NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A metro council member remains optimistic about a historic downtown Nashville building becoming a civil rights museum in the near future despite its contract for sale with a company working to make it a boutique hotel.
Councilwoman Zulfat Suara spoke up about what happened with the Morris building and why the historic site is not in the hands of the metro government for it to become a museum or black history site. She said there's no excuse for why this building is not in the hands of the metro and claims city leaders just didn't deem it a priority.
The historic building was previously looked at to be bought by Metro but now it is under contract for sale to an LLC affiliated with hotel development company Imagine Hospitality to convert it into a boutique hotel. This is a building designated on the National Register of Historic Places and billed as the only building left in downtown Nashville originally associated with the Historic Black Business District. It was built on land where Black people were once sold into slavery.
Early this week people took to social media to talk about being heartbroken by the building not being bought by the city and used as a way to talk about Nashville's history. Councilwoman Suara said she blames the last administration because they begged Metro to buy it last June before someone else did.
In a post on X.com, she stated Mayor Freddie O'Connell was a part of the Briley committee on the Morris building, and she's hopeful and optimistic that the mayor and council will find a way to preserve it for a civil rights museum. She said Metro can and should with no more excuses.
