NASHVILLE (CelebrityAccess) – Nashville-based DZL has hired veteran music industry official Brent Hyams as General Manager of Cannery Row. New York City-based real estate company Thor Equities Group paid $32 million for the complex in October 2019, with DZL as an equity investor. DZL then bought the property from Thor and owned it in full.
Before this, Hyams served as the Senior Marketing Manager for Ryman Auditorium and the Grand Ole Opry. As Chief Operating Officer (COO), he spent 17 years with the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC). Alongside his position at TPAC, Hyams also led the War Memorial Auditorium renovation.
The hiring comes before scheduled June renovations and upgrades for the Cannery Row SoBro facility. Cannery Row currently houses the music venues Mercy Lounge, Cannery Ballroom, The High Watt, and One, which will all relocate and close at the end of May. The spaces will be reused for live music, under DZL, with all details TBA.
“Protecting Cannery Row is a passion project I really believe in,” Zach Liff, DZL owner, says in the release. “It’s important to keep it thriving as an independent music venue for years to come, and now Brent is on board to spearhead that effort.
In an emailed statement to the Business Journal, Liff said, “DZL has plans to invest in the music venues and the rest of the Cannery complex after the current leases expire and for the music venues to reopen, among other plans for the remainder of the historic property. We expect a number of exciting announcements about the Cannery over the next 12 months, and we are planning for the entire Cannery complex to be a place our community enjoys and where music lives and thrives.”
