One of Lower Broadway’s most distinctive venues may not be long for this world — and the reason has a lot less to do with crowds and a lot more to do with math.
Acme Feed & Seed, the multi-level restaurant and music venue at 101 Broadway, is facing the very real possibility of closure after a dramatic spike in its property tax bill. Owner Tom Morales says the increase is steep enough to put the business’s future in serious doubt.
And if Acme disappears, Nashville loses more than just another bar on Broadway.
The tax jump that changed everything
According to Morales, Acme’s annual property tax bill jumped from $129,000 to $600,000 — an increase of nearly half a million dollars in a single year.
“That’s more than our rent and net profit combined,” Morales has said publicly. “We can’t pay it. It’s punitive.”
For any independent venue, that kind of overnight jump is the financial equivalent of stepping on a rake.
Morales has indicated he sought a meeting with Mayor Freddie O’Connell to discuss the increase, but the request was denied. When asked about the situation by FOX 17, the mayor responded:
“It’s not up to me whether he keeps that business open. The market evolves. New businesses start even as beloved old businesses close.”
The quote quickly circulated online and sparked backlash, particularly among local musicians and regular Acme patrons.
Why Acme matters on Lower Broadway
Lower Broadway gets painted with a broad brush these days — pedal taverns, party crowds, and multi-story branded bars blasting familiar covers.
But Acme has long operated in a slightly different lane.
The venue is known for:
- Featuring original artists, not just cover bands
- Actively welcoming locals alongside tourists
- Hosting roots-forward acts like The Cowpokes
- Maintaining a more music-first identity than many neighbors
It’s also one of the few spots at the end of the Broadway corridor where longtime Nashvillians still regularly plant a barstool.
Lose Acme, and that lane narrows even further.
A building with real history
Part of what makes the situation sting: this isn’t just any newer Broadway build.
The Acme building dates back to the 1890s and operated as a working feed store for 56 years before closing in 1999. The current venue opened in 2014, with Morales — whose preservation work also includes the Loveless Cafe and the historic Woolworth building — positioning the space as both a restaurant and a cultural anchor.
Preservation has always been part of the mission.
But preservation still has to pencil out.
What happens next
As of now, Acme Feed & Seed remains open. But Morales has made clear that the current tax structure is unsustainable without some kind of relief or change.
Whether that change comes — and how quickly — could determine whether one of Lower Broadway’s more locally rooted venues survives the next chapter of Nashville’s growth.
For now, the lights are still on.
But the margin for error just got very, very thin.
The Nash Potatoes Take
Broadway will keep rolling no matter what happens. It always does.
The bigger question is what kind of Broadway Nashville wants to have five years from now — and how many locally grounded stages like Acme are still standing when we get there.