The Heritage Foundation of Williamson County plans to establish The History & Culture Center of Williamson County in the former McConnell House building in Downtown Franklin.

The historic building will be transformed into Williamson County’s first state-of-the-art, interactive exhibition space dedicated to telling its comprehensive countywide history.

Housed within a National Register of Historic Places building dating back to 1905, The History & Culture Center will honor and share stories of the people, places and events that comprise the fabric of our community today and influence our region and nation by stewarding, interpreting and exhibiting artifacts and immersive narratives related to the social, economic, and cultural history of Williamson County.

Exhibition concepts are not finalized but will endeavor to support a mix of consistent and rotating experiences that may include explorations of Native Americans, African Americans, pioneer families, Revolutionary and Civil War periods, and the evolution of the county over generations.

The Heritage Foundation plans to utilize the building to host educational events for the community such as local and national speakers, workshops, field trips and symposiums.

The restored, 6,000-square-foot, three-story building with brick and hardwood details will be accessible to the community for private-event use.

The anticipated timeline for The Center is for it to be available for private event rental starting in July this year, with historic exhibition experiences to open in spring or summer of 2023. For more information visit www.WilliamsonHistoryCenter.org.

Franklin Distillery wins global spirits awards

Franklin Distillery has earned medals for its flagship products Southern Gin and Southern Vodka in the 2022 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

The brand’s Southern Vodka is one of the world’s first vodkas distilled from Southern-grown citrus and earned a gold medal. The Southern Gin, crafted with botanicals reflective of the American South, took home a silver medal.

The San Francisco World Spirits Competition is the largest, oldest and one the most prestigious industry competitions, claiming to set the standard for excellence. With a judging panel composed of some of the most respected and qualified spirits industry experts, the judges blind taste each spirit entry and rank it on its own merit.

Franklin Distillery’s Southern Gin unifies 14 carefully chosen botanicals that are representative of the region, including juniper, watermelon rind, pecan, milk thistle seed and hickory.

Real estate investor buys downtown UBS Tower

KBS, an investor in commercial real estate, has acquired the UBS Tower on behalf of a large pension fund.

The 29-story, 605,000 square-foot Class A office building is located at 315 Deaderick Street in Nashville.

Nashville has been consistently ranked a top city for businesses over the last several years, with companies migrating to the area in favor of its diverse economy, low cost of living and well-educated talent pool.

According to CoStar, Nashville has over 80% more office-using jobs now than it had in 2010, a rate of growth that far outpaces the national average. The city has also seen several tech businesses relocate to or expand in the area in search of prime office space, with global companies such as Amazon, Oracle, Asurion, and iHeartRadio planning to open new major offices in the city.

Survey finds Antioch attracts dog lovers

New survey data from Zillow and Rover shows that pets are driving housing decisions, particularly in Antioch, the No. 1 U.S. city attracting dog parents.

Nearly three-quarters (72%) of dog parents surveyed would consider moving to a home that better suits their dog’s needs. Previous Zillow research shows 61% of recent homeowners and 57% of renters are pet owners, underscoring the impact this demographic has on overall national housing demand that remains stronger than ever.

To find the fastest-growing dog-friendly cities, Rover and Zillow considered newly registered dog-owner accounts from Rover’s database of millions of pet profiles, together with Zillow page views of pet-friendly single-family home rental listings.

The data revealed that Antioch ranks No. 1 because it saw the largest annual increase in new Rover dog accounts out of all cities analyzed.

It also had a significant increase in Zillow page-view traffic to pet-friendly single-family rental units, up 62.2% from last year.

HST Pathways buys Simplify ASC

Nashville’s HST Pathways, provider of end-to-end software solutions for the ambulatory surgery industry, has acquired Simplify ASC, a software company.

With this business transaction, Simplify ASC and HST Pathways join forces to deliver enhanced innovation to the ASC industry.

ASC offers a revenue cycle management solution along with other ASC management tools including scheduling and registration, clinical charting, claims management, inventory management, compliance and reporting.

