A six-story office building stands at the back of the site on Crescent Centre Drive. A four-tier parking deck sits behind it, out of view from the street. In front of it is a central lawn with a water feature and a partly covered structure for events, surrounded by small single-story buildings where a strip of storefronts was once planned.
This month the anchor of those buildings is a steakhouse with a piano bar. Char, from Nashville-based 4Top Hospitality, set November 17 as its Franklin opening date at Canteen on Carothers, 787 Crescent Centre Drive. Calling Canteen a new restaurant row misreads it. An office landlord rebuilt the front of its own campus, and every tenant fits that plan.
The Lawn Was Built for the Office Tower
Canteen sits on the Corporate Centre campus in Cool Springs, east of I-65. Stockbridge Capital Group developed it on land it already owned as an office park. The project covers about 10 acres and adds six single-story restaurant and retail buildings, 28,000 square feet in all, around an open-air center.
The first plan was simpler. According to TMP, the architecture firm that redesigned the project, the original idea was to add strip retail to the site, and that plan stalled during COVID-19. TMP then proposed a large open space with smaller buildings around it, set in front of the office tower, and put a 600-car deck behind the tower with direct access to the lobby. Ground was broken in August 2023.
TMP's own case study states the reason plainly. It describes the restaurants and open space as amenities that make a day at the office more than a day at the office, and says the shift gives owners perks for future office tenants and "the opportunity to increase rent and reduce vacancies." Stockbridge also paid for lobby renovations in the neighboring office buildings.
That explains the layout. Strip retail is built for cars that pull in and leave. A lawn ringed by small buildings is built to keep people on site, whether they're office tenants on a lunch break or neighbors who drive over on a Saturday.
A Tenant List Shaped Like a Workday
The FranklinIs profile of Canteen says the project was planned around morning coffee runs, lunch meetings, after-work happy hours and evening events. The businesses there now cover most of that day.
- Before work: barre3 runs a studio at 793 Crescent Centre Drive and takes class bookings for that location. Forza Pilates had opened its Franklin studio by February 2026, as FranklinIs reported.
- Midday errands: Scout's Barbershop lists its Canteen location with set hours and online booking.
- After work: Dog Haus Biergarten opened at 755 Crescent Centre Drive, with a grand-opening ribbon cutting on May 14, according to the Williamson Herald.
- Evening: Char, the newest arrival, adds a sit-down dinner and a live-music room.
The early slots filled first, and that order fits the business case. A fitness studio and a barbershop serve the people already in the tower every weekday. A 200-seat steakhouse needs people who drive in for the evening, which is a harder bet to make before the courtyard has a following.
Char Fills the Evening Slot
The Williamson Source reports that the Franklin Char is about 6,500 square feet, with a dining room, bar, private dining room and outdoor patio, and seats more than 200 guests. Plans include an extensive wine list, handcrafted cocktails and live music. Hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with lunch, dinner, weekend brunch and private events.
In a statement quoted by the Williamson Source, 4Top Hospitality partner Doug Hogrefe described the goal directly:
"We wanted Char to feel like a natural gathering place for the Cool Springs community, with the same attention to detail that defines our restaurants."
Char started in Jackson, Mississippi, in 2001 and is known for steaks, fresh seafood and New Orleans-inspired jazz brunches, with live jazz in its signature piano bars, as The Tennessean described it in its October 25 roundup. Franklin is the brand's fifth location and its second in the Nashville area, after the long-running Green Hills restaurant. Franklin diners may already know the operator. 4Top Hospitality also runs Etch at The Factory at Franklin.
The weekend brunch hours matter more than the steak menu. A Sunday brunch service brings people to an office campus on a day the tower is mostly empty, which is the gap a landlord-built courtyard has to fill.
What Fills In Next
Two more announced tenants would fill out the day.
| Business | Address | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
| PennePazze with Gelato Pazzo | 800 Crescent Centre Drive | Fresh pasta, Roman-style pinsa, an Italian import market and gelato in a 3,400-square-foot space |
| SweatHauz | Canteen on Carothers | A second wellness option for the early hours, listed as coming soon |
The Tennessean reported in late October that PennePazze is set to open at Canteen and that this will be the company's first full-scale Gelato Pazzo, serving traditional Italian gelato made by Italian chefs. The Franklin restaurant joins PennePazze locations in Nashville and Murfreesboro. SweatHauz's Franklin page gives the Canteen address.
An afternoon gelato counter and an Italian market would cover the hours between lunch and dinner, the slot the tenant list currently leaves open.
The Other Way Cool Springs Builds Dining
Across Cool Springs, McEwen Northside's Block E at 4020 Aspen Grove Drive took a different path. It was built as a district from the start. The Tennessean reported that the newest 300,000-square-foot building celebrated its grand opening in September and is fully leased.
Tenants there include:
- Hawkers Asian Street Food, which set an October 5 opening date, as the Williamson Source reported, and is open next to Culinary Dropout. The menu includes Korean twice-fried wings, five-spice green beans and roti canai with curry dipping sauce.
- Culinary Dropout, already in Block E.
- Oak Hall, the clothier, in Suite 130, which the Williamson Source reported as its third location.
- Paris Baguette, announced as the bakery-café's first Williamson County location and its third in Middle Tennessee, after The Gulch and Murfreesboro.
Grant Kinnett, vice president of retail at Boyle, described McEwen Northside to The Tennessean as "a vibrant, walkable district for locals and visitors alike." McEwen sells itself as a place to go. Canteen began as a way to keep an existing office building competitive, and it now offers the same mix of dinner, drinks and a place to linger. Cool Springs residents now have two dining clusters that work on different schedules. McEwen is busiest as a destination. Canteen is designed to be used all day by the people in the tower and the neighborhoods around it.
Getting There and Parking
Canteen's directory address is 800 Crescent Centre Drive, Franklin, TN 37067. It sits near the Cool Springs Boulevard and Carothers Parkway intersection, but individual tenants use their own Crescent Centre Drive numbers, so search for the business you're visiting rather than the development. The 600-space deck is behind the office building, and TMP designed glass stair towers and exterior lighting so visitors can find it. The covered stage on the lawn was planned for live entertainment.
Char takes reservations at franklin.charrestaurant.com.
Canteen on Carothers also changes what living near the office parks along Carothers Parkway means for daily routines. If you're thinking about a home within a short drive of Cool Springs and want to talk through how these new amenities fit what you're looking for, Susan Gregory and our team would be glad to help. Request a Consultation, and we'll show you the streets around Carothers Parkway the way we know them.
