What Kohler’s New Purchase on Merritt Avenue Means for Wedgewood-Houston

A $14.15 Million Deal Brings a National Manufacturer to Our Neighborhood

If you’ve walked or driven past 520 Merritt Ave. lately, you may not have noticed anything different — but the warehouse there has quietly changed hands, and the buyer is a name most of us know from the bathroom aisle. Kohler Inc., the Wisconsin-based manufacturing giant with 2025 revenues estimated at up to $9 billion, has paid $14.15 million for the property, according to a Davidson County Register of Deeds document. For a neighborhood that’s used to watching local developers and small investors trade properties, this is a different kind of buyer altogether — and it’s worth understanding what it could mean for those of us who live and work here.

What’s There Now

The warehouse opened in 1981 and offers about 31,285 square feet, sitting next to The Nashville Design Collective. Its current tenant, Southern Optical, has manufactured eyewear from the building since 1994 — over three decades as a neighborhood fixture. That lease expires this November, which means longtime WeHo residents may start noticing changes at the site well before Kohler announces any formal plans.

Why This Matters for Residents and Local Businesses

For nearby residents: A large, well-capitalized national company taking an interest in Wedgewood-Houston is one more sign of how much this neighborhood’s profile has grown. Kohler’s move follows a wave of investment in the area — new mixed-use development, luxury retail on Houston Street, and rising property values. Whatever Kohler ultimately builds or operates here, its presence adds to the momentum reshaping WeHo from a light-industrial corridor into a mixed-use destination. That can mean more foot traffic and amenities, but it’s also worth watching for residents concerned about rising costs and the pace of change.

For Southern Optical and its employees: With the lease expiring in November, the eyewear manufacturer’s future at this location is uncertain. It’s not yet known whether Kohler intends to keep an industrial or warehouse tenant on-site, redevelop the property for another use, or something else entirely. Residents who value the neighborhood’s working manufacturing base may want to keep an eye on what happens here.

For neighboring businesses: The property sits directly next to The Nashville Design Collective, and any redevelopment or repositioning by Kohler could affect traffic patterns, parking, and the general character of that stretch of Merritt Avenue. Property zoned for industrial and warehousing/distribution use doesn’t guarantee the site stays industrial forever, especially as land values in WeHo continue to climb.

The Kohler Connection

Kohler is best known for kitchen and bath fixtures, but the company also manufactures engines and generators and has expanded into hospitality through wellness-focused services and products. It’s this hospitality and wellness angle that has some in the neighborhood speculating about what a Kohler-owned property in WeHo could eventually become, though company officials could not be reached for comment on their plans.

Kohler does have some existing Nashville ties: Nina Kohler, wife of CEO David Kohler, sits on the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust, and David Kohler worked with Nashville native Reese Witherspoon in 2025 on a promotional video for Kohler Living.

Reading the Tea Leaves: What Might Fit in 31,285 Square Feet?

With no official word from Kohler, neighbors are left to speculate based on the one hard data point available: size. At roughly 31,285 square feet on a 1.64-acre lot, the property is too large for a simple retail storefront but far smaller than a distribution or manufacturing facility of the kind Kohler typically operates elsewhere. That scale puts it in a range that could plausibly support a few different concepts:

• A branded experience center or showroom. Kohler has invested in immersive retail concepts elsewhere that let customers interact with kitchen, bath, and wellness products in real settings. A warehouse of this size could be reconfigured into a design studio or showroom similar in spirit to the design- and lifestyle-oriented retailers that have recently moved into WeHo.

• A wellness or hospitality concept. Given Kohler’s expansion into hospitality and wellness — and its work with Reese Witherspoon on Kohler Living — a mid-size building like this could suit a spa, wellness studio, or boutique hospitality use rather than a large-scale resort or hotel, which would typically require more square footage.

• Office or hybrid workspace. The building could also simply serve as regional office or light operational space, especially given its adjacency to The Nashville Design Collective, though this would be a less distinctive use for a company making a notable real estate move into a trendy neighborhood.

It’s worth stressing this is speculation, not confirmed plans. Kohler has not indicated its intentions, and the size of the property alone can’t tell us definitively what’s coming. Still, for a company known primarily for manufacturing at a much larger scale, the modest footprint here suggests something more curated than industrial — a detail residents may want to keep in mind as more information emerges.

A Property With Deep Neighborhood Roots

For residents interested in the neighborhood’s history, this sale closes out a remarkably long chapter. The seller was a family trust that acquired the 1.64-acre property in mid-1976 for just $39,174 — and had held it prior to that going back to 1946. In other words, this is the first time the land has changed hands in 50 years, another marker of how quickly WeHo’s older, long-held properties are turning over as national and institutional buyers move in.

Nashville-based Sagemont (Trent Yates, Stephen Songy, and Jeremiah Pyron) handled the sale on behalf of the trust.

What to Watch

No redevelopment plans have been announced, and it’s unclear whether Kohler intends to keep operating the site as a warehouse, bring in a new tenant, or pursue something different altogether. For now, the biggest near-term signal for residents to watch will be what happens when Southern Optical’s lease expires in November. We’ll continue to follow this story and share updates as Kohler’s intentions for the property become clearer.