HST Pathways has grown rapidly over the past three years, including its merger with Casetabs in 2020 and acquisitions of Clariti and Simple Admit in 2021. HST has been expanding its customer base, while also proudly reporting a customer retention rate of 97% last year.

Healthpilot partners with Lincoln Financial

Nashville-based Healthpilot, an AI-driven, fully digital platform for Medicare education and insurance enrollment, has announced a new partnership with Lincoln Financial Network, the retail wealth management affiliate of Lincoln Financial Group.

The partnership will provide seamless single sign-on access to Healthpilot’s predictive technology through the Envestnet platform for more than 2,000 LFN financial professionals nationwide.

Acceptance Insurance lauded for diversity

Nashville-based Acceptance Insurance, a provider of personal auto insurance and related products, has been named to Forbes’ 2022 list of America’s Best Employers for Diversity.

Acceptance employs over 1,300 team members and serves more than 300 neighborhoods across 13 states.

Over 60,000 U.S. employees were surveyed at companies with a minimum of 1,000 employees to identify companies most dedicated to diversity, equity and inclusion. Based on the results of the survey, Acceptance Insurance ranks among the top 500 U.S. employers.

Community Health boosts benefits

Franklin-based Community Health Systems, Inc. has announced that the organization’s affiliates will offer new and enhanced employee benefits valued at approximately $40 million annually.

The major investment in new benefits is designed to help employees eliminate existing student debt faster, pursue additional professional education and advance their careers.

The new benefits are part of the organization’s strategies to attract and retain a strong workforce for each CHS-affiliated health care system, especially front-line nurses, technicians, therapists and other clinicians and caregivers, along with support personnel at affiliated hospitals and outpatient care locations.

Benefits include a new student loan repayment program that enables employees with outstanding student debt to consolidate their loans, reduce interest rates, and benefit from employer sponsored payments.

For most clinical employees, their employer will directly pay a portion of loan premiums as long as the employee remains current with payments, offsetting student loan balances up to $20,000 per employee.

A new employee reimbursement program has been established for licensure or certification renewals required for all job classifications and can be used for any license or certification testing or renewal not already offered for free by the company’s Advanced Learning Center.

Built Tech makes SMBTech 50 list

Built Technologies, a construction and real estate finance platform in the U.S., has been named to the first SMBTech 50 List, honoring technology solutions for small and mid-sized businesses across multiple sectors. Created by venture firm GGV Capital and business information platform Crunchbase, the list recognizes rising stars of SMB tech.

The 50 early and late-stage companies on the SMBTech 50 list have raised a combined $10 billion in financing, with 75% raising funding in the last 12 months. Built raised a $125 million Series D at a $1.5 billion valuation in September 2021.

In the past fiscal year, Built’s platform was used to manage more than $200B in funds for lenders and borrowers, comprising over 135,000 active projects and 400,000 draw disbursements.

HCA donates to FIU nursing and health

Nashville’s HCA Healthcare, Inc. will donate $1.5 million to Florida International University’s Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing & Health Sciences to expand its faculty and offer scholarships to increase enrollment and help address the national nursing shortage.

FIU is a federally-designated Hispanic and Minority Serving Institution with a student body that is 61% Hispanic. One of the challenges in addressing the national shortage of nurses has been a shortage of qualified RNs to teach in nursing programs.

The partnership is part of HCA Healthcare’s commitment of $10 million over three years to Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic Serving Institutions in order to advance diversity in health care.

Make Music Day hosts tambourine jam

Make Music Day, the global celebration of music held annually on the summer solstice, has announced that this year’s vast program will observe the festival’s 40th anniversary with an event in Nashville.

It is a full return to in-person events, with more than 5,000 live, free music-making events held nationwide Tuesday, June 21.

A tambourine jam will be held at Nashville International Airport, with tambourines given away to airline passengers as they arrive and depart.

Launched in France in 1982 as the Fête de la Musique, Make Music Day has been growing across the United States for the last 15 years, since the debut of Make Music New York in 2007.

This year’s celebration will feature participation from more than 100 U.S. cities – including the flagship event in New York City.