Journey Legend Sells Nashville Recording Studio to Music Nonprofit
Addiction Sound, a Nashville, Tennessee, music studio and loft owned and operated by Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Jon Cain of the rock band Journey and producer David Kalmusky, sold earlier this summer for $4.2 million to a nonprofit with ties to the music industry.
Recording studios are almost commonplace among commercial real estate properties in Music City. But there’s no other place like Addiction Sound, according to listing agent Justin Sturdivant, who helped Cain find the right buyer for his beloved studio so that the 72-year-old could spend more time with his family in Florida.
“It’s the ideal studio," Studivant said. "[Cain] built it for himself and the types of artists he produces — it’s perfect for music artists with a lot of strings and keys, and it includes a beautiful condo upstairs where Cain would stay, especially during the pandemic, as would a lot of high-profile artists that recorded there.”
The property's Berry Hill neighborhood is several miles from downtown Nashville's Music Row, a historic district known for legendary recording studios, record label offices, radio stations and venues where icons including Elvis Presley and Dolly Parton made their marks.
But Berry Hill is the beneficiary of a dynamic shift in the city, according to Sturdivant. As the legacy of Music Row is being slowly etched into by multifamily and mixed-use developments, Berry Hill is becoming an indisputable alternative hub for the industry, Sturdivant added. More and more studios, restaurants, bars and other small businesses there are helping to foster “a really good environment for creativity and musicians and everything that goes with that.”
Berry Hill is “tucked away, but with very good access to the interstate,” Sturdivant told LoopNet. Sturdivant, a first vice president for Marcus & Millichap, said that the selling strategy involved pricing the asset based on comps not in Berry Hill, which has several comparable studios as neighbors, but on studios in Music Row.
The approximately 7,000-square foot, two-property asset “broke records in terms of price per square foot among Berry Hill comps,” and landed at its list price after receiving some offers that were above asking. Not only is its location ideal, Sturdivant continued, the price also fetched such strong offers in part thanks to the legendary status of Cain, the keyboardist and guitarist famous for hits such as Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.”
But it doesn’t stop with Cain. The studio, designed in part by Chris Huston, an engineer who produced for bands such as The Who and Led Zeppelin, and helmed by Cain and Kalmusky, who has recorded for multi-platinum artists including Justin Bieber and Mötley Crüe, has been graced by the likes of country and pop stars such as Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood and Shawn Mendes.
While Cain’s personal instruments did not convey in the sale, Sturdivant noted that most all of the hardwired equipment did, making it turnkey for the next recording studio operator to come in and “start making music on day one" if that's what they intend to do. Until then, Kalmusky is actually leasing the property himself to finish out some of his contracts with artists who have booked the space.
An outside broker brought Sturdivant’s team the ultimate buyer, whom he identified only as a nonprofit organization tied to music artists in both Los Angeles and Nashville. Property records, according to reporting by LoopNet’s parent company, CoStar, indicate the buyer is Living Legacy Foundation, which has an address in Newport Beach, California.
According to its website, Living Legacy Foundation Vice President Alisha Ballard’s husband owns Gold Pacific Studios in Newport Beach. Ballard also cofounded Inherit the Music, a nonprofit that provides music education for youth, with Nashville-based rock band Kings of Leon.
The deal wasn't without its off-key moments, though. "At one point, we had buyers over list price that ended up falling through," Sturdivant explained. "So the marketing process was a little bit longer than we had anticipated because we had gone down the road a few buyers that didn't perform."
Also, just days before the July 29th closing, Sturdivant's phone started ringing around midnight. “A drunk driver had crashed into the building, damaging some of the exterior components of the HVAC unit," he explained. But, he continued, the sellers were able to get everything resolved through their insurance in time to reach a harmonious conclusion.
