Inn At Fontanel Receives Approval For Significant Expansion

Rendering of the expansion planned for Inn at Fontanel.

Nashville’s Metro Council has given a green light to add 136 rooms to Fontanel’s bed-and-breakfast-style boutique hotel, Inn at Fontanel, which was once Southern Living‘s Ideas House. The facility will also add a 300-seat banquet and meeting hall, resort-style pool, spa, and artisan retail space.

Music managers Dale Morris and Marc Oswald paid $2.5 million for 31 acres near the area planned for expansion, which required a vote from Metro Council to amend the Whites Creek Community plan to accommodate the expansion. Plans are now underway, with the expansion slated for completion in the second quarter of 2018.

Co-owner Oswald said, “We are so excited and energized by the City Council’s vote to support and allow the expansion of the Inn at Fontanel. We endeavor to design and build a facility that pays the most respect possible to the rural and historic character of Whites Creek and ensure public access to all who come to visit and enjoy this beautiful area.”

“We are excited to be able to enhance the Fontanel guest experience with all the new amenities the expansion brings,” stated Bob Ekman, CEO of Fontanel. “Visitors can spend their days touring the mansion, hiking the trails, zipping with Adventureworks, enjoying wine tastings at the Natchez Hills Winery, shopping local, can take in one of many music shows, enjoy several dining options, or take a day trip downtown.”

The Fontanel property also includes the 33,000-square-foot log cabin and former home of Country Music Hall of Fame member Barbara Mandrell, the Carl Black Chevy Woods Amphitheater, Adventureworks Ziplines, restaurant Cafe Fontanella, the Stone House Gift Shoppe, and three miles of public walking trails.