Nashville real estate developer Southern Land Company opened Lupo Notte, its first full-service restaurant, on September 16 at Vertis Green Hills, the company's flagship mixed-use community at 2035 Richard Jones Road in Nashville's Green Hills neighborhood.
The move marks a deliberate expansion of Southern Land Company's hospitality footprint beyond its existing dining operations at Westhaven Golf Club in Franklin, Tennessee, signaling that mixed-use developers are increasingly treating owned-and-operated restaurants as core placemaking amenities rather than ancillary amenities leased to third parties.
Culinary Team & Menu
Owen Lane, a Tennessee native with nearly 30 years in the industry, leads the kitchen as Executive Chef. Lane's résumé includes stints at Nashville's Pastis, Audrey, and June in East Nashville, and The Boardroom at Westhaven. The menu was developed alongside Senior Director of Culinary Paul Sale, Executive Vice President of Hospitality Alex Cauchon, and Westhaven Golf Club Executive Chef and Food and Beverage Director Manlio Melloni.
The menu centers on Italian-American classics elevated with locally sourced ingredients. Starters include signature Lupo Meatballs made with ground wagyu beef, Italian sausage, and veal. Pasta dishes feature house-made preparations such as sweet corn-filled Agnolotti. The pizza program uses 48-hour fermented dough fired in a three-deck oven, yielding 12-inch Neapolitan-style pies ranging from classic Margherita to Soppressata finished with Calabrian honey. Entrées extend to proteins such as snapper in a tomato broth. The beverage program pairs Italian-inspired craft cocktails with an international wine list weighted toward Italian varietals.
General Manager David Rehrmann, whose background includes A Voce in New York City and Modern Italian and Zuzu in Nashville, oversees daily operations. "Lupo Notte's curated menu and beverage program brings a fresh, elevated dining experience to Green Hills and Nashville," Rehrmann said. "Every element has been crafted with intention."
Space & Design
Spanning nearly 3,100 square feet, Lupo Notte seats approximately 110 guests indoors and an additional 20 across two outdoor patios. The space was designed by Southern Land Company's in-house design team in collaboration with Nashville-based HASTINGS Architecture. The entry sequence moves guests through a glass-walled conservatory bar anchored by a custom mural, then into an eight-seat Chef's Counter with open-kitchen views, before opening into the main dining room and outdoor patio. A new glass-walled dining and bar area adds a bright secondary volume to the footprint.
"The expansion into the courtyard adds the ambiance of a glowing lantern, inviting in residents and patrons with its warm light and views into the striking interior," said David Bailey, Principal at HASTINGS.
What Operators Should Watch
Lupo Notte's model is worth tracking for operators and developers alike. As mixed-use residential projects compete for tenants and foot traffic, developer-owned restaurants are emerging as a differentiation tool — one that gives the parent company direct control over guest experience and brand identity. Southern Land Company's $5 billion project pipeline across nine states suggests this hospitality model could scale beyond Nashville.
For independent Italian-segment operators, the opening also reflects continuing upscale Italian dining trends in high-income suburban markets. The combination of fermented-dough pizza, house-made pasta, and a chef's counter format mirrors successful formats in major metros that are now filtering into well-heeled secondary markets. Operators tracking the beverage program strategies of full-service Italian concepts will note the intentional tilt toward Italian varietals as a menu-storytelling device rather than a broad by-the-glass list.
Lupo Notte is open for dinner Sunday through Thursday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Lunch service and online ordering are planned for later this fall. Reservations are available via the restaurant's website and OpenTable.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
