Gibson Guitar is putting two of their properties in Nashville up for sale, citing they were underutilized.
Two buildings and almost two acres of land in the North Gulch, one off of Church Street, and one off of Grundy Street adjacent to each other, were put up for sale.
The two properties were purchased by Gibson about 15 years ago, and in December of 2002, the two locations were opened as retail stores.
The Church Street location housed a guitar showroom, featuring Gibson guitars as well as other brands on the third level. The two levels below the retail level housed a repair shop for Gibson, which remains in that location today.
The fourth floor of the Church Street location was originally planned to house live music, but it was never developed.
The Grundy Street location was opened as the "Baldwin Showcase", and in 2002, Gibson advertised the store as the largest piano store in the world.
Walter Carter of Carter Vintage Guitars worked at Gibson in the editorial department and as a historian, and he said there were big plans for the properties that never came to be.
“Henry Juszkiewicz’s vision was correct that that would be a developing area, he was probably just a little ahead of the curve.” Carter said of the Gibson CEO.
Carter said the sales of Gibson guitars at Carter Vintage guitars are doing well, and he does not believe the sale of the Gibson properties in the North Gulch are an indication of the company's financial situation.
“The cash flow would probably be nice to have, but I think that’s probably a drop in the bucket in the large picture of Gibson finances.” Carter said.
Gibson released a statement to NewsChannel 5 saying they decided to sell the buildings due to the fact that they are underutilized, and they would rather reinvest the money.
While Gibson plans to sell two of their buildings, they have made no plan to move the manufacturing of their Gibson Custom Shop products in Nashville. That operation is housed in a different building south of Nashville.
Statement from Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Brands:
“Both properties are underutilized industrial buildings which we did not have plans for in the near term. With the substantial development in the neighborhood in the last year, we felt a sale with a reinvestment of proceeds would make more sense. This is a decision we have been discussing for more than a year, and we felt market timing was optimal now.”
At this time it is unclear what the buildings will be used for or developed into.
