Groundbreaking for convention center coming Monday

Though SoBro has been a construction zone for weeks now, city leaders will put on hard hats, pick up ceremonial shovels and officially break ground next week on the new 1.2-million-square-foot Music City Center on Monday. 

Festivities, scheduled for March 22 at 10 a.m., will take place on Fifth Avenue directly south of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Joining Mayor Karl Dean for the photo-op will be Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors; Marty Dickens, chair of the Convention Center Authority; John Graham, CEO of ASAE; and Nashville recording artist Gabe Dixon.

In the two months since the Metro Council approved the $585 million convention center, several buildings on the 16-acre site have been demolished, and drilling and site excavation has begun.