Martina McBride Aids Retirement Complex

Martina McBride photo courtesy of frontpagepublicity.com.

Sept. 18, 2008 — After more than a decade of planning, the Nashville music industry is building a $95-million senior living community targeted to retirees from the music business. Set to open in 2013 in Franklin, Tenn., The Crescendo At Westhaven will feature apartments priced from $300,000-$650,000, with financial assistance available for those who need it.

"I do think that it's gonna be the first of its kind," Martina McBride told Dial-Global. "It places great importance on keeping people who live here involved with Music Row and feeling like they're still involved in the music industry with things like songwriting workshops to a place to be able to perform if they want to a recording studio where they can still record music ... It's just very unique, and I think it really will fit the needs of so many people who have been involved in the music industry in such a special way."

The community is being modeled after a similar retirement village in the Woodland Hills area of Los Angeles overseen by the Motion Picture Television Fund.

Meanwhile, Martina hosted a Nashville event on Wednesday sponsored by the L.A.-based Academy of Country Music. The first-ever ACM Honors featured an awards ceremony for the Academy’s Musicians of the Year and for lifetime achievement recipients, including the Oak Ridge Boys, Conway Twitty, Bill Anderson, Brenda Lee and Porter Wagoner, among others.

The night’s performers were to include LeAnn Rimes, Josh Turner, Joe Nichols, Luke Bryan and Connie Smith.