NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A Nashville-based company known for its hotels confirms they are under contract to buy the downtown Morris Memorial Building. Many have spoken about the importance that building carries to the city’s Black history. Some are very invested in how the building will be used next.
“Based upon past history and how this city has historically dealt with African American sites, I don’t have a lot of confidence things will go the way that I want,” said Dr. Learotha Williams Jr., Tennessee State University Professor of African American and Public History. “This building has as much national and international significance as any building in this city.”
Standing in a part of downtown once a slave market, the Morris arrived nearly a hundred years ago at what’s now 300 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
“It was built by the first Black architectural firm, McKissack and McKissack,” said Williams.
At that time, it was part of a Black business district. It was long the home of the Nashville Baptist Convention, printing hymnals and songbooks.
In June, Williams was part of an effort including council members, community leaders, and historians holding an event to try and raise money to turn the Morris into a museum of Nashville’s Black history.
A benefit concert was set for the Ryman but ended up being postponed.
A source recently informed the Nashville Post that the Nashville-based hotel developer Imagine Hospitality is contracted to buy the Morris.
A statement to NewsChannel 5 from Imagine Hospitality confirms this, saying in a statement; “Our goal with this project is to preserve the history of the Morris Building. It is still very early in the process, and we look forward to sitting down with the Mayor’s Office to begin this collaborative effort.”
Williams said he was taken aback in learning of the Imagine Hospitality contract.
“I experienced all the emotions,” he said. “From sadness to a bit of anger, surprise, frustrated, I was all over the place. “
Councilman Jacob Kupin told us by phone he feels encouraged by conversations he’s had with Imagine Hospitality and hopes the city and the team of preservationists looking to save the building can be involved in Morris’s future.
“We’re working to see what pathways are still open to us for collaboration with the end goal being to protect and preserve what is a phenomenal, historic building,” said Kupin.
Imagine Hospitality CEO Kal Patel told NewsChannel 5 that as a local, he cares about the Morris and telling its history.
Dr. Williams said as plans go forward, he’s hoping to see as many perspectives at the table as possible.