off guard. Just a few months ago, Shelton quietly revealed he had snapped up the property his ex-wife, Miranda Lambert, had been running her Pink Pistol Boutique out of and had stated that big things were incoming for the plot. It’s been speculated by experts that this could be the future location for his planned Tishomingo-area Ole Red bar.
Lambert shuttered the Tishomingo, Oklahoma store just a few days prior when she announced she was combining both Pink Pistol locations into a larger Texas-based location.
“It’s amazing to me to see a song that’s been such a big part of my career come to life in the plans for Ole Red,” Shelton said in the press announcement. “Nashville and Tishomingo are both places that are important to me, and it’s great that each location is going to have its own personality inspired by one of my favorite songs. It’s always been a dream of mine to create something like this where people know they’re going to have a good time as soon as they walk in the door, and I couldn’t be more excited that my friends at the Opry and Ryman Hospitality Properties are making it happen.”
Watch the full video press release from Blake Shelton and Ryman Hospitality below!