Curb Looks At Restoring Quonset Hut Studio By: JEANNE ANNE NAUJECK Staff Writer He's in talks to buy Sony HQ, broker says Music label owner and philanthropist Mike Curb is negotiating to buy Sony's headquarters on 16th Avenue South with an eye to restoring the building, which houses the historic, 1950s-era Quonset Hut recording studio. Realtor Ira Blonder, who's brokering the sale to Curb, took out an ad in Music Row magazine this week announcing that efforts are already under way to restore and preserve the Quonset Hut and Studio A, two recording rooms hidden away within the modern brick structure. Curb was out of town and unavailable for comment yesterday. The recording studios were home to country and pop music recordings by legendary artists, including Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan, over a nearly 30-year period. Terms of the sale weren't disclosed. The city recently reappraised the 23,446-square-foot building for $2,145,900, but local commercial Realtors estimate a market value closer to $3 million for the prime property between Belmont University and the Music Row Roundabout. The Quonset Hut was erected on the property in 1955 by brothers Owen and Harold Bradley. For nearly 30 years, some of Nashville's best-known recordings were produced there by country artists Brenda Lee, Charlie Rich, Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Merle Haggard and Tammy Wynette, as well as singers Bobby Vinton and Dusty Springfield, among others. Blonder said he fielded dozens of calls from interested buyers, including record labels, religious institutions, a TV production company, a law firm and a publishing company, after the building went up for sale in January. There were two other backup contracts on the property in case the Curb sale fell through, Blonder said. Both of those parties were interested in restoring the studio. Blonder said he expects the sale to Curb to close in June. The building was originally erected as a film production studio behind a house at 1804 16th Ave. S., where the Bradleys had started their recording studio. It was sold to Columbia Records in 1962, which maintained it as a recording studio until 1982 while building around three sides of it. Sony bought Columbia/CBS Records in 1988 and ordered a major remodeling that added several thousand square feet to the building, a new exterior and redone interiors. The Quonset Hut was encased within the structure, where lately it has housed Sony's art department. Curb is a performer, songwriter and record producer who began Curb Records in Nashville in 1989 and expanded it into a major independent label and publishing company. It is home to such performers as Tim McGraw, LeAnn Rimes, Jo Dee Messina and Billy Dean. Curb, 60, is known for his charitable contributions. His name is on the conservatory at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and he leases RCA Studio B, another Music Row landmark that he bought and restored, to the museum for $1 a year. It is open for tours and serves as a studio lab for Belmont University students. The Curb Family Foundation helped Belmont buy Ocean Way Studios, a former church dating to the 1850s on 17th Avenue South, for use by its recording students. Curb also has given millions of dollars to Fisk and Vanderbilt universities. Music writer Peter Cooper contributed to this article.

Originally Published In The Tennessean On April 14, 2005







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