Uptown Nashville LLC has come under contract with LifeWay Christian Resources to purchase LifeWay’s downtown Nashville campus, the organization said in a statement this week.

Bizjournals.com identified Los Angeles real estate magnate C. Frederick Wehba Jr., whose father C. Frederick Wehba Sr. founded the BentleyForbes real estate company in 1993, as part of the Uptown Nashville group.

A LifeWay news release stated that contract terms, including the sale price, have not been disclosed pending closing of the sale of the 15-acre venue in a few months.

When the same is completed in the summer, it will pave the way for LifeWay to build a new facility, LifeWay president and CEO Thom Rainer said in the release.

“Although the buyers are still finalizing a master plan for the site, I understand their intention is for it to be a mixed-use development including office, retail, residential, entertainment and hotel,” Rainer said.

“And, the sale—when completed this summer—will provide the resources for LifeWay to build a new facility, hopefully in downtown Nashville, that will support the technologies, collaboration and culture needed for today's and tomorrow's successful national and international ministry."

Janet Miller, CEO of Colliers International, the brokerage firm representing Uptown Nashville, called the project historic.

“Re-development of the LifeWay campus is one of the largest economic development events in the recent Nashville history,” she said. “The project will continue to create jobs and investment in the downtown core, much as LifeWay has done the past 120 years. This campus will be a lynchpin in the future development of downtown Nashville and has the potential to become a new gateway to the central business district.”

Rainer said the buyers have said Uptown Nashville will “architecturally combine historic charm, paying homage to Nashville's roots, with the finest quality modern and forward-thinking design. They pledge the mixed-use community will be environmentally green, technologically advanced and service-oriented.”

The sale involves LifeWay’s downtown Nashville complex, including more than 1 million square feet of office, warehouse and parking space.

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