Blake Shelton’s Ole Red downtown bar is in a bit of hot water by the city of Nashville, all because of the color of light they chose to cover the exterior with.
According to the Tennessean, Ryman Hospitality, which owns Ole Red, is facing a lawsuit by the Metro Historic Zoning Commission, over the company’s decision to cover the outer walls of Ole Red with red light at night. According to the commission, a policy passed more than a year ago states that colored exterior lights in historic districts, where Ole Red is, are forbidden.
Videos by PopCulture.com
“Lighting should be concealed or simple and unobtrusive in design, materials, and relationship to other facade or elevation elements,” the policy reads.
Neither Shelton nor Ryman Hospitality have yet to comment on the lawsuit. Shelton, who has a partnership with Ryman Properties for his Ole Red venues, also has one in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, as well as his hometown of Tishomingo, Oklahoma.
The singer first considered opening the venue while he was in Nashville with his girlfriend, Gwen Stefani, a few years ago, even though his first visit to the historic building where Ole Red currently resides was less than promising.
“We immediately came upstairs, and it was just nothing but cubicles. It was just an empty building,” Shelton recalled. “It was empty; it was deserted. And the whole time somebody had their papers and like, ‘This is the floor – it’s going to look like this. It’s going to have this.’ And they were showing me, and I’m like, ‘OK. Right.’ ‘And this floor right here won’t even be here because we’re going to take this level’ … it was just these unrealistic things that he was telling me.
“And, then we went upstairs to the rooftop and he was saying, ‘This is where the rooftop bar is going to be, and we’re actually going to add another part, indoor part,” he continued. “There’ll be indoor, outdoor.’”
Although Ole Red is now one of the most bustling venues in Music City, neither Shelton nor Stefani were impressed by their first visit.
“Meanwhile, Gwen’s standing there and her heel goes through the roof,” Shelton recounted. “And so we’re trying to get her leg back out and it’s like, ‘What the f— is this? And so we left. It was exciting, but at the same time I think part of me thought, this is a monumental task that they’re going to have to take on to get this thing up and running … The team and the workmanship is just overwhelming. It’s beautiful.”
Photo Credit: Getty images/Erika Goldring
