Davidson County · Middle Tennessee
Living in Melrose
Melrose is the stretch of 8th Avenue South in zip 37204, running roughly from Wedgewood Avenue down to Thompson Lane, about three miles south of downtown. It is one of the few places in Nashville where the commercial spine is the neighborhood: a mile of restaurants, guitar shops, antique dealers, a comedy club and a 1942 movie theater that became apartments instead of a parking lot, with residential blocks running off both sides of it. The name comes from the Melrose mansion that stood on the high ground where the Kroger sits today.
- County
- Davidson
- Zip
- 37204
- Distance to downtown Nashville
- ~3 miles
- Character
- A commercial spine with residential blocks either side
What’s actually there
- The 8th Avenue South corridor between Wedgewood Avenue and Thompson Lane, where 8th becomes Franklin Pike
- The Melrose, a 1942 theater and bowling alley block converted to apartments rather than demolished
- A run of antique and vintage dealers on 8th that predates the restaurants by decades
- Cottages, bungalows, ranch houses and Tudor Revivals on the side streets, with very heavy new infill between them
- A full grocery store on the corridor itself, which most Nashville neighborhoods this close in do not have
- The City of Berry Hill immediately east, a separately incorporated city with its own government
- I-65 at Wedgewood and Armory, and I-440 across the south end
The housing stock
Two layers on the same street, and the gap between them is the whole story. The original layer is the 1920s to 1950s cottages, bungalows, small ranch houses and Tudor Revivals that went up when this was a streetcar-era stretch of south Nashville. The second layer is infill, and there has been a great deal of it: tall-skinnies on split lots, townhomes and condominium flats. Published figures put modern construction here between roughly one million and one and eight, with the older ranch houses and Tudor Revivals in the mid six hundreds to mid nine hundreds, and a median build year of 2007 on a street that was mostly built before 1960. That median year is the number to sit with. It tells you that any single price for Melrose is describing a mix rather than a house, which is why I price yours off its own block rather than off a neighborhood average.
Getting around
About three miles south of downtown, roughly nine to thirteen minutes off-peak straight up 8th Avenue South. I-65 is at Wedgewood and again at Armory, I-440 runs across the south end, and 12 South, Berry Hill and Wedgewood-Houston are all within a few minutes.
Things to do in Melrose
Places worth knowing before you decide whether you want to live here.
The Melrose
2600 8th Avenue South. The 1942 Melrose Theater and the old Melrose Lanes bowling alley, converted by Fulcher Investment Properties into 220 apartments with a 139-unit second phase, rather than being torn down.
Melrose Billiard Parlor
Founded 1944, in the basement at 2600 8th Avenue South, also addressed as Franklin Pike. Reopened at the end of 2016 under A.Ray Hospitality.
M.L. Rose Craft Beer and Burgers
2535 8th Avenue South. The original location, and the one generally credited with turning the corridor around.
Hattie B’s Hot Chicken, Melrose
2222 8th Avenue South.
Fenwick’s 300
2600 8th Avenue South, the diner and coffee bar from Bongo Java inside The Melrose.
Zanies Comedy Night Club
2025 8th Avenue South, Nashville’s long-running comedy club.
Gruhn Guitars
2120 8th Avenue South. George Gruhn’s vintage instrument shop, which moved here from Broadway.
The Smiling Elephant
2213 8th Avenue South.
Kroger, Melrose
2615 8th Avenue South, on the site of the old Melrose mansion grounds.
Proposed In-N-Out Burger, 8th Avenue South and Berry Road
Filed and in the development application process on the former Bliss Home site, most recently a seasonal Halloween store. Not approved. The company’s own statement is that it is too early to say when, or even if, it will get the approvals.
Checked against each business as of August 19, 2026. Nashville loses restaurants faster than most cities, so if something here has closed since, tell me and I’ll get it corrected.
Schools
Metro Nashville Public Schools
Look up an address with the district →
Served by Metro Nashville Public Schools. Metro zones by street address rather than by neighborhood name, so two houses on the same block can be assigned differently, and the choice and magnet application runs separately from zoning. I pull the assignment for the exact address before you write an offer.
