"The parking lot stays full all the time," Big Bad Breakfast founder John Currence told WhatNow Nashville this August, explaining why his company picked Brentwood Place for its fifth Nashville-area location. He called the site "an absolute diamond."
For years that full lot mostly meant quick trips to Nordstrom Rack, Total Wine, TJ Maxx/HomeGoods and Golf Galaxy. The businesses that have signed on at 330 Franklin Road over the past year have something in common. Each one sells time spent on the property: an hour on a pickleball court, an evening at a book club, a sit-down brunch, a day of dog care. Taken together, they're changing what the center is for.
A New Owner With a Stated Plan
The change has a clear starting point. On March 17, 2025, Regency Centers, a national owner and operator of open-air shopping centers, announced it had bought Brentwood Place. The release put the center at about 320,000 square feet, 95% leased, and drawing more than 4.3 million visitors a year. It named "lease-up and remerchandising" as the way Regency planned to add value.
A 95% leased center has few empty spaces, so remerchandising mostly happens when a space turns over. That's why the changes have arrived one at a time. Regency also noted that the center sits next to the future 350,000-square-foot Vanderbilt medical campus.
The Turnover, in Order
Here's how the past year and a half has played out, according to local reporting:
- January 2025: Ludlow & Prime closed its Brentwood Place restaurant and moved its operations to its Berry Farms location.
- October 31, 2025: Yardstick, a dog hotel, daycare and spa, announced a lease of more than 7,000 square feet, with an opening planned for spring 2026.
- November 2025: The Raven Book Lounge was announced for Brentwood Place.
- April 2026: McAlister's Deli closed after about 20 years at 330 Franklin Road.
- April 18, 2026: The Raven held its grand opening.
- June 1, 2026: Crush Yard held its ribbon cutting, a few weeks after its original May 11 date.
- May through July 2026: Edley's Bar-B-Que announced it would take the former McAlister's space, and its site plans went before the Brentwood Planning Commission.
- August 2026: Big Bad Breakfast announced its Brentwood Place location.
The two closures were both restaurants, and both spaces stayed in food. The new arrivals lean toward longer visits.
Eight Courts and a Full Bar
Crush Yard is the clearest example. It's the brand's first Tennessee location: a 33,400-square-foot space with eight indoor pickleball courts, a full restaurant and bar, private event space and golf simulator space. Its website handles court reservations and food orders and lists separate kitchen and bar hours, so a court booking can turn into dinner without moving the car.
That space is about the size of a mid-sized anchor store. Under its new owner, it went to a business people come to for an hour or more, rather than one they run in and out of.
A Bar With a Book Club Calendar
The Raven Book Lounge, in Suite 250B, takes the same approach in a smaller space. The Raven describes itself as a lounge, bar and community space that pairs books with spirits. When it opened, the Williamson Herald listed hours of 2 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday, 2 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and closed Monday. Those hours come from April coverage, so check them before you go.
The calendar is where the shop keeps people coming back. The Raven runs two monthly book clubs, The Raven's Shelf for historical fiction and the Nevermore YA Society for young adult titles. The October 2026 calendar adds recurring trivia, poetry and open-mic nights, writing workshops, author events and book launches, afternoon tea, and themed social nights. For National Book Month this October, the homepage also offers a bingo card.
A book club only works if people come back on a schedule, which makes it an unusual tenant for a center long known for discount retail and a wine superstore.
Breakfast, Barbecue and a Smoker Porch
The two restaurants on the way stretch the day at both ends.
Big Bad Breakfast covers the morning. Currence told WhatNow that permitting delays had pushed the project back and that the restaurant was aiming to open in mid-October. As of this writing, the Brentwood page on the company's website still says "Coming Soon" and gives no opening date, so treat mid-October as a target. Currence said the kitchen makes its food from scratch every day, including jellies and jams. The bacon, sausage, ham and turkey come from a company-owned facility in North Alabama.
Edley's Bar-B-Que is taking the 3,800-square-foot former McAlister's space and is expected to open by the end of 2026. Its site-plan changes were on the Brentwood Planning Commission's July 6, 2026 agenda. The plans call for new facade finishes, awnings and a covered smoker porch at the back of the building, with signage to be reviewed separately. A smoker porch is a structure for slow cooking, which fits the center's new direction.
Where Things Stand on October 4
| Business | What it is | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Crush Yard | Eight indoor pickleball courts, restaurant, full bar, golf simulator | Open since its June 1, 2026 ribbon cutting |
| The Raven Book Lounge | Book lounge and bar with two monthly book clubs | Open since April 18, 2026 |
| Yardstick | Dog hotel, daycare and spa | Listed in the center directory and booking tours; opening date not publicly confirmed |
| Big Bad Breakfast | Scratch-made Southern breakfast and brunch | Aiming for mid-October; website still says "Coming Soon" |
| Edley's Bar-B-Que | Barbecue in the former McAlister's space | Expected by the end of 2026 |
Yardstick shows how hard some of these timelines are to pin down. It announced a spring 2026 opening, Brentwood Place's directory lists it, and its website offers tour appointments this week. No dated public announcement says when regular boarding and daycare began, so it's worth calling before planning around it.
How the Center Fits Together Now
Once Big Bad Breakfast opens, the center can fill a whole Saturday: breakfast at Big Bad Breakfast, a court booking at Crush Yard, an afternoon at The Raven, and errands at Total Wine or Nordstrom Rack in between. By year-end, Edley's is expected to add a barbecue dinner option in the space McAlister's held for two decades. None of these tenants is a typical shopping-center retailer. All of them arrived after Regency said it would remerchandise the property.
If you've noticed the changes at Brentwood Place, you've also seen how quickly the area around Franklin Road is changing. At Janelle Waggener, we keep track of these openings because they shape where people spend their time in Brentwood. If you'd like to talk about how changes like these play into your plans, let's connect.