Chief’s in Nashville is co-owned by country music star Eric Church and hospitality developer Ben Weprin, who together own the six-story building at 2nd Avenue and Broadway outright and share in the venue’s long-term financial performance. The bar and live music venue opened on April 5, 2024, after a multi-year renovation. Day-to-day operations run through Weprin’s firm, AJ Capital Partners.
Co-Owners, Not a Licensing Deal
The distinction that matters here is that Church didn’t simply lend his name to someone else’s bar. Plenty of celebrity-branded venues on Lower Broadway work that way, with a famous name attached to a business owned and run by other people. Church and Weprin took a different route. As Church put it in an interview, “It was important this building was ours, and not just something we attached our name to. So, we own the building outright and have been part of all of the decisions and creative choices along the way.”1Forbes. Eric Church On Chief’s And The Special Partnership Behind His New Nashville Bar and Music Venue
Church is exposed to the risk and the reward of both the real estate and the business. He was personally involved in design choices throughout the renovation and has described the venue as a permanent home for his fans. Weprin handles the development and operational side.2Eric Church. Eric Church’s Chief’s Coming to Downtown Nashville
Who Ben Weprin Is
Ben Weprin is the founder and CEO of Adventurous Journeys Capital Partners (AJ Capital Partners), a hospitality-focused real estate firm that acquires, develops, and operates high-end properties. The firm is best known for creating Graduate Hotels, a boutique chain built around college towns across the country.3AJ Capital Partners. Graduate Hotels – Investment Platforms AJ Capital also brought Soho House to Nashville in 2022 as part of its independent ventures portfolio.4AJ Capital Partners. Independent Ventures – Platforms
AJ Capital provides the institutional backbone for Chief’s: staffing, inventory, regulatory compliance, and the day-to-day management of a facility that draws large crowds nightly. Running a six-story, liquor-licensed entertainment complex on one of the most expensive commercial corridors in the Southeast is a serious operational undertaking, and Weprin’s firm is the operator behind it.
Partnerships Inside the Building That Aren’t Ownership
A couple of names associated with Chief’s sometimes get mistaken for ownership stakes. They aren’t.
The fifth floor houses Hell of a Q, a restaurant from James Beard Award-winning pitmaster Rodney Scott serving his signature whole hog barbecue. Every detail of the space was designed to Scott’s specifications, including the disco ball that appears in all his restaurants as a nod to his 1970s upbringing.5Chief’s on Broadway. Rodney Scott x Eric Church Church has described the partnership as a natural fit rooted in their shared Carolina roots.6Chief’s on Broadway. Chief’s on Broadway Scott brings his brand and culinary expertise, but the underlying property and business remain under Church and Weprin.
The first floor features a broadcast studio built for Outsiders Radio, Eric Church’s exclusive channel on SiriusXM, which hosts regular programming from inside the building.7Chief’s on Broadway. Outsiders Radio In The Building The SiriusXM presence adds to the venue’s identity but, like the Rodney Scott partnership, doesn’t represent an ownership stake in the property or the primary business.
Who Owned the Building Before
The property at 200 Broadway previously housed the Cotton Eyed Joe retail store. In 2019, country artist John Rich (of Big & Rich) and his partners, operating as TAC 200 Broadway LLC through Atlanta-based The Ardent Companies, purchased the building for $18.5 million. Rich’s group sold the property in October 2021 for $24.5 million, a 32 percent profit in roughly two years, to the buyers who would transform it into Chief’s.8The Ardent Companies. Lower Broadway Building Sells for $24.5M
Church and Weprin then undertook an extensive renovation to convert the structure into a purpose-built entertainment venue spanning six floors, with live performance spaces, multiple bars, a full-service restaurant, and a rooftop level. Between the $24.5 million purchase price and the cost of a gut renovation to this scale, the total capital investment in Chief’s is substantial, though the owners have not publicly disclosed the full development budget.