I publish district and school zoning as published fact and nothing more. No ratings, no rankings, no comparisons. School zones are set by the district, assigned by address rather than by subdivision or city name, and they change. Confirm any address with the district itself, and evaluate the schools yourself against what matters to your family.
What a buyer needs to know here
Three things here cost money if nobody tells you, and the first one is the big one. Melrose straddles a city line. The City of Berry Hill is a separately incorporated city of less than a square mile sitting right against this corridor, and outlets cannot agree where one ends and the other starts: Fox 17 calls the In-N-Out site 8th Avenue South, Hoodline calls it Berry Hill, and your neighbors call it Melrose. Same parcel. It matters because Berry Hill runs its own building department, its own zoning ordinance and its own short-term rental program, and it levies a city property tax on top of Metro’s general services rate. Two listings a block apart can be in different cities with different rules and different carrying costs. I verify the jurisdiction on the actual parcel before we talk numbers, every time. Second, there is no overlay here. Metro’s own list of historic and conservation zoning districts covers Waverly-Belmont and Belmont-Hillsboro a few blocks north, and it does not cover Melrose. Nothing reviews a demolition or a new build on this side of the line, which is exactly why the median build year reads 2007 on streets of 1940s cottages. That cuts both ways: your lot may be worth more than your house, and so may the one beside you. Third, this is a working commercial corridor, not a quiet street with shops at the end. There is a grocery store, a comedy club, bars and a stream of traffic on 8th, and the blocks nearest the avenue feel very different at ten at night than they do at two in the afternoon. Walk it twice, once in each.
Common questions
Where exactly is Melrose?
On 8th Avenue South in zip 37204, roughly between Wedgewood Avenue and Thompson Lane, about three miles south of downtown. 12 South is immediately north, Berry Hill is immediately east, Woodbine is southeast and Crieve Hall is further south. The corridor is where 8th Avenue South turns into Franklin Pike, which is why the same buildings carry both addresses.
Is Melrose in Nashville or in Berry Hill?
Both, depending on the parcel, and that is not me hedging. The City of Berry Hill is a separately incorporated city inside Davidson County, less than a square mile, and part of what everyone calls Melrose sits on or across that line. Nashville Guru describes the Franklin Pike strip as technically within the Berry Hill boundary. The practical consequences are real: whose building department issues your permit, whose short-term rental rules apply, and whether a city property tax lands on top of Metro’s. I check the parcel rather than the neighborhood name.
Is In-N-Out Burger coming to Melrose?
It has been filed, and it has not been approved, and I am going to keep those two things apart. In-N-Out has said it hopes to open at 8th Avenue South and Berry Road, on the site that was Bliss Home furniture and most recently a seasonal Halloween store. In the company’s own words, it is in the development application process and it is too early to say when, or even if, the necessary approvals come through. If it is approved, In-N-Out typically runs eight to nine months from construction to opening. Tennessee is planned for up to 35 stores, and the Middle Tennessee ones already open are Antioch and Lebanon in December 2025, Murfreesboro that same week, Franklin in February 2026 and Madison in July 2026. If it lands, traffic on this stretch of 8th changes materially, and that is worth thinking about whether you are buying on the corridor or three streets off it.
Is there a historic or conservation overlay in Melrose?
No. Metro’s published list of historic and conservation zoning districts includes Waverly-Belmont and Belmont-Hillsboro just to the north, and it does not include Melrose. So nothing reviews demolition, new construction or additions here the way it would a few blocks up the hill. If you are buying an original cottage, understand that the house next door is not protected either.
What happened to the Melrose Theater, and is Sinema still open?
The theater opened on July 1, 1942, designed by Marr and Holman, a thousand seats, and it closed in 1983. The building and the old Melrose Lanes bowling alley beside it were converted rather than demolished, into 220 apartments with a second phase of 139, and Melrose Billiards survived in the basement through all of it. As for Sinema, no. It has closed, and so has The Sutler Saloon. Nearly every neighborhood guide online still lists both of them as open, which is a decent reason to be careful about what else those pages are telling you. Fenwick’s 300 is still in the building.
Thinking about Melrose?
What are some of your must haves to make it a perfect home for you in this neighborhood?