Nashville Record Pressing Company Closes Historic Plant Ahead of Relocation

NASHVILLE, TN — United Record Pressing, one of the world's leading producers of vinyl records, closed the doors of its historic Chestnut Street facility ahead of a planned relocation to a larger space on Allied Drive. URP began pressing records on Chestnut in 1962 and operates 24 hours a day, turning out more than 30,000 units daily.

The company's new facility is a 142,000 square-foot-facility purchased by the company in 2014. It will be just the third plant in the history of the company, which began in 1949 and relocated to Chestnut in 1962.

"It's a bitter-sweet thing to leave this place, but we're excited for the expansion where we can continue to make vinyl records like we have been since 1949," reads a caption on the Instagram post announcing the closure.

The video shows the famous Motown Suite. Motown Records was one of the earliest clients of URP and the upstairs suite served as a place to stay for the label's artists when they passed through Nashville in the era of segregation. The suite is preserved just as it was during that time.

It is unclear what URP's plans are for the Chestnut Street facility, which does not, as yet, have any official historic designation and is in the middle of the booming Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood.

Image via Wikimedia Commons user brooksrdawson, used under Creative Commons