If you’ve driven State Road 46 West between Nashville and Bloomington in the past week or so, you may have noticed for “the sale” signs have disappeared from the property where the Little Nashville Opry once stood.
According to the county’s GIS map, William Jacob Capital LLC is the new owner of the empty 6.5-acre lot. Andrew Tilton of Brown County is the registered agent for that LLC, according to Indiana Company Directory.
Tilton posted a photo of himself with a “Sold” sign on his Facebook page earlier this month.
The sale of the Little Nashville Opry property was being handled by owners Gail and Darlene Wayman. Their son, Scott Wayman, had bought it in 2012 at a sheriff’s sale. It had been his dream to reopen the Little Nashville Opry, but the project never advanced to the groundbreaking stage. Scott passed away in May 2019.
The property is zoned general business. General business zoning allows for a multitude of uses including residential, agricultural, public facilities, businesses and recreation.
The Opry property does not have a sewer hookup, though a wastewater treatment plant sits about a mile from it. Having to figure out wastewater treatment could raise the cost of development depending on what the new owner wants to put there.
Water is available at both properties.
A portion of the property is also in the floodplain. Structures can be built in the floodplain if certain rules are followed.
Tilton could not be reached by deadline for a comment, so his plans for the property are not known at this time.
The 2,000-seat, 22,000-square-foot Little Nashville Opry was built in 1975. An unidentified arsonist destroyed it in 2009. No one was ever convicted of the crime.
Tilton and his brother Jimmy own the Foxfire parking lot in Nashville and the kettle corn food truck there.
The Tilton brothers bought the Hidden Valley Inn property last year with plans to update and renovate the hotel.
The brothers also own several pieces of land in the county, some with the potential to be turned into housing or retail. Andrew Tilton purchased two Nashville parking lots at the Andy Rogers estate auction in the fall of 2019